The (to me, at least) Gun Cleaning Revolution

  A few weeks ago I took the Arisaka rifle to a buddy's house to run the parts through his ultrasonic cleaner, to make sure that I got everything gunky out of it. After that was finished (and WOW, a bunch of goop boiled out of the bolt pieces. I was a little surprised at how well it worked), he had  me run a Bore Snake through the barrel to make sure it was cleaned - and I was instantly sold on how useful it was.

  I'd seen the Bore Snakes before - and another friend of mine even has some - but I was never convinced that it was any better than my old rod-and-brush method. It felt gimmicky. Once I got over my Old Ways Is Best Ways attitude, I was instantly struck by how quickly the Bore Snake cleaned and polished the Arisaka barrel. Looking down the barrel with a flexilight, the lands and grooves gleamed at me.

  I ended up with a bunch of Amazon credit, so I picked up Bore Snakes for .22LR, 6mm/.243 and .30 cal - that takes care of all our guns except for Mama Bear's little Rossi pistol in .38SPL and the two 12ga shotguns. They arrived a week ago and today I got down to the business of using them.

This is the .22LR - I like that the different calibers are different colours. Please note that this says "PISTOL CLEANER," this becomes relevant later on.


And here it is unwrapped:

  I started out with our Single Six pistols. My gods, I love my old Single Six (the one with wood grips). As I've said later, it might be the first gun I ever fired and it's certainly one of my faovurites. The other is the one I bought for Mama Bear - got it the same day I picked up her Remington 514 and she loves hers as well.

  I grew up with the smell of Hoppes's solvent - it's a very comforting scent to me. However, Mama Bear's not a fan and so I've discovered a few things that are less aromatic and very good. M-Pro 7 Gun Cleaner is pretty amazing as a solvent - powerful, quick, gentle on my hands and with FAR fewer vapors. It both smells better AND releases fewer vapors to tint the air. This is a clear advantage when I have to work at the breakfast island. Someday when I have a dedicated workshop, I won't worry about it but for now, the M-Pro 7 is the business. I've also been a big fan of the Rem Oil, it flows lightly, doesn't get gunky and doesn't seem to build up.

So, starting with my Single Six, I pull the cylinder pin, pop the cylinder out, spray everything with a bit of solvent and let it sit for a moment.

Run the Bore Snake through a couple of times....

... and that's it. Wipe 'em down, a drop of oil on the moving parts, and reassemble. I did both of those pistols in about 5 minutes all told, and I took my time.

  I tried to clean Mama Bear's  remington 514 .22LR rifle, but remember how the blister back said "PISTOL CLEANER"? Yeah.... the pull string was about 6" too short. Damn. The 514 and the Nylon 66 have to wait for the RIFLE CLEANER to arrive.

  I then cleaned my Remington 788 (6mm Remington), Arisaka Model 99 (7.7 Arisaka), and Remington 760 (.30-06). All told, I spent less than 20 miniutes cleaning all the firearms - spraying down the bolt/action on each and brushing it out, and I checked each one's barrel with a light to ensure that it was shiny and clean.

  I'm damned impressed. I'm still going to do a complete teardown and clean once a year whether the guns need it or not, but for coming home after a day in the field, you cannot beat the speed and convenience of these Bore Snakes. I'm a certified believer now.