What are everyones routine cleaning regiments?

I've heard from a few people that all that is needed to do, was run a bore snake through the barrel with which ever cleaner you prefer.

I got the Remington 4 pack cleaner with my shotgun that comes with Brite Bore, Action cleaner, Rem oil, and drilube. I thought the manual that came with it mentioned more than running a boresnake down the barrel......


Please leave your input...Looks like a lot of people are getting new shotgun, and im sure this info. could be very useful to newbies to shotguns!

I clean mine when i use it I clean the barrel and the bolt and wipe everything down and a light coat of oil and thats about it

Everyonce in a while, I'll paw through the collection to see what's dirty. Then I clean it.

This of course is not for self-defense stuff.

So is it safe to say that shotguns are extremely low maintenence compared to ARs

I clean my match AR less often than I do my shotgun, but that's me.

How well you maintain any gun, determines how long it will last.

If you don't care about keeping it in good condition, or you're independently wealthy and can afford to just pitch a gun and go out and buy a new one when one rusts, don't bother cleaning it.

Personally, I'm not wealthy, and I pay for my own guns so I take good care of mine.
I clean it EVERY TIME I shoot it.

A good maintenance method for a pump gun is:
Use a rod and bronze brush to brush the bore with solvent, then run two patches soaked with solvent down the bore.  
Allow to soak while you clean the rest of the gun.  
SOAKING is what does the major cleaning.  The solvent needs time to work.

Use solvent and a special chamber brush to clean plastic and powder fouling from the chamber.
Chambers are bad about rusting when used with plastic shells, and sticky, fouled chambers cause most extraction problems.

Use paper towel and toothbrushes to clean fouling and plastic, brass or steel shell particles, and burned powder particles out of the action and bolt.

Every once in a while clean and inspect the magazine tube.

Dry and re-lube the action.

Wipe the bore and chamber with dry patches, inspect, then apply a thin coat of rust proofing lube.

Use a toothbrush to apply a thin coat of rust proofing lube to the entire gun.

While it's down, inspect the entire gun for wear, corrosion, broken or cracked parts, weak springs, damaged or worn extractor, ejector and firing pin.

Many of my guns have been heavily used but other than some finish wear look and are like new.

Quoted: How well you maintain any gun, determines how long it will last. If you don't care about keeping it in good condition, or you're independently wealthy and can afford to just pitch a gun and go out and buy a new one when one rusts, don't bother cleaning it. Personally, I'm not wealthy, and I pay for my own guns so I take good care of mine. I clean it EVERY TIME I shoot it. A good maintenance method for a pump gun is: Use a rod and bronze brush to brush the bore with solvent, then run two patches soaked with solvent down the bore.   Allow to soak while you clean the rest of the gun.   SOAKING is what does the major cleaning.  The solvent needs time to work. Use solvent and a special chamber brush to clean plastic and powder fouling from the chamber. Chambers are bad about rusting when used with plastic shells, and sticky, fouled chambers cause most extraction problems. Use paper towel and toothbrushes to clean fouling and plastic, brass or steel shell particles, and burned powder particles out of the action and bolt. Every once in a while clean and inspect the magazine tube. Dry and re-lube the action. Wipe the bore and chamber with dry patches, inspect, then apply a thin coat of rust proofing lube. Use a toothbrush to apply a thin coat of rust proofing lube to the entire gun. While it's down, inspect the entire gun for wear, corrosion, broken or cracked parts, weak springs, damaged or worn extractor, ejector and firing pin. Many of my guns have been heavily used but other than some finish wear look and are like new.

Sound advice

Quoted: How well you maintain any gun, determines how long it will last. If you don't care about keeping it in good condition, or you're independently wealthy and can afford to just pitch a gun and go out and buy a new one when one rusts, don't bother cleaning it. Personally, I'm not wealthy, and I pay for my own guns so I take good care of mine. I clean it EVERY TIME I shoot it. A good maintenance method for a pump gun is: Use a rod and bronze brush to brush the bore with solvent, then run two patches soaked with solvent down the bore.   Allow to soak while you clean the rest of the gun.   SOAKING is what does the major cleaning.  The solvent needs time to work. Use solvent and a special chamber brush to clean plastic and powder fouling from the chamber. Chambers are bad about rusting when used with plastic shells, and sticky, fouled chambers cause most extraction problems. Use paper towel and toothbrushes to clean fouling and plastic, brass or steel shell particles, and burned powder particles out of the action and bolt. Every once in a while clean and inspect the magazine tube. Dry and re-lube the action. Wipe the bore and chamber with dry patches, inspect, then apply a thin coat of rust proofing lube. Use a toothbrush to apply a thin coat of rust proofing lube to the entire gun. While it's down, inspect the entire gun for wear, corrosion, broken or cracked parts, weak springs, damaged or worn extractor, ejector and firing pin. Many of my guns have been heavily used but other than some finish wear look and are like new.

I totally respect your philosophy when it comes to gun cleaning. However, I just bought my first gun(Remington 870.) I am unsure how to clean it. I bought a remington gun cleaning kit. Basically I just did things without any rhyme or reason.

I really didn't want to run that brass through the barrel, it looked like it might scratch, so I didnt' do that. All I did was ran a solvent soaked cotton swab through the barrel and dripped oil into the action. I will try and follow your instructions.

