Mosin Cleaning

[Guest 23rdID]

I know this has certainly been beaten to death (i'm a noob to mosins & corrosive ammo), but when shooting corrosive ammo is it better to wipe down with soap/water, or is hoppes 9 sufficient? Or is either acceptable alternatives to one another. Or use them together. Or is it really just personal preference?

I'm excited about shooting my new mosin for the first time this weekend but I don't want a rust bucket when I'm done!

And as an aside, does anyone here have that ati mosin fiberglass type stock for their rifle like I have seen for sale on cheaper than dirt and MidwayUSA or is that thought to be sacrilege?

Sorry guys for the dumb question, I'm sure it's been asked a ton

[Garufa]

You will need to clean it first with hot soap and water. Many use Windex (as I often do), but the only thing in there that's useful is the water, so you might as well go the soap/water method.

The water flushes out the corrosive salts from the primers. Hoppe's and any other type cleaning solution will not.

After you thoroughly clean with the soap/water or Windex, then clean normally with Hoppe's or your solvent of choice.

Make you clean the bolt face too! A little bit of gas often comes back through the primer pocket and deposits the corrosives there.

Oh, and have fun! For some reason those ugly things are a blast.

Edited November 13, 2009 by Garufa

[Guest 23rdID]

You will need to clean it first with hot soap and water. Many use Windex (as I often do), but the only thing in there that's useful is the water, so you might as well go the soap/water method.

The water flushes out the corrosive salts from the primers. Hoppe's and any other type cleaning solution will not.

After you thoroughly clean with the soap/water or Windex, then clean normally with Hoppe's or your solvent of choice.

Make you clean the bolt face too! A little bit of gas often comes back through the primer pocket and deposits the corrosives there.

Oh, and have fun! For some reason those ugly things are a blast.

Thanks for your response, and I'm really looking forward to shooting it

so when you clean it with soap and water do you just dip the patch or swab or whatever and then run it through the bore or do you actually pour it down the barrel and/or submerge the bolt?

[Garufa]

Thanks for your response, and I'm really looking forward to shooting it

so when you clean it with soap and water do you just dip the patch or swab or whatever and then run it through the bore or do you actually pour it down the barrel and/or submerge the bolt?

I usually just dip patches in the soap & water and run them through the barrel - from the breech end. If feeing especially retentive then I might just pour the whole cup down the barrel to flush it out. The only problem with that is water will always get somewhere you don't want it!

No need to submerge the bolt, just clean the bolt-face with a patch soaked in soap & water or windex.

After all that start in with the Hoppe's or whatever. You'll never get it completely clean, especially using suprlus ammo. They key is just to halt the corrosion.

[Guest jimdigriz]

And as an aside, does anyone here have that ati mosin fiberglass type stock for their rifle like I have seen for sale on cheaper than dirt and MidwayUSA or is that thought to be sacrilege?

I don't think it is "sacrilege", but I would only get one for a Mosin with a ruined stock. It would be nice if there were some other options, because I've heard a lot of complaints about the ATI stock. I've heard that Boyd's is working on a military replacement stock for the Mosin.

[Guest 23rdID]

That would be kind of neat to get a new stock from boyd's if they ever made one. The stock on my 91/30 presently is pretty nice, but it had a bunch of goop in the slots where the dog collar things go through. Boyd's makes a pretty nice M1 garand stock for the Civilian Marksmanship Program, I'm really happy with how my M1 looks now.

And it's kind of a bummer that ATI stock only has a raised cheek rest on the side for righties to use, I'm a lefty :-\ Guess I'll just stick with the stock I have now and throw a recoil pad on there

[TNRobocop]

There is a thread on ARFCOM that Old Painless restored/refinished/repaired as shooters three of them.

The bore was so rusty and horrible that he cleaned out the barrel first with Naval Jelly a bunch of times then he cleaned it like normal. He cleaned the stocks up with Easy-Off oven cleaner and used mineral spirits to clean the metal pieces. Repainted the metal pieces with spray paint and the wood he stained.

