David Petzal article- How to clean your rifle

[Deleted member 107796]

Hey all,
Len has his excellent rifle cleaning primer out here but I also ran across this Petzal article, which reinforces much of the feedback I've seen at this site. I like to read his take on just about anything gun related:

How to Clean a Rifle | Field & Stream (fieldandstream.com)

cheers

 

[Muddyboots]

The one thing that I did years ago that has made gun cleaning not a chore was to dedicate an old Steelcase table (so heavy you could land a helo on it!) against a wall with shelving strictly for cleaning guns. Cleaning rods are placed on shelf brackets, cleaning supplies organized on shelves and all fluids are stored in metal cake pans. Old Tipton vise stays put on table and once in a while I take it to car wash and power wash it clean! Also keep old bath towels as a table mat and toss once they get grimey. I still like the bottle patch trap to collect crummy patches and excess fluids. Easier cleanup with it! TV off to side and cleaning is no longer chore at all! Also good spot for some gunsmithing, barrel vise on table, regular vise as well.

 

[Ingwe]

Wow, that is some cleaning process!

I send a few Hoppe's #9 patches down the bore and then I wait 15 minutes, then I do 20 passes with a nylon brush, followed by another Hoppe's patch, then dry patches until bore is dry.

I then send a few Butch's Copper Solvent down and wait 15 minutes again before I dry bore again. Then just a few wet Hoppe's again, followed by dry patches until bore is dry. Finally one patch with a few drops of Break Free and that's it.

I can appreciate Dave's procedure but it seems unnecessary and too time consuming....for me anyway.