I bought a Mosin Nagant in fantastic shape. I'll be shooting a lot and will probibly be shoothing corrosive ammo to keep cost down as 7.62x54R can get expensive. I have never shot corrosive stuff before and was wondering what to expect. Will this stuff rust away my gun fast or start to discolor before my eyes? If I coat the gun with CLP will that protect it from rust? If I clean it right away after a shooting session will the gun be fine? Thank you!

What it is is there is corrosive salts used in the priming compound. The way to dissolve these after shooting is with soap and water. Hot water (as hot as you can get) combined with soap will dissolve these salts. You then have to dry the bore and coat with oil ASAP so the water will not rust the barrel. Using just CLP and not removing the salts first will result in a corroded bore. Another way I have heard of, but not used personally, is to take a patch and apply some ammonia (Windex for example) and patch the bore immediately after shooting. Clean as usuall afterwards. Again, I have not used this method but have heard it works.

Yup. CLP isnt going to do much if anything for it. Here is what I do after shooting my MNs.

First thing when I get home is to run a couple of windex soaked patches through the bore. Let the last one sit for a couple minutes then run a few dry patches through. Clean normally from there.

Ive shot maybe 10k rounds of surplus 54r through my rifles and have yet to have any rust or corrosion problems. If you live in a humid climate you might want to repeat it a couple times over the next couple days though.

I have been shooting corrosive surplus ammo for 20 years and never used a drop of water. Hoppes#9 has been around for 100 years and was devaloped at a time when most if not all primers were corrosive. After a good scrubbing followed by an oil patch I have never had any rust.
I know alot of people use hot water before cleaning and with most bore cleaners thats a good idea because most were not designed to disolve salt deposits. Just my 2 cents.

I have used the hot soap and water for years and it works great.Probably the cheapest method as you will only use five cleaning patches max..
The ammonia and water mix works and so does the windex with ammonia D.But I would use a powder solvent like Hoppe's #9 to get whats left in the bore out.
What Ive been using for about a year and a half is MPC's CAC-10(Corrosive Ammo Cleaner).Works great and leaves a film of FP-10 for protection.
The Hoppe's #9 will work but the bore will have to be absolutely clean.Its not fool proof.It is a very mild alkaline but its up to you to make sure all the fouling is out.
I would also remove the copper from the bore before storage.The corrosive residues are under the copper and left unchecked will pit the bore.
Raymond

Thank you everyone! What is the best kind of soap to use with the water? Dawn?

Yeap that is what I use...Dawn that is.Seems to work better,but any soap will do.
My uncle use to throw a bar of Ivory soap in a pan of hot water and let it sit for a few...and then clean.You know how much soap scum Ivory soap makes.But it worked and he did that for many many years without issue.

will the water harm the wood stock at all or should I avoid getting it on the wood? That will be hard to do though.

Quoted: will the water harm the wood stock at all or should I avoid getting it on the wood? That will be hard to do though.

Try to avoid getting water on the wood, but just keep a towell handy to keep it dry.


What I have done in the past is to go to the local hardware store and get a funnel that will fit into the chamber. Mix the soap and water together and pour down the bore. Scrub with a bore brush. Pour some more down it a time or two again. Do this outside, it is much easier to do that way and less messy. Then use a normal bore cleaner and oil afterwards.

Yeah keep the water off and out of the stock.The water should not harm a properly treated stock but it will cause rust to the metal/receiver etc..
The way I clean with hot water and soap is to start by setting the pan of soapy water on the floor.Remove the bolt from the receiver...then put a snug fitting patch on your cleaning rod loop.Loop works better than a jag for me.Run the patch through the bore and stop right at the muzzle.Sit in a chair and hold the rifle with my left hand braced against my knee...use my right hand to clean.This helps keep the muzzle in the soapy water and also keeps from dunking the rifle too far into the soapy water.
Stick the muzzle in the soapy water just enough to allow proper suction as you work the patch in the bore.Now slowly pull the patched rod back.Do not pull the patch back into the chamber or push it out the muzzle...keep the patch in the bore.
Now just work the patch slowly through the bore several times.This creates a suction and pulls the soapy water up into the bore flushing the bore with each pass.
Once the water starts looking cloudy change the soapy water to a fresh batch.That way your not pulling the salts back into the bore.Keep doing this until the soapy water stays clean.Usually two pans does it.
Once you have the bore clean swab the chamber with the soapy water patch.
Also wipe the bolt face.
Then rinse the pan,change to a fresh patch and add hot water only.Use the same procedure with the water rinse as you did with the soapy water.
Once you have the bore rinsed dry patch immediately.The hot water heats the metal so the water evaporates alsmost immediately but dry patching speeds up getting the water out of the lands and grooves etc..
This is when I run a few patches of Sweets 7.62 through the bore and remove the copper and whatever powder fouling/carbon remains out.Once the copper is out I dry patch.Then I run a couple patches of isopropyl alcohol through to remove any ammonium salts from the copper solvent and dry patch.Then I oil the bore with FP-10.
I also do a follow up cleaning a couple days later to get any gas fouling the FP-10 pulls out.If needed I run a patch or two of Hoppe's #9 through and let it soak.Then reoil with FP-10.
Good to go.
HTH
Raymond