doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Another burning question...

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?

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.

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.

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

Dove gun bore clean wipe down.Duck guns freshwater full meal deal.

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.

No blinds for me hunting Central Texas .Just lay down on the muddy bank.

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.

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

.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.