I'm fairly new to shooting and have just used up my first can of Napier cleaning spray. Before I order a new can, is the browning stuff that is supposed to be safe to get on wood any good? I'm careful not to get oil on the wood if possible, but nearly always get a little bit on the wood when wiping over the action. Am I just worrying too much about it? Thanks.
Gun cleaning spray
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Cosmicblue
Well-known member
You are worrying about it a bit too much. :smile: I use the Napier stuff and have done for some years, it's very light and wipes off the wood easily.
Before you dash out and spend a fortune on 'Gun cleaning products', may I explain how I clean my guns. If the bores are really dirty and have plastic fouling in the chamber area, I spray some Phillips barrel cleaner down each barrel and then lay them flat on the bench whilst I go and have a cuppa. After some 20/30 minutes, I roll 3 pieces of bog roll together and shove into one barrel, repeat for the other barrel. Then push rod and bronze brush (Payne Galway variety) into barrel forcing the bog roll through at the same time. This is usually sufficient to get them clean, I then follow with a second rod and plastic jag, fitted with a further 3 pieces of bog roll folded lengthwise and shortened to fit barrel. Wipe the outside of metalwork with a micro fibre cloth soaked in car engine oil (preferably clean oil !). If the barrels have a centre vented rib, I spray them with 3 in 1 aerosol can oil (99p in pound shop) and stand on newspaper, inverting barrels after around 15 minutes. Wipe out the action and breech face with oil soaked rag, apply some Lucas red grease ( £6 off Ebay for a MASSIVE tub) to hinge pin and knuckles (the guns, not mine). Remove chokes, clean and apply Lucas red gun oil (£6 a bottle off Ebay). Spray stock with beeswax furniture polish (£1.29 Home Bargains). Job Done !
I only remove the chokes after every 5/6th outing for cleaning, I only use Phillips barrel cleaner IF there is fouling in the barrel. If it is raining, or looking like it may, when I am about to shoot, I spray the outside of my barrels with a 3 in 1 spray oil, wiping off the excess with a piece of kitchen towel before slipping the gun. I then spray the outside of the barrels, if wet, with WD40 after shooting, prior to the journey home. This has worked for me over the last 55 years or so and my guns can only be described as 'mint' condition. (according to those that I shoot with, anyway) Hope this helps, better to spend the money saved on cartridges, rather than overpriced 'gun cleaning products'.
I only remove the chokes after every 5/6th outing for cleaning, I only use Phillips barrel cleaner IF there is fouling in the barrel. If it is raining, or looking like it may, when I am about to shoot, I spray the outside of my barrels with a 3 in 1 spray oil, wiping off the excess with a piece of kitchen towel before slipping the gun. I then spray the outside of the barrels, if wet, with WD40 after shooting, prior to the journey home. This has worked for me over the last 55 years or so and my guns can only be described as 'mint' condition. (according to those that I shoot with, anyway) Hope this helps, better to spend the money saved on cartridges, rather than overpriced 'gun cleaning products'.
I agree wholeheartedly with the above statement (sorry for editing your quote Westley).
I'm amazed with the amount of money people use on lubricant/cleaners for their shotguns. As Westley say, use normal stuff you can get from the local stores. Dedicated shotgun grease (especially for chokes) is just ridiculous expensive. "Magic" lubricants also. I my self are a new shotgun shooter, but have cleaned and worked with much more complicated weapons over the years. We have dedicated gun oil for them, but on many occasions I have used normal automotive oil for preservation, automotive oil mixed with diesel for lubrication and grease intended for idler wheels for pressure points. I might be totally wrong but in my opinion, the best cleaning equipment you can have is a good rod, good bronze brush and a good jag (I prefer split). The rest is just standard stuff.
Lars
The aerosol are not the worst. But when 25ml of grease cost 8£ for 25ml (that's a liter price of 320
). Or an advanced roll of toiletpaper sells for 6£ that's a bit ridiculous in my world. I use the aerosols my self, for the ease of it. Lars
FloodDefence
Well-known member
Napier stuff is great, bought a can of the browning Ligea (spelling?) and didn’t find it anywhere near as good at helping shift the crud in the barrels, so poor in fact I went and bought more Napier and left the browning stuff in the cupboard as a back up.
To be fair the Legia isn't specifically for barrel use, rather a good all rounder. I scrub the barrels with a 10 gauge wire brush first and can literally go weeks between doing even that as luckily I don't seem to get the level of lead/plastic deposits as some do.
FloodDefence
Well-known member
Your probably right, my barrels come up pretty well and with relative ease after shooting plastic wad however my Saturday morning local shoot is fibre only, ‘nuff said.
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Jonny English
Well-known member
Philips bore cleaner for cleaning barrels, then a squirt of liege when done, stops the muck from sticking and makes them loads easier to clean next time.
Will Hewland
Well-known member
I’ve been using since day 1. Nothing wrong with it all and it’s clean and easy to use. I tend to spray the barrels the minute I get home then push some paper through a day later. Very rarely need a brush..
Wonko the Sane
Well-known member
Disc brake or electric motor cleaner aerosols. I get it here for about $3/can at the auto parts stores. Best cleaner period. Takes ALL the oil and crud off. Don't get it on the wood finish or forget to oil the metal afterwards.
I mean, clean!
I mean, clean!
ehb102
Well-known member
Napier gun cleaner is great but it can leave lead build up. I was diligent about cleaning my first gun but the gunsmith said he had a lot of work to do to get the lead off. I use something nasty smelling occasionally, something with a solvent to prevent build up. I still use Napier especially out and about when you can put it on a cloth and wipe over the metal because it's oil.
schmokinn
Well-known member
Bronze brush,Extension and cordless drill every so often works for me and i have been using the same on for years no matter what mr magicbore says!
Do
Do you remove the chokes before you clean the barrels? As when I've done this the detritus seems to then get stuck in the very fine choke threads in the barrels, needless to say I only did this once as I then had a hell of a job the screwing the chokes back in, it was like I had cleaned the barrels at the beach. Just wondered what others do.
No, never remove the chokes first, scrub away vigorously with 10 gauge bronze brush from both ends paying close attention to the breech area and sometimes the choke ends too if I feel they may have gathered a bit too much plastic. Then blow away the soot, spray Legia (I very rarely let anything soak except when marinading chicken) then roll up 2/3 sheets of expensive toilet paper (if it's good enough for my arse :lol: ) into a ball and force into the barrel from the breech end. Then chase it out using either the cleaning rod or sometimes a garden cane, if it makes an agonising squeal as it squeezes through the chokes you know you're killin' most of the bad stuff.
I then always ignore whatever is left behind but mostly get rewarded with a respectably clean barrel.
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Thank-you Hamster, that doesn't sound too bad a cleaning regime. I usually come home from a shoot pretty shattered so don't want to spend ages cleaning but at the same time don't want to neglect it either. Also I've been surprised at how dirty a white tissue can come out of a spotless looking barrel.
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