Something to think about. They turned out really nice.

[Tempest455]

It will take A LOT of cleaning when done if using the old surplus ammo.

What the point of owning an old rifle w/ history if you are going to replace the stock?

[Guest 23rdID]

What the point of owning an old rifle w/ history if you are going to replace the stock?

That's kinda what I figured, but they do kinda look cool in the new stock. And it has a recoil pad attached. Those were my initial thoughts.

I am inclined to agree with the historical aspect of the wood stock though, and that "nancy pad" or whatever seems like it'll do the trick and keep the old furniture intact

[Guest HvyMtl]

Hmm. Here is a suggestion - get you a VG-Excellent Nagant with all the numbers matching (including the bayonet) and keep that one stock.

Then buy one that the numbers do not match, or has a bad stock, and put it in a new stock.

That way you have one for the historical merit, and one to go hunting,or have fun with...

Since the prices are still low...

[DWARREN123]

I would first use hot soapy water on anyplace that may have corrosive salts on it, i.e. bolt face, chamber and bore.

Dry then clean as you would for regular ammo and lube, sometimes need to do the regular cleaning 2 or 3 days after also.

[Guest Bluemax]

And as an aside, does anyone here have that ati mosin fiberglass type stock for their rifle like I have seen for sale on cheaper than dirt and MidwayUSA or is that thought to be sacrilege?

Sorry guys for the dumb question, I'm sure it's been asked a ton

Call it sacrilege if you want but if loving her is wrong I don't wanna be right:D:D

[Tempest455]

I have two Mosins and every time I pull them out at the range, they get more questions than guys with decked out high tech rifles and gizmos. My AR is almost boring to shoot by comparison.

They are like the Rat Rod's of rifles. Old wood is cool!

[Guest 23rdID]

bluemax that's an awesome looking rifle! Is that the same stock I'm talking about? Looks like it...

[Guest Bluemax]

Yea, it's the ATI.

[Mike.357]

okay, so if ammoniated window cleaner is used and only the water in it is effective against the corrosive salts, then why do people use water and SOAP?

I have always wondered about this.

What purpose does the soap serve? Why not just use plain old tap water?

[Oh Shoot]

okay, so if ammoniated window cleaner is used and only the water in it is effective against the corrosive salts, then why do people use water and SOAP?

I have always wondered about this.

What purpose does the soap serve? Why not just use plain old tap water?

Well, one of the main reasons you get cleaner using soap and water instead of water alone is that the soap grabs gunk in a colloidal suspension and emulsifies normally insoluble goop so that it will dissolve in the water.

So start using soap when you shower, Mikey!

- OS

[Mike.357]

So start using soap when you shower, Mikey!

nope I am sticking with Windex in the shower.

okay, back to the leaves.

[K191145]

You will need to clean it first with hot soap and water. Many use Windex (as I often do), but the only thing in there that's useful is the water, so you might as well go the soap/water method.

The water flushes out the corrosive salts from the primers. Hoppe's and any other type cleaning solution will not.

After you thoroughly clean with the soap/water or Windex, then clean normally with Hoppe's or your solvent of choice.

Make you clean the bolt face too! A little bit of gas often comes back through the primer pocket and deposits the corrosives there.

Oh, and have fun! For some reason those ugly things are a blast.

I've always used regular old solvent to clean mine but I'll try Windex next time. Thanks for that info.

Another thing I did after reading about sticking bolts was to take an old cleaning rod with a nylon .45 caliber brush, putting it in a drill, drench it with solvent and really scrub the chamber. I thought a nylon brush would be more gentle than a brass brush since I used a drill. After doing that for about 10 minutes, I haven't had a fired case stick in the chamber since. It was a problem before I did that, I've heard it was because the Cosmoline that coated the chamber.