Cleaning after corrosive ammo

[Pocat6]

I plan on going to a range tomorrow. I heard windex, oil, and borecleaner will clean the harmful salts and other chemicals that cause rust. can u give me a step by step on what i need to do to clean after shooting. Im shooting a k98 by the way, and corrosive 8mm yugoslavian around 60 to 75 rounds.

[dc dalton]

With my Russian guns I do two squirts of Windex and then run a patch through right after shooting (or as soon as humanly possible) and then normal cleaning with bore solvent when I get home ... has worked well for me

[ojcwn]

Here is a interesting article on how to clean corrosive ammo that may help.


How to properly clean after using corrosive ammo

This is how I do it... it's easy, it's fast, and it's effective. Best of all you can do it while still on the firing-line and thus not offend your significant other with the usually pungent stench of commercial cleaners in your home.

Dilute regular household ammonia (sudsy is best but regular is OK too) to 2/1 or 3/1 with water (it can be as much as 10/1 if the smell really gets to you). Keep in a small bottle to take with you to the range but label it well so you don't mistake it for contact-lens solution or something (yeeeowww!)

After you are done firing and while still at the range moisten (not dripping-wet, but sorta-soaked) a patch and run it down the bore and back once. This instantly will neutralize and dissolve the corrosive salt-compounds from the primers and start in on the copper and powder fouling with a vengeance.

Let stand for thirty seconds or so (just enough time to take off and throw away the ammonia-patch you just used and put a new, dry patch on your rod). Run the dry patch (or several) down the bore and you are most literally done.

DON'T OVERDO IT! More ISN'T better in this case...

You really don't want to slop ammonia (especially if heavily concentrated) all over the blued parts of the gun (as it will likely start to remove bluing after 30 minutes or so) and you also shouldn't leave the ammonia in the bore for an extended period of time (like hours, although I do know folks who do that anyway) as that may (not WILL, but MAY) cause "crazing" (microscopic pitting) of the metal. I also have to caution against slopping ammonia on the wooden parts of your rifle, as it will usually strip the finish down to bare-wood, BUT if you follow my advise on HOW MUCH ammonia to use (only enough to dampen, but not soak, a single patch per gun) you will not EVER experience ANY problems at all...

If you are worried about primer residue getting on the bolt-face you may want to quickly wipe it with the wet patch before throwing the thing away and quickly dry it. Same thing with the gas-tube in a semi-automatic rifle... don't go overboard, just wet it and dry it and get done with it.

As a final precaution (since the ammonia will also kill all lubricants and leave the metal very dry) you can run a patch of gun-oil down the bore and leave it like that for protection from the elements (just be sure to run a dry patch down the bore before shooting it again).

I've been cleaning guns this way (including *every* gun we sell) for nearly thirty years, and have never had rust form in any bore (even here in humid Florida).

However, if you are (like some folks I have met) completely obsessed about leaving traces of ANY powder or copper residue in the bore of your weapon, you can certainly follow up your "field-cleaning" with a detailed, strenuous, traditional cleaning once you are home (or in a week or month from then). But I warn you... your bore is much more be likely to be damaged from your over-enthusiastic scrubbing to get out that "last speck of copper" (which has no affect on the actual accuracy of your firearm) than it will with all the rounds you could possibly send down it during your lifetime.

Dennis Kroh

http://www.empirearms.com/

[TonyF]

CORROSIVE AMMO NEUTRALIZER
The original formula for the elimination of corrosive salts that are deposited on firearms when military style corrosive ammunition is used. No more "soap and water" treatment, introducing rust creating water to your firearm. Corrosive Ammo Neutralizer will remove the salts plus it will clean the burnt powders and dirt from your guns.8 oz. Jug $9.95

http://www.mg34.com/Misc.html

[Perkascene]

I clean my guns with Hoppes 9. Lots of ammonia in that stuff, take a wiff. I have a CZ52 I put surplus through, as well as a Mosin Nagant. I've had the bolt face of my Mosin flash rust on humid days after a couple hundred rounds. The Hoppes seems to work, all my bores are still shiny. I also like the fact that it's a bore solvent, and belongs in a gun, unlike the windex/soap and water tricks.

[Pocat6]

well what all do i need to clean on the gun i know the barrel and how do i clean the bolt, put that hoppes stuff in a spray bottle and spray it on the bolt?

[Perkascene]

I usually just take a swab, get it wet with the Hoppes, and scrub the bolt face real well with it. If you can decock the bolt and clean the firing pin, that's a plus. Afterwards, I dry it off with dry patches, put some gun oil on another patch, and give it a light coat. It seems to be working pretty well, and I've been shooting this particular gun with corrosive ammo for a few years now.

[762xIan]

The most important part of cleaning after corrosive ammo use is.....WATER.

You need to flush out those corrosive salts that will start the rusting process. Even better....Hot Water....even better... Hot Soapy Water.

Many ask why Windex? Windex is mostly water, comes in a handy-dandy easily portable spray bottle, and you get the added benefit of Ammonia and soap.

Again many ask why ammonia?, well ammonia (NH3) has a High pH (it is a base) and base solutions are good for steels. Industrial and Utility boilers for example are filled with water 24/7 and pH is maintained anywhere from 8.5 to 11. We run ours at 9 to 9.5 and the insides look like the day they were installed.

Ammonia also is deadly to yellow metals, it will disolve all admiralty metals (copper, brass, bronze etc.) over time, and is why ammonia based cleaning solvents are so good at removing copper fouling...note your patches coming out green!

[Perkascene]

Doesn't water react with the salts to start corrosion? The ammonia neutralizes the salts and keeps them from reacting with moisture in the air.

[762xIan]

Doesn't water react with the salts to start corrosion?

The goal is to flush the salts out, or spray in or swab in enough windex to fully remove the salts. Without immediate treatment the salts just sitting in the bore will react with moisture in the air (humidity) and you will get a rusty bore pretty quick.Get them salts out!

Happened with my M-48 mauser that sat for just a day (summertime-high humidity) prior to cleaning, swabbed out a bit of rust starting to form...caught it quick so no damage done.

When I am shooting corrosive, when I am done, angle the rifle down, I spray down the bore from the chamber, soak patches on cleaning rods and swab a couple of patches through. Get home...normal cleaning.

Been doing this for years now and all the bores look like the day I bought them.