THE TECHNOID'S CARE AND CLEANING... Every month or so
some gun magazine has an article purporting to tell you just how to care
for your guns and equipment. The copy is some general drivel about all
the products advertised in the magazine being equally neat. General
Drivel often also makes his billet in the Technoid's column, but a
Colonel of Truth does show up occasionally unless there has been a
Major Mistake. The difference is that here at RELOAD! we can afford
to be much more specific in our advice as we are beholden to no one
(other than the Technoid's shameless adoration of the Hostess Baking
Company- Ed.).
Each of you has already established a cleaning procedure and it
probably suits you just fine. You may even vaguely resent someone
telling you how to clean your gun. It is like someone telling you how to
drive. Well, we certainly do not have experience with every product and
maintenance procedure, but what we do use works. Perhaps there will be
some small hint in what we do that you might fine useful. If you have a
better way, the Technoid is most anxious to hear about it and will do his
part to make you justly famous.
Your massive RELOAD! home office complex towers like a
benevolent colossus over the small Connecticut seaport town of
Westport. Seaports mean moisture and that means rust. Consider the
average New England basement to have a seaside climate. It probably
has ebb and neap tides too.
Make sure that you have a "Golden Rod" or other such heating
device in your gun safe. A small light bulb gets the job done, but it has
to be left on constantly and will burn out frequently. Better the Golden
Rod. It very slightly raises the temperature, and thus the dew point, to
help prevent condensation. It is best to store the guns in the safe with
the muzzles down (keeps errant lubricants out of the stock wood) and
with the chokes removed so that they will not become fixed chokes.
NEVER store your gun in a gun slip or case for any length of time.
You'll be sorry.
Naturally, wipe the outside of your gun down with something
before you put it away. WD-40 is not a suitable rust preventative, nor is
any solvent like Hoppe's #9 or Shooters Choice. Birchwood Casey's
Sheath is an excellent product for your wipe down cloth, but the old
silicone cloth or Break Free CLP, G-96 Gun Treatment or other
cleaner/lubricant/protectants will also work. How often you use it is
more important than what you use. Minimum wipe down is once per
month if you are just storing the gun and daily when you are using it. A
rusted gun is just plain heartbreaking and so unnecessary.
Inside the gun is just as important. When the Technoid buys a
new gun, the first thing that he does is to remove the stock and forend
and carefully brush three coats of TruOil or tung oil onto the insides of
the wooden pieces. Factories often do not properly finish the interior of
the wood parts. This essentially oil proofs the wood from the inside for
the remainder of the gun's life. Then he blows the action clean of debris
and sprays all internal parts with the aforementioned Sheath. Once a
year the guns are disassembled, blown out with solvent, and resprayed
with Sheath. These procedures make the inside of the gun virtually rust
free and oil seepage proof.
Hinge pins, breech face, ejectors and such are routinely cleaned
with a solvent, toothbrush and Q-tips. The Technoid likes Hoppe's #9
for this because is smells right, but Shooters' Choice is stronger and
other solvents may work just as well. Before reassembling the gun, the
hinge pins or trunions and other bearing areas are very lightly coated the
tiniest bit of just about any grease handy. Pennzoil bearing grease and
the old Lubriplate ("mayonnaise" to you WWII swabees) do a find
job.
The important thing is not what kind of grease is used, but that the old
grease, probably carrying abrasive burnt powder grit, is completely
removed. Bearing parts must be surgically clean before the new grease
is applied. It is the presence of grit that causes problems, not the lack
of
lubrication.
A little Shooters Choice on a brass brush followed by a Kleenex
and a poke with the fuzzy stick does for the barrels. Plastic build up in
the chamber and forcing cones is easily handled with a cal. 50 brush
from your wife's M-60. You Beretta and some FN Browning owners
have chromed barrels and will have a much easier job. Make sure to
clean the screw chokes to get rid of plastic buildup. Many screw chokes
are crudely made and build up plastic quickly. An overnight soaking in a
jar of Shooters Choice will make the job easier. The graphite based
choke tube lubes are supposed to prevent "freezing", but they
are filthy
looking, gruesome to clean off and will collect grit which may do more
damage than good. Storing the gun without the chokes in place,
combined with routine cleaning, is better.
Many shooters use brake or carburetor cleaner spray cans in place
of the more expensive Shooter's Choice Quick Scrub or Remington's
RemAction Cleaner. Be aware that many brake and carburetor cleaners
contain chlorinated solvents which can attack, not only you (read the
label on the can), but also certain parts of your gun. Note also that these
cleaners strip all the oil from the metal, so be sure to re-lubricate
afterwards.
For you socially irresponsible proponents of the gas gun, the
Technoid has one basic recommendation: Shoot them wet and clean.
Both Beretta USA and Remington will tell you to shoot them dry. They
are wrong. Who you gonna trust- your gifted gun guru or the people
who merely made the guns? Slather up the pistons with BreakFree CLP
(the brand is important) and leave them good and wet while you shoot.
Not only do the gas guns function better when wet, but when cleaning
time comes around each and every evening you will find that the
BreakFree has kept the burnt powder residue in solution and most of the
parts can be wiped clean with a Kleenex. Shoot them dry and that
carbon is going to be burned on. It is interesting to note that Beretta
of
Britain used to recommend shooting their gas guns dry, but now has
recanted and recommends that you shoot them wet. Toldyouso. As
usual, Beretta USA does not have a clue.
A gas gun suggestion: Andy Duffy, after just recently winning
the Pan-American FITASC and the NSCA All Around Shotgun
championship in the rain with his new Browning Gold semi-auto,
reported that the downpours had the Beretta 390 owners scrambling.
The popular Beretta gas pipes are not built for scuba work. A water
proof gunsleeve (with the Beretta logo, of course) might be a good
investment for 303 and 390 shooters who like to shoot during 100 year
floods.
One last point, for a general light oil to be sparingly applied here
and there, the Technoid has been very impressed with the new Shooters
Choice FP-10. This is a superior product. Smells a little like cinnamon
too. Be aware that it is highly migratory, so apply it very lightly. It
is
ideal for trigger groups.
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