What is blued? How do you oil the action/ barrel. Be as specific as possible. Sorry if Im hassling you, I just want the gun to last. I know you understand that.


BTW, heres some pictures:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/st82heaven/Pieces/IMG_1090.jpg

I have a Benelli M4, and a Winchester 1300.  I normally fire 50 - 100 rounds of Federal Tactical slugs at a range session through one or both weapons.  After each range session, I run a bore snake through the weapon and inspect it - then I finish up with a silicone impregnated cloth wipe-down.  Every other session, I break the weapon down, clean and inspect each component, lubricate and reassemble it.  That's finished off with a wipe-down.

That's a ritual I've followed for every shotgun I've ever had - complete take down after every other range (or usage) of the weapon.  I've never had a malfunction, or been caught off-guard with this procedure.  The post-usage inspection is key...

Your brass brush wont hurt the finish on the inside of the barrel.

The brass is much softer than the steel, hence the brush will wear out and need to be replaced. I swap out all my bore brushes once a year, more often for those used frequently. If the brush isnt offering some good resistance when you push it, time to replace.

One technique I was taught recently, which I now follow religiously, is always start the barrel cleaning regimen with a wet patch from the breech to the muzzle. and don't pull it back through.
I use jag tips to do this, they work better than those looped patch puller deals. I lean toward ProShot products because their stuff seems to just fit right.

This serves to flush out any large chunks of stuff that may be in the bore, you then switch to the wet brush, scrub and let set. But always start with that wet patch to get any chunks out first. I do this on rifles, pistols and shotguns... just made sense to me.

Your shotgun has the matte finish versus the "blued" finish. So that makes the exterior a bit easier to care for. Bluing is a rusting process that causes the nice lustrous shiny bluish-black finish you see on some guns, not as common as once was. The Wingmasters I think are blued.

For that weapon get some of your preferred lube, I like CLP for this particular task, dampen a rag slightly and wipe all metal surfaces. That particular finish is hard as hell and with routine maintenance should well outlast you...

well i read this somewhere i think it was the box of truth site...

go and grab one of your girl friend/wife/buy some tampons *i kid you not* pull it out and fluff it up. coat it in solvent/lube of your choice and push it down the barrel... get the barrel good and wet, then let it sit for a while and take the action out/bolt off and clean and lube as needed..

the only thing i did besides give my shotgun a good cleaning was i polsihed the rails on it.. as well as the bolt/trigger group.. i'm comfertable doing this but some arent..

the only time i ever use a brush is if i look and see depost's that dident brake loose during the solvent bath. then i'll run a brush through it to try and brake em up..

before i found out about the tampon thing i would just wrap a large patch around the brush.. seemed to me that it worked a hell of alot better then just trying to ball up 3 patchs to get the grime out..

Jess

I clean my shotguns every couple years whether they need it or not.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that pump guns clean themselves.

In all seriousness, all though this is certainly not meant to ridicule good cleaning habits as suggested above, I will add this.

When I first got my pump gun, I very religiously broke the gun down, cleaned and lubed everything etc.  Maybe this was a good idea during it's break-in period.  

However, I FAR from clean my pump guns every trip.  They are a fairly simple design.  A design that certainly takes a LOT of fouling to make "inoperable."  I never let mine get bad.  But only when I think it's been through quite a bit (every 6 months on the average), or the action starts feeling a little gummy, I take it all down, clean it well (as described above) then repeat.  Yet to see an ill effect.

I have a little bit of a theory that old pump guns get that super slick honey action from getting a certain amount of wear.  I certainly feel like my Win 1300 is still breaking in and it's seen tons of shells.  Perhaps it would be a little smoother if I wouldn't have cleaned it so much over the years?  

Just food for thought I guess.

Gundraw

Thanks for the replies but I was hoping for something a little more specific. I realize that everyone has their own method but Im not even sure how to do basic procedures. Here are some of my specific questions:

1. Cleaning the barrel

How do you run a patch through? Do you soak a patch in solvent or oil and wrap it around a bore brush?(see below pic) Also, I notcied that the choke threads catch some debris. Anything I can do about that?

2. Lubing the action

How do you do this? I just dropped oil down the ejector hole and into the moving parts I could see. There must be a better method than this. Also, how do you apply a solvent bath?

http://www.copquest.com/64-1100.jpg


thanks

Quoted: well i read this somewhere i think it was the box of truth site... go and grab one of your girl friend/wife/buy some tampons *i kid you not* pull it out and fluff it up. coat it in solvent/lube of your choice and push it down the barrel... get the barrel good and wet, then let it sit for a while and take the action out/bolt off and clean and lube as needed.. the only thing i did besides give my shotgun a good cleaning was i polsihed the rails on it.. as well as the bolt/trigger group.. i'm comfertable doing this but some arent.. the only time i ever use a brush is if i look and see depost's that dident brake loose during the solvent bath. then i'll run a brush through it to try and brake em up.. before i found out about the tampon thing i would just wrap a large patch around the brush.. seemed to me that it worked a hell of alot better then just trying to ball up 3 patchs to get the grime out.. Jess

Yes, Old_Painless posted this method and it works great!

www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu9.htm