Bore Cleaning

Bore Cleaning After Using Corrosive Ammo

I don’t know if many of you guys ever shoot corrosive 9mm P military surplus ammo in your Luger, but if you do, here is a good way to maintain the bore, and not get any rust forming after shooting. This also works for firearms other than Lugers also.

This is how I do it... it's easy, it's fast, and it's effective. Best of all you can do it while still on the firing line and thus not offend your wife/girlfriend, etc., with the usually pungent stench of GI Corrosive Ammo cleaners in your home. My wife has threatened me with my life for stinking up the house!

Dilute regular household ammonia (sudsy is best but regular is OK too) to 2/1 or 3/1 with water (it can be as much as 10/1 if the smell really gets to you). Keep in a small, sealed bottle to take to the range with you. After you are finished firing for the day, and still at the range, remove the barrel assembly, and moisten (not dripping-wet) a patch and run it down the bore and back a couple of times. I then run another moistened patch down the bore just to be sure. This instantly will neutralize and dissolve the corrosive salt-compounds from the primers and start in on the copper and powder fouling with a vengeance. Let stand for thirty seconds or so (just enough time to take off and throw away the ammonia-patch you just used and put a new, dry patch on your rod). Run the dry patch (or several) down the bore and you are most literally done.

DON'T OVERDO IT! More ISN'T better in this case...

You really don't want to slop ammonia (especially if heavily concentrated) all over the blued parts of the pistol (as it could begin to remove bluing after 30 minutes or so) and you also shouldn't leave the ammonia in the bore for an extended period of time as that may (not WILL, but MAY) cause "crazing" (microscopic pitting) of the metal. I also recommend that you not get any ammonia mixture on the wood grips. If you are worried about primer residue getting on the bolt-face you may want to quickly wipe it with the wet patch before throwing it away and quickly dry it. Same thing with the interior of the receiver, but again, don't go overboard, just wet it and dry it and get done with it.

As a final precaution (since the ammonia will also kill all lubricants and leave the metal very dry) you can run a patch of gun-oil down the bore and leave it like that for protection from the elements. Since this method should effectively neutralize the corrosive effects of the ammunition, I still recommend that you do a thorough cleaning of the pistol as you normally would when you get home from the range. This simple field cleaning method may help in the humid months of the year when you will not be able to clean the pistol for several hours after firing. The oil I use in the bore and on all the metal surfaces in a product called "Clenzoil". This is the best I have found on the market today. I did a "salt test" on a bar of polished CRS with Clenzoil and other commonly available gun oils. The Clenzoil came out on top! The other oils I used were high quality and will do a great job, but from my "unscientific", but controlled test, the Clenzoil was the best. Take a look at their site at <http://www.clenzoil.com/>

I've been cleaning rifles and pistols this way for years, and have never had rust form in any bore. But I warn you... your bore is much more be likely to be damaged from an over-enthusiastic scrubbing to get out that "last speck of copper" (which has no affect on the actual accuracy of your firearm), than it will with all the rounds you could possibly send down it during your lifetime.

Marvin