mosin nagant cleaning question

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - mosin nagant cleaning question

Posted: 4/21/2013 1:27:45 PM EDT

my bro-in-law bought a mosin nagant yesterday and today I took him to the range this morning. This is his first rifle and he knows nothing about guns and I know little about Mosin Nagants other than I have heard that the old ammo is corrosive and you need to clean the gun after shooting. Anyway, we shot maybe 50 rounds between the two of us. He has no cleaning kit to clean the rifle.

so I took a can of WD40 along and when we were done shooting I sprayed it down with WD40, then I ran a bore brush through it a few times followed by cleaning cloths until they came out clean. Finally, I sprayed wd40 down the barrel again. I told him he needed to clean the bolt when he got home and look into a good cleaning kit.

did I do him good or not?

Posted: 4/21/2013 1:30:40 PM EDT

[#1]

Windex to help get rid of the salts from the corrosive ammo. then regular oiled patch down the barrel and other normal places.

Posted: 4/21/2013 1:37:12 PM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
Windex to help get rid of the salts from the corrosive ammo. then regular oiled patch down the barrel and other normal places.

thanks, he was going to his brothers to shoot more tonight. I'll text him.

Posted: 4/21/2013 6:58:06 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
I have heard that the old ammo is corrosive and you need to clean the gun after shooting.

Pretty much any surplus military 7.62x54r you get will be corrosive, so yes you will want to clean it. The sooner the better but you can go up to about 24 hours but I wouldn't go any longer then that. The most common recommendation for cleaning are, running hot water through the barrel, useing Windex patches, or Hoppes #9 cleaner for corrosive ammo. Any of the three will work well, just oil well afterwards and check up on it about a week or so later to make sure you didn't miss any thing.

Posted: 4/22/2013 12:19:31 AM EDT

[#4]

After shooting corrosive ammo, I always pour a quart or 2 of scalding hot water through the bore. If the water is hot enough, the barrel will be close to dry from evaporation. I then use solvent and clean as I would after shooting non-corrosive ammo. Good call on scrubbing the bolt well. The bolt face will show rust of not cleaned.

Posted: 4/22/2013 3:16:19 AM EDT

[#5]

I always used hot soapy water. The water will dissolve the corrosive salts and flush them out of the bore. After the water I would clean with Break Free CLP.

Posted: 4/22/2013 6:05:43 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
I always used hot soapy water. The water will dissolve the corrosive salts and flush them out of the bore. After the water I would clean with Break Free CLP.

I do this - only end with Rem-oil.

Though I think I'm going to try the windex trick...

Posted: 4/22/2013 6:40:37 AM EDT

[#7]

The only thing in Windex that's doing anything is water. Plain hot water is all you need.

Posted: 4/22/2013 7:03:12 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
The only thing in Windex that's doing anything is water. Plain hot water is all you need.

The basic (as opposed to acidic) nature of an aqueous ammonia solution might neutralize the acidic properties of the corrosive metal salts from the primers so it definitely won't hurt. And they will help cut a teeny amount of metal, carbon, or oils that the salts might be hiding under. Although yeah, the bulk of the work water does is simply the effect a polar solvent has on salts to carry them away as metal and chloride ions in solution.

Posted: 4/22/2013 7:18:21 AM EDT

[#9]

For bolt action rifles I use hot water with no soap (I sometime add soap for AK's and such). The Mercury salts that are left in the barrel are incredibly hydropilic (one of the reasons they're such a good catalyst for causing rust), so just having water flow by them is enough to get rid of them. Windex is unnecessary and isn't any better than water for getting rid of the salts. Hot water is useful though because it drys faster.

Posted: 4/22/2013 8:31:12 AM EDT

[#10]

How to properly clean after using corrosive ammo.

Posted: 4/22/2013 9:13:02 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
The only thing in Windex that's doing anything is water. Plain hot water is all you need.

+1

Posted: 4/23/2013 5:26:54 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

Quoted:
The only thing in Windex that's doing anything is water. Plain hot water is all you need.

The basic (as opposed to acidic) nature of an aqueous ammonia solution might neutralize the acidic properties of the corrosive metal salts from the primers so it definitely won't hurt. And they will help cut a teeny amount of metal, carbon, or oils that the salts might be hiding under. Although yeah, the bulk of the work water does is simply the effect a polar solvent has on salts to carry them away as metal and chloride ions in solution.

"You use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore..."

Posted: 4/23/2013 5:43:50 PM EDT

[#13]

Guy at my go to shop recommended sweets 7.62 solvent when I bought my Mosin, it works, but was it necessary or a con move to get my $15?
Is it any better than the remedies mentioned above?

Posted: 4/24/2013 6:51:29 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Guy at my go to shop recommended sweets 7.62 solvent when I bought my Mosin, it works, but was it necessary or a con move to get my $15?
Is it any better than the remedies mentioned above?

I have used Sweets 7.62 for years. It is good stuff but simply flushing the rifle at the range with water and then later cleaning properly will avoid any corrosion issues.

Posted: 4/24/2013 7:14:59 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
After shooting corrosive ammo, I always pour a quart or 2 of scalding hot water through the bore. If the water is hot enough, the barrel will be close to dry from evaporation. I then use solvent and clean as I would after shooting non-corrosive ammo. Good call on scrubbing the bolt well. The bolt face will show rust of not cleaned.

I agree with this.... Where do you get your scalding water from? Kitchen sink? Do you use a funnel? do you remove the action from the stock?

Posted: 4/24/2013 8:24:39 AM EDT

[#16]

Use a little Dawn dishwashing liquid in your hot water . A little " great advice " that I got was to check your " cleaned " rifle several days later . If you didn't do a good enough job
you're gonna see it .

Posted: 4/24/2013 12:00:31 PM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:

Quoted:
After shooting corrosive ammo, I always pour a quart or 2 of scalding hot water through the bore. If the water is hot enough, the barrel will be close to dry from evaporation. I then use solvent and clean as I would after shooting non-corrosive ammo. Good call on scrubbing the bolt well. The bolt face will show rust of not cleaned.

I agree with this.... Where do you get your scalding water from? Kitchen sink? Do you use a funnel? do you remove the action from the stock?

My water heater is set pretty hot and I get the water from the laundry sink close to the heater. I use a funnel I bought from the auto parts store that fits into the front of the receiver. Look for one that would be used for filling through an automatic transmission dipstick tube. I stand the rifle up muzzle down and pour into the chamber end.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - mosin nagant cleaning question

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