Maintaining your rifle is one of the most important things a gunman needs to have on their to-do list. Gun care and respect is crucial. That is why you have to know how to clean a rifle properly in case you own one. In this article, we are going to avoid too much speech and get straight to step by step rifle cleaning process.
Whether you are military or a hunter, the more you take care and respect your gun, the more you maintain or rather boost its value and performance. If you want your gun to be at the top of its game, you just have to love and respect it.
Basically, you need to clean your rifle regularly after every use. Every time you fire your rifle. A lot of activities take place in the barrel that will require correcting. One thing you must not forget when cleaning your gun is that, if you do it wrong, you are going to have an issue with its accuracy and general performance.
What Do You Need For A Gun Cleaning Process?
Before you start cleaning your rifle, you have to have your set up ready. Everything you need for the cleaning process should all be assembled at one place. If you are going to do this from your garage or gun cellar room, you need the workspace in shape. Some of the most common things you will need to assemble, ready for your rifle cleaning includes:
There are way much more things needed for your rifle cleaning assembly. The list is endless. I mean, you can't clean a gun without protecting it from rust. In other words, you are going to need rust protectors like a barricade and so on.
Step By Step How To Clean A Rifle Properly
Like I said earlier, I won't preach in this article. So let's get straight away to step by step process of properly cleaning your rifle. Follow these steps keenly if you want to service your gun the right way.
Unload Your Rifle:
First of all, you have to ensure your gun is unloaded. You don't want to risk handling a loaded gun on a cleaning session. I'm not trying to scare you. After all, the rifle belonging to you means you are not afraid of handling a loaded gun. However, this is a cleaning session and if you are going to disassemble the gun, you need it unloaded. This also makes cleaning the chamber much easier.
Disassemble:
Secondly, you have to disassemble your rifle. This always depends on the level cleaning you planned for. If you are up to a quick cleaning, you only need to do a partial disassembly. On the hard, thorough rifle cleaning will require you to take the whole gun apart.
Wipe Out All The Dirt:
The next step requires you to start inspecting your rifle parts and start cleaning right away. I usually recommend starting with a total wipe down. Wipe all the dust and grease from lust lubrication off. Use any appropriate wiping material. A paper towel will do the job just fine. You might need softer clothing or the likes for the scope.
Rifle Barrel And Other Metal Parts:
After wiping the whole rifle off dust and other stains, it's now time to take care of your barrel. I know you are wondering whether the barrel isn't part of the whole gun, which we already cleaned. The truth is, you need to treat it like it's not. Your rifle's barrel needs closer attention than most parts of your gun.
Grab the patches and stick at the tip of your cleaning rod and stick it into the barrel through the nozzle towards the gun butt. Remember to soak the patches in your solvent before doing this. Repeat the whole process until you have a clean barrel.
Remember to soak the other metal parts like the bolts and such in your solvent as you clean the barrel. Once you are done with the barrel, you can now wipe clean the metal parts that were soaking in the solvent.
Stock Treatment, Rust Protection, And Lubrication:
At this point, you are almost done with cleaning your rifle. Check if your rifle needs a stock treatment and apply it at this point. Have your rifle all shiny and good looking.
Another thing is to prevent the metal parts from rusting. It is at this point that you need to apply your rust protector to the necessary metallic parts.
Nevertheless, you need to grease movable parts of the gun. This will make handling your rifle much easier and smooth.
Reassemble The Rifle:
Lastly, you can now put your rifle back together. Ensure you've followed all the above steps carefully, and then reassemble your rifle back in shape, part by part. You have to be easy and careful with this last process. You can now watch and admire your rifle because you've just got your baby sparkling clean and ready to take any target down with a lot of ease.
I am Robert Redford, A hunting enthusiast and I have more than 9 years of hunting experience. I have created this blog in order to share my research and experience with those who love hunting and shooting so much. I devote most of the time creating research-based product recommended to you for an easy pick among multiple options.