Thread: Care & Maintenance Of Our Firearms

Livin' and hunting in the Pacific Northwest I fought moisture problems like many and probably bought and used every available product to protect my guns I could find. Its always raining during hunting season and whatever firearm I was using would get drenched. An old guru suggested one day that I stopped battling mother nature and go with the flow. So when my favorite rifle needed cleaning I just took it outside and rolled it in the wet grass in the yard to clean the powder residue off of it, then brought it back inside the house, leaned it in the corner near the heater to dry. After several layers of rust builds up you really stop worrying about it and all the grass clippings, sticks, and tree debris that stick to the barrel and stock actually create a great camo pattern and form a texture to help you hang on to the gun when it goes "bang". You'd be surprised how much money you'll save not buying all those oils, solvents, qtips, paper towels, rags and etc you think you need to keep your firearm in good working condition. One more added benefit, one day we suffered a break in and lost jewelry, electronics, and so forth but that old gun leaning in the corner wasn't bothered at all. Its possible whoever the thief was he didn't recognize such a "natural" looking firearm and since it didn't smell like Hoppes #9 then he didn't want it. I would suggest more of you should take this approach, I'm pretty sure I've saved enough money to buy a new rifle when the time comes. I did have to weld a handle extension on the bolt handle to operate the bolt but that just child proofs the gun for when we have visitors.

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Originally Posted by Hirlau

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double, double

No, triple, triple

Originally Posted by Ozarkedger

Livin' and hunting in the Pacific Northwest I fought moisture problems like many and probably bought and used every available product to protect my guns I could find. Its always raining during hunting season and whatever firearm I was using would get drenched. An old guru suggested one day that I stopped battling mother nature and go with the flow.

So when my favorite rifle needed cleaning I just took it outside and rolled it in the wet grass in the yard to clean the powder residue off of it, then brought it back inside the house, leaned it in the corner near the heater to dry. After several layers of rust builds up you really stop worrying about it and all the grass clippings, sticks, and tree debris that stick to the barrel and stock actually create a great camo pattern and form a texture to help you hang on to the gun when it goes "bang". You'd be surprised how much money you'll save not buying all those oils, solvents, qtips, paper towels, rags and etc you think you need to keep your firearm in good working condition.

One more added benefit, one day we suffered a break in and lost jewelry, electronics, and so forth but that old gun leaning in the corner wasn't bothered at all. Its possible whoever the thief was he didn't recognize such a "natural" looking firearm and since it didn't smell like Hoppes #9 then he didn't want it. I would suggest more of you should take this approach, I'm pretty sure I've saved enough money to buy a new rifle when the time comes.

I did have to weld a handle extension on the bolt handle to operate the bolt but that just child proofs the gun for when we have visitors.

Just a tip you can take or leave ..... if every so often you hit the enter key, between thoughts/text, it is easier on the eyes of the reader. A lot of old folks, like me, will just skip a post if it is too congested word wise. I just hit 'reply, spread it out myself, read it, and either answer or hit cancel.

This one interested me. Reminds me of when I got my first Glock. I was a revolver man. Blue S&Ws. I had a carry permit beginning in '93, but I only kept a 357 in the glove compartment until after 2001 when I began packing regularly. My experience with semi autos was limited to 45acp, and 22LR target pistols. I didn't feel they were reliable enough to depend on for self defense.

Anyway, in '96 a buddy of mine got me to do something I said I'd never do ...... shoot a plastic gun. Shooting his G-27 was love at first magazine. So wasn't long before I owned that gun. The great thing about Glocks was you could drop them in mud for days, drag them behind stagecoaches, freeze them, drive over them with dump trucks ...... pick them up and shoot thousands of rounds.

So it was such a relief to have a pistol I could shoot, not clean every single time I shot it, like my beloved revolvers, you could eat off of them, and the Glock was as reliable as a Swiss watch. So I let that thing bang around in my car, glove box, under the seat ..... shoot it ..... throw it back in the car. I didn't care if the finish got dinged. I had it 5 years before I cleaned it and shot thousands of rounds thorough it without a glitch. I don't recommend that for everyone though ....

Jimmy, thanks for editing for me!

Don't know why I didn't think of it.

Brainless I guess... probably the recoil of shooting my .22 too much.

In storage:

field strip and lube about once a year; sometimes a detail strip every 3-5 years.


In regular use or carry:

brush it off and check lube every week or less.
field strip every month or less.
detail strip every 6-12 months (or ASAP if the firearm gets wet from any liquid or heavy condensation).


After firing:

at least a field strip every day until the first patch of the day comes out clean.


I used to use Hoppe's #9 and light gun or motor oil (or 3-in-1).
Since 1970 it was Hoppe's #9 and CLP. RIG for storage.
Since about 1992 to now: Almost exclusively Ballistol for cleaning, lube, and long-term storage. Occasionally, not often, Hoppe's #9 is still used right before the Ballistol. For semi-automatics, the Ballistol is sometimes replaced with Mobile 1 0W-20.

For heavy bearing surfaces like bolt action camming surfaces I use a light to medium grease, such as slick 50, with moly-d added.
For very sandy and dusty areas I use a dry lube, like Dri-Slide.

Every Sunday morning I drink a pot of coffee, smoke a cigar and fieldstrip/clean anything I've carried over the week.

As for products, I stick to old formula Hoppes No. 9 and Frog lube. Brass brush then patches until clean then a couple pulls of the bore snake and a final patch with a very little bit of Frog lube.

About once a month I field strip anything I've carried. Aside from that I clean anything that was used after a range trip and do a quick clean a lube everything around every 6 months.

I have been hearing more and more about his Frog Lube, gotta look into it. What makes it so special?

never used it,,,,,,,