Shotgun cleaning/maintenance

[Tim. 0]

Well to carry on my new boy theme, coudl anyone give me advice on the best way to clean and maintain my shotgun.

 

Currently I am brushing through with the bronze brush and then pulling through with the wool mop. Going into storage, in go the snap caps.

Havent had the gun long, so I guess it will need a good grease up at some point again, and an oil.

 

I have a more extensive cleaning kit on order.

 

Look forward to hearing your advice.

[Ricky-N.p.p 0]

just make sure you dry her after every use, give the barrells a good clean and give a light spray with some gun oil(i use browning) i'v also started spraying the stock with browning legia spray and have been quite impressed by the results

[Geoff.C 0]

Before using the bronze brush, I always push a ball of bog-roll down each barrel, using the cleaning rod and jag. This removes all the loose deposits and keeps the brush cleaner. A small smear of grease on the barrel pivot lugs is good, and if you have a multi choke, even if, like me you rarely change the chokes, you still need to remove them once a month - ish. Clean the threads and refit using a little oil, a nip up is all they need. A touch of oil on the final wool mop through is good. Finally, get a silicone cloth and polish off all finger marks. Hold it with the cloth as you put it in the cabinet.

[dicehorn 38]

To all the above good advice, I would recommend if you intend not to use the shotgun for a while, can I suggest you store the shotgun upside down - ie muzzle down. The reason for this is that when we clean shotguns that are not to be used for some time there is a tendency to sometimes put a little more oil around the barrels and action. The problem with this is that over a period of time the oil will move into the action and accumulate into a reservoir and will then start to impregnate the wood in the stock.

 

I have seen many shotguns break at the grip behind the action caused by oil making the wood spongy.

 

Quite honestly, after cleaning the shotgun the best thing is a cloth that has been lightly sprayed with oil. This cloth will lightly oil parts you have missed and at the same time remove excess oil that is on the barrels/action.

 

Peter