I'm going to admit to being stupid on this: What /how do you clean your weapon after shooting corrosive ammo?

In other words how do you neutralize(sp) the acid in the powder,and keep the bore from getting pitted and worn out?

Pee down the barrel!!!!





I've always had pretty good luck swabbing it out with Windex, or another type of ammonia based window cleaner, then clean as usual..........I'm sure there are better products out there though...
Bill

FWIW, most of my Mosin Nagant ammo is mildly corrosive....

I simply clean the bore w/ Sweets 7.62, rinse bore cleaner out w/ SuperTech 2000 carb cleaner (non-methanol) from Walmart and lube w/ CLP like I do with every rifle.

Never had a problem.

Mike

You won't neutralize it.  You need to wash it out of the bore with water.  Bolt face also.

Dennis Jenkins

Quoted: I'm going to admit to being stupid on this: What /how do you clean your weapon after shooting corrosive ammo? In other words how do you neutralize(sp) the acid in the powder,and keep the bore from getting pitted and worn out?

Thanks for the tips guys, especially the peeing down the barrel

You're attempting to wash out salts.  Water is best.  Some folks add a little soap to help clean some of the carbon too.  Amonia products will cut copper, but the water mixed with them probably has more to do with eliminating salts.

I start with a pull-through jag on the end of my cleaning rod.  I slip a patch through big enough to make a tight fit down the bore.  I place a couple of inches of hot water in a pail then put the muzzle into it.  I wet the patch and send it down the barrel from the chamber end.  When it comes through the muzzel I pull it back through and the piston action will pull hot water back up through the barrel.  A few passes through then I pour some more hot water down the chamber to rinse.  I use the hottest water I can as it drys quickly.  I follow up with a clean and lube like any other rifle cleaning.

The old G.I. issue rifle bore cleaner works wonders. Even says on the bottle it is used for breaking up corrosive primer salts and for  limited corrosion protection over extended time. I have a case of it I found at a yard sale, probably got about 50 bottles left. Considering I only use it after shooting ammo I know or suspect is corrosive, it should last me awhile. After (right after!) shooting I run a soaked patch through the bore and let it sit. By the time I get home (or the next morning) I run a dry one through, then another soaked patch and let it sit. Then I clean as per normal after running another dry patch through. Works like a charm. Windex is good too but don't get it all over your gun and under the woodwork

I just clean my mauser (really well) with Hoppes. Then again, where I live there isn't a lot of moisture. I let it go a month after shooting before cleaning it and it had no corrosion of any sort.

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.

After shooting I spray some Widex down the bore or use a bore snake wet with Windex. When I get home I'll give it a normal cleaning.

Quoted: After shooting I spray some Widex down the bore or use a bore snake wet with Windex. When I get home I'll give it a normal cleaning.

Spraying Windex with ammonia at the range after shooting followed by a normal cleaning at home is the best way. The ammonia neutralizes the slts in the primers.
During WWII hot water was used, but only because that was the best way in the field, not the preferred way. I think the British used hot tea. Both ways wash the salts out, but a little ammonia works better.
Jim

Windex is the fastes and IMHO the best.  Also, dosn't have to be brand name.  Any generic window cleaner will do so long as it has ammonia in it.

Quoted: Quoted: After shooting I spray some Widex down the bore or use a bore snake wet with Windex. When I get home I'll give it a normal cleaning. Spraying Windex with ammonia at the range after shooting followed by a normal cleaning at home is the best way. The ammonia neutralizes the slts in the primers. During WWII hot water was used, but only because that was the best way in the field, not the preferred way. I think the British used hot tea. Both ways wash the salts out, but a little ammonia works better. Jim

I feel the same way, but there are some know-it-alls on a couple other forums here that say ammoniated windex doesn't really do anything (I think one claimed to be a chem major or some crap like that).  I really can't say if it works or not because for the 3 years I shot C&Rs with surplus, I cleaned normally with a lot of hoppes, and a lot of swabbing and cleaning of the bolt, I never had problems with corrosion or rust doing that, within the last year or so though I've done the ammoniated windex at the range, but don't really know if it makes a difference.

I guess to sum it up, it's not that big a problem as some make it out to be.  Just clean thoroughly like you would anyway to keep a gun in good condition and you probably won't have a problem.

-mark

I use the WW2 USGI bore cleaner, for me this is the easiest way to clean up after shooting corrosive ammo. You can find the WW2 rifle bore cleaner for sale on eBay.

I dip my bronze cleaning brush in hot water and put a few drops of dishwashing liquid soap on it and pass it through the bore a few times, then rinse with more hot soapy water, also wash the bolt assembly in hot soapy water and dry in toater oven, then apply a coat of Mobil One synthetic motor oil

I use a narrow automotive transmission funnel to pour hot water down the chamber and out the muzzle

MPro-7 will clean it.   Balistol will too (better).  First hand knowledge.

The front of my Hoppe's 9 bottle says "...frees gun bores of corrosive primer fouling and residue."

I've never had a problem, my bores look perfect as the day they left the factory. And I don't clean 'till I get home, but I don't let them sit around for days, either.

Don't get paranoid about corrosive ammunition-
Normal cleaning in any capacity will halt the potential effects.
The only time that I have witnessed damaging corrosion was when one of my buddies (in the 80,s) shot his 30-06 with the stuff, about 100 rounds worth- right before he shipped out for Basic and AIT.
This was in coastal California. Needless to say, he did not clean it prior to shipping out....................
It was slightly pitted after all the moss was cleaned from the bore.

Moss? LOL! Was there grass growing in the magwell? Just kidding ;).

i just shoot it nexted week and it all goes away.

I once used some "Bulgarian" 7.62x54R and cleaned my rifle with Hoppes no. 9 bore solvent, three weeks later when I checked my bore it was corroded and my stainless steel cleaning rod that was used to clean the rifle was also heavily rusted! and it was stored in a dry area at room temperature.

it's really important to "neutralize" the bore and bolt with soapy water after you shoot corrosive ammo

Again thanks for the help, this takes the fear of shooting corrorsive ammo away.

Don't sweat the corrosive ammo. It takes a little more care during cleaning- very little.
And remember- wars were fought using it. Corrosive ammo isn't the kiss of death. Most of us have used non-corrosive ammo for most of our lives, so it sounds worse than it is.
Jim