what damage has been done?

[hitman13]

let my brother in law take my mosin shooting 2 weekends ago. he put about 30 rounds of corrosive ammo down range. he brought back the gun today and its dirty, i ask him if he cleaned the barrel like i told him to and he says he forgot, so i cleaned it now.

so how bad is that for the gun?

[sloguy]

you want to wash the bore with water. as i understand it the water neutralizes the stuff that causes the corrosion. way i hear it is that you can clean the heck out of it with regular bore cleaner and the rust will still show up because it wasnt neutralized. i always thought you needed to use windex for this nut other here in the forum tell me that it only takes water.

make sure you dry and oil the gun immediately after the water.

[GSequoia]

I doubt two weeks is really going to make or break it. I clean with Hoppes Number Nine, that gets the salts out.

Alternatively wash with ammonia and water then go through your normal cleaning routine.


These things have had corrosive ammunition used for ages.

[fal_762x51]

Boiling hot water and 7.62 Hoppes always worked for me.

[paul0660]

Damage depends on how much moisture is in the air. The primer salts attract the moisture and cause rusting. Two weeks probably had an effect, but it isn't going to ruin the bore.

BTW, hoppes #9 does not clean salts well. It says it does, but a comparison of cleaners (which I cannot find online right now) did a good job of comparing water, windex, and every other common cleaner on steel plates exposed to corrosive salts and moisture. The winner in the commercial catagory was Outer's odorless solvent, it was nearly as good as water. Hoppes #9 was an also ran, there was rust damage after its use.

Personally I pour boiling water from the chamber end of the barrel, which evaporates quickly, then follow with a regular cleaning of #9. Don't forget to wipe the bolt face and to disassemble it occasionally for a full cleaning.

Brothers in law.......................

[Socal858]

Boiling hot water and 7.62 Hoppes always worked for me.

this dude taught me a cool trick at the range. just shoot the mosin till the barrel is too hot to touch, then pour a little bit of water (or water & windex) down the bore. everyone says pour boiling water but why not have your rifle take care of the extra step of boiling the water for you?

[fal_762x51]

Well I'm not that rich to shoot enough 54r to get my barrel hot.

[AJAX22]

Well I'm not that rich to shoot enough 54r to get my barrel hot.

too cheap to pop off 20 rounds?

[ocabj]

Back when I was into shooting bolt action surplus rifles with corrosive ammo, I would simply use a 70/30 mixture of water to household ammonia. I'd sop a few patches with this stuff and run it through the bore and let it sit for several minutes then then do it a few more times. After that, dry and clean as usual with standard bore solvent. Dry and oily patch. Done.

Note: Ammonia does nothing for corrosive salts. The only reason ammonia is even in the picture is to help kill copper.

I think the best method was outlined in an article I read in Shotgun News I saw a couple years ago. Get a small bucket of warm water. Run rod and patch through the bore until it just gets to the muzzle end. Make sure patch and jag are tight fitting in the bore. Insert muzzle end of rifle into the water. Draw the patch back through the bore back out of the breech. This will create a suction action that will draw water up into the bore and the water will drop back out the muzzle end after the rod is pulled completely back out, thus washing the bore.

[Fjold]

The damage is that you have a retard for a BIL:

[hybridatsun350]

The bores on the old Mosins are usually so nasty I don't think anything could make them worse! haha

[GSequoia]

too cheap to pop off 20 rounds?

He speakens the truth.


I popped off about twenty rounds one night.. Barrel was still warm to the touch forty minutes later

[duenor]

it doesnt take even 5 if you are using most surplus. that stuff is usually loaded pretty hot.

i like the bucket idea.

[sloguy]

it doesnt take even 5 if you are using most surplus. that stuff is usually loaded pretty hot.

i like the bucket idea.

the buckets good. i like the detachable shower head. i just get the shower hot and spray things out like that. then if i am worried about rust ill use the propane torch to gently warm the barrel up to warm and let it sit for a bit before oiling.

[Spiggy]

I keep my barrel cleaning solution in the neat little oil bottles that usually come with packaged mosin nagants