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Posted By: Lloyd3 Another burning question... - 04/26/22 01:40 AM
Perhaps it's age, but I have developed some rather odd gun-cleaning biases. I scrub my dainty English 16 pretty much after each use when hunting, but I let my Turkish target stackbarrel sit for days after use (& sometimes very hard use) and...I must confess that I have been known to treat some of my pump shotguns almost as callously (heavy sigh). I'd never thought about this much before but I suspect it's a deference-thing being shown to the older(and hand-made & more-expensive) English gun over the machine-made units. I don't even sweat the cleaning all that much on my lovely little .410/28 Dickenson (it's much newer and Turkish as well). I certainly don't abuse it (and clean it immediately if hunting in inclement weather), but I clearly treat it differently. It's finishes and modern steels are significantly more-resistant to wear & tear than the 100 plus year-old gun (& is part of my attraction to it). Different horses for different courses as the old saying goes. Am I alone in this malady?
Posted By: skeettx Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 01:45 AM
Hello Brother
Enjoyed our time at Whittington
I am in the same family that you are in
the non-scrub cleaning of more modern guns.
In fact I rarely clean the bore of 22 rifles until
the accuracy starts to go south.
Posted By: old colonel Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 02:23 AM
Bias on cleaning, all guns deserve proper care.

I am surprised as I am obsessive in cleaning any and every gun three times. Once the day shot, again the day after, and again two days on.

Like howitzers the metal sweats and we clean them several times after live fire to ensure perfection.

Last week I actually ran patches down 100% of the gun safe in preparation for the summer storage.

I never ceased to be amazed at the dirt I see in the bores of guns offered for sale.
Posted By: Ted Schefelbein Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 02:45 AM
Hmm. If I shoot it, I pretty much clean it, that day. Exception would be if I’m not home, and planning to use it the next day, or, if the dog is so full of burrs she needs a comb, cut and bath. Gun gets it the next day, in either event. A few of the pump guns have gone for a duck season as loaners, I cleaned them when they came home, and I have let a pump run for a month of trap season, if the weather has been fair.
I’ve seen some pumps that lived horrific lives, the dang things just keep working, however. Still bugs me to see it.

Best,
Ted
Posted By: pipeliner Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 02:47 AM
Dove gun bore clean wipe down.Duck guns freshwater full meal deal.
Posted By: Replacement Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 02:51 AM
Quote
Am I alone in this malady?
I am guilty regarding my duck repeaters. Cleaning during the season consists of hosing the mud off at the end of the day, and then a thorough hosing after the season, followed by oiling all the metal stuff. Seems to work.
Posted By: pipeliner Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 03:11 AM
No blinds for me hunting Central Texas .Just lay down on the muddy bank.
Posted By: Stanton Hillis Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 11:07 AM
Your Dickinson has chrome-lined bores. Most of the newer made O/U guns from Turkey and Italy have as well. Chrome lined bores are extremely corrosion resistant. I have never seen corrosion in a chrome lined bore, regardless the amount of abuse or neglect. The outside surfaces are another matter.

IMO your vintage guns need more attention than the newer made guns with the corrosion resistant finishes. I have often found that certain guns of mine need more rust protection than others, I believe due to the type steel they are made of..

I don't obsess over them. Even my Perazzi doesn't get a thorough patch-and-solvent bore scrubbing after every use. It has never developed any corrosion, in about 15 years of use. I care for my guns, but I'm not anal about it. I can see no sense in cleaning a clean gun before using it. If it's clean and protected when I put it away in it's case it will be ready to use when I take it out. I don't use heavy grease in the bores for protection, so they need no attention before use. An exception to this is my hand made m/l rifles. Their bores are protected with RIG, and I thoroughly clean all that out before using them. Rivelling in a shotgun barrel can occur, supposedly, from firing with too much residual oil/grease in the bore, but with the newer, high tech oils we I now use I cannot imagine it ever causing a problem. Guns are often terribly over-lubed.
Posted By: Run With The Fox Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 12:01 PM
As we said in my beloved USMC-- "Never any excuse for a rusty rfle"" add in shotguns and handguns to that military mantra--besides, I enjoy safe handling of my working collection, even on days when weather or other chores keep me from being outdoors shooting them. RWTF
Posted By: Tom Findrick Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 12:47 PM
Originally Posted by skeettx
Hello Brother
Enjoyed our time at Whittington
I am in the same family that you are in
the non-scrub cleaning of more modern guns.
In fact I rarely clean the bore of 22 rifles until
the accuracy starts to go south.

.22 LR don’t need to be cleaned constantly; every few hundred rounds is plenty , or your standard of accuracy loss.
The priming is noncorrosive and the lube/wax probably protects the steel.
Posted By: Lloyd3 Re: Another burning question... - 04/26/22 02:49 PM
Stan: Appreciate the confirmation on the chrome-lined bores in the Turkish guns (I knew that, but had somehow forgotten it). In the world I grew up in, guns needed to be over-oiled because of the terrible humidity we experienced nearly year-round there. The downside of all that was lots of wrecked stock heads in some doubles (and even some pumps & lever guns). I got into the habit of storing guns barrels down to keep the excess oils from running down into the stocks and still do it to this day. The care & feeding components of many older guns is more-stringent than a lot of the more-modern stuff and I have responded accordingly. In dry climates, it's a bit of a no-brainer (a bore-snake and a quick wipe-down are all they need), but in more-damp places I'd be watching far more carefully. In the end, the cleaning habits ingrained by strict fathers (and/or the millitary) is still a very good policy.

There seems to be an emotional component to all this as well, as I notice that I treat some guns w/more affection than others. It's a wonderful combination of the art/history (& the price tag). I clearly love some guns for their utility and others for their art. On a sliding scale, all my firearms seem to fall somewhere on that pantheon.
Posted By: keith Re: Another burning question... - 04/27/22 09:24 AM
I agree almost 100% with Stan's observations on gun cleaning, and feel that obsessive and repeated cleaning of already clean guns may indicate mental problems in some individuals.

The only slight deviation I have from Stan's ideas on gun cleaning is his use of RIG to protect the bores of black powder guns. I used to occasionally have slight after-rust with my muzzleloaders, no matter how carefully I cleaned and oiled the bores. A clean patch ran through the barrel a few months after cleaning would often be tinged with rust color. So I also began using RIG for longer term protection, which helped a lot. Then I switched from petroleum based patch and bullet lubes, and began using Thompson Center Natural Lube. Now I clean my black powder guns with nothing but hot water, dry the bores thoroughly, and give them a light coat of the same Thompson Center Natural Lube. My after-rust problems are a thing of the past.
Posted By: Shotgunjones Re: Another burning question... - 04/27/22 03:57 PM
After seeing a wrecked Beretta 682 that spent a Michigan winter in a case in the trunk of a car while the owner was in sunny Florida...

I clean my equipment and put it away in a dry safe promptly... just so I don't forget like Joe did.

We do get older...
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