For the avid shooter, maintaining a regular gun care routine is essential for the best performance of your fire arm. Below you’ll find a step by step guide on how the pros at Selwood Farm keep our guns in tip top shape for sporting clay and hunting activities.
Step 1: Start by partial breakdown of your gun. For over-unders, break down to its primary parts. For automatic shotguns, make sure every piece is broken down to where all moving parts are exposed. Pump guns can be stripped all the way down, but make sure not to remove any small parts within the action.
Step 2: Use an aerosol powder solvent or degreaser designed for firearms to clean areas with heavy buildup. Be careful to avoid spraying any part with small springs or pieces. Sometimes, spraying aerosol products into a trigger unit or the action can push parts out of whack or drive crud into places you don’t want it to be. Your main priorities are the barrel, gas chamber (if there is one), choke tubes and any areas with significant metal-on-metal friction
Step 3: Make sure your snake of choice is clean, and be careful that the pull cord doesn’t catch on any small parts before you pull it through the barrel.
Another trick is to drop the cord through the barrel to the ground, stand on the rope and slowly pull the barrel up, drawing the snake through it.
Step 4: Use a brass brush attached to the handle segment of a three-piece cleaning rod. Spray some solvent into the tube and start scrubbing.Use an old worn-out rifle brush to scrape the crud from the threads. If the brush is dirty, clean it with a few lengthy blasts from the aerosol solvent. To clean the barrel’s threads, use a straw and the spray to blast out as much crud as possible. Use an old rag to clean remaining debris by wadding up the rag to fit tightly in the muzzle and “screwing” it into the threads. Once done, reinstall the chokes with a dab of grease to prevent seizing, and make a final swab through with the snake.
Step 5: Cotton swabs, rags and brushes work best to clean the surface filth and any areas with large moving parts. If shooting an autoloader, now’s the time to clean the piston and spring assembly around the gas ports.
Step 6: Finish with a visual inspection of the entire gun. Clean where needed, and apply a thin coat of oil to the exterior surfaces. Tighten up any screws or hardware, and reassemble the gun.
