Rust INSIDE the barrel?

T

TheBear

New member
Hi guys,

I always cleaned the inside of my rifles barrels only with a dry brush. Never had any Problems with accuracy or anything.

Now a guy told me that you have to clean the inside of the barrel with gun oil because if you dont, the barrel is going to rust inside and your rifle is ruined after some months of shooting.

The oldest rifle I have is an old Mauser from my dad, he never cleaned the barrels inside with gun oil either and after over 30 years we still never had any problems with it.

So is it true that the inside of a barrel can rust if you dont clean it with gun oil?
 
Absolutely. About the worst thing you can do to a barrel is scrape dry fouling through it. Get good solvent and oil, I'd guess if yo looked at that barrel with a borescope you'd be horrified.
 
It's not that it will rust if you don't clean it with oil, it's that it can rust if it is not protected by some type of coating (normally oil). The inside of your barrel is bare metal - no bluing. That means that contact with oxygen and moisture means rust is going to form. In nomal shooting, the residue left does provide some protection and the bullet does tend to scrape off the rust as it does begin to form. That is why you might not notice any forming. The trouble will come when the barrel is left unshot for long periods of time (the length depends on the atmospheric conditions where it is stored). If you aren't going to be shooting it for a while, put a VERY light bit of oil on the bore and then wipe it out just before shooting again.
 
Cleaning can also be an issue if the ammo is corrosive. You want to clean the salts out of the barrel if you're using cheap surplus corrosive stuff, because that will cause pitting in short order (a matter of days sometimes) after shooting.

Some Windex or just water will wash them out, but you then want to apply an oil/preservative in there (regular gun oil or CLP will work) to prevent normal rust.

It's not that big a deal. Usually I clean guns after I shoot them, and after I've cleaned the fouling from the barrel I run some patches down there with CLP to leave some protection in place.
 
I always cleaned the inside of my rifles barrels only with a dry brush. Never had any Problems with accuracy or anything.
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Never heard that one before, always use cleaner or oil on brush never dry brush a bore. Personally I don't use a brush each time only if I see fouling.

I clean and normally run a cotton cloth down bore with FP10 if I plan on using gun the next day I will run one dry patch through otherwise the FP10 sets in bore.

I have no stats to back my claim here but suspect more bores are damaged by incorrect or over cleaning then shooting.
 
Hello, wingman..while the accuracy might be ok..there is another problem with copper jacket fouling left in an unprotected bore..electrolysis.
Moisture under the copper can react with iron of barrel & cause pitting.
 
Absolutely. About the worst thing you can do to a barrel is scrape dry fouling through it. Get good solvent and oil, I'd guess if yo looked at that barrel with a borescope you'd be horrified.
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+1,000!

Get some solvent and gun oil now, your guns will thank you. Always run a light coat of oil over the gun and barrel to prevent rust.
 
TheBear is specifically stating that he's been told:

that you have to clean the inside of the barrel with gun oil
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and he is asking:

is it true that the inside of a barrel can rust if you dont clean it with gun oil?
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He's asking if he should clean the barrel with gun oil :)

No. He should not clean the barrel with gun oil. He should clean it with a quality solvent such as Hoppe's, patches, and a brush, then when the barrel is clean and dried with a clean patch, he should run an oily patch down the barrel to protect the steel from corrosion. Gun oil is not a particularly good cleaner
 
I seen a friend clean his Mosin Nagent by taking the barreled receiver and dunking it into a large container of hot water. Then he will use a cleaning patch on a cleaning rod, and pull the rod up and down. This causes a pumping of the hot water to come out of the top of the barrel. He will change the hot water out and do this until the water is almost clean. Then he uses gun solvent with a good coat of oil. Is this a bad idea? It seems to work for him.
 
Michael M:
That is what they did when they were shooting black powder or corrosive ammo. Not done so much now as they have solvents that will do the job.

The Bear:
Get a small bottle of Breakfree CLP saturate a patch and run it through your barrel twice then let it sit overnight the next day run another patch through your barrel and see how it comes out.

Breakfree CLP is a quality solvent and lube the CLP means Cleans, Lubricates & Preserves.


Break-Free® is a leading manufacturer of synthetic-based cleaners, lubricants and preservative compounds for military weapon maintenance, law enforcement, civilian firearms, high performance sports equipment and industrial machinery.
 
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I don't care for break free as my Smith 41 won't run on it. IMHO, FP10 is a much better oil.

If you live in a humid area leaving a coat of oil in the bore/chamber is not a bad idea. Before I shoot, I always run a dry patch down the bore prior to firing. Since my match AR's have stainless barrels I just clean them.

Like others have said just running a dry brush down the bore isn't going to make it. Burned powder collects water.
 
Tim:
As an Army Armorer I was raised on the stuff it works great in all my pistols & Revolvers, Rifles and Shotguns besides I actually have gallons of it. But to each their own.
Here is a sample.
handguns.jpg


guns.jpg
 
Hello, wingman..while the accuracy might be ok..there is another problem with copper jacket fouling left in an unprotected bore..electrolysis.
Moisture under the copper can react with iron of barrel & cause pitting.
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Agree,my only concern was poster using a dry brush.
 
You can do a spring job on it that will do wonders to the trigger poundage, but it's still long and the shape of the trigger doesn't change unfortunately.
 
The short answer? YES.
The less short answer? Yes, it can rust.
The inside of a barrel is just as susceptible to rust as the outside. It's all made from steel.
 
270, I figured you would say what did about Breakfree. I knew you would like it and knew you would reply in it's defence. I also have seen alot of Breakfree sprayed about myself while in the Military. As a cleaner it is so so at best. It won’t clean copper. As a preservative, Light gun oil does about the same. As a lubricant, there are better lubes out there. I’m a user in the field, not the store room. Like I said my Smith 41 won’t run on Break Free using CCI standard but it will on FP-10. It simply cost too many points with a pistol that will not run 100% through the timed and rapids. Just because something is Mil Spec it often means "lowest bidder".

Take that sigma out of the pic arms! It doesnt deserve to be in the company of the others lol.
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Now Ain't that the truth. I traded a Sigma back to S&W and for another $95.00 They shipped me a 41. Smith even traded me 6 mags because I had 6 Sigma mags. I then bought a Glock. It always goes bang. What a deal, too bad the .500 had not been invented yet.
 
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To the OP, do a google on cleaning a rifle barrel. Or search this forum.

I shudder at the thought of someone pulling a dry brush through a dry bore. Must be like nails on a chalkboard.

Surely the screatching sound of metal on metal clued you in?

Is this an alt account trying to get a rise out of us???

Tim, if it got rid of that Sigma, it was a good deal lol.
 
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Tim, if it got rid of that Sigma, it was a good deal lol.
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I won't argue this for a minute. When I got the Sigma it felt good in my hand. Glock at the time felt like I was holding a bar of soap. The trade happened because the Sigma wouldn't shoot practice ammo. (would not go off all the time) I discovered the Glock 35 which was a gen 3. Same size as a 1911 which I was very used to. The Glock always goes bang and even has a better trigger pull.

I will say Smith did every thing they could with the Sigma. After it had gone to them for the 3rd time, I asked if they would keep it which they did and the trade happened. IMHO I also believe Smith builds a nice wheel gun. I've got 3 or 4 of them and will continue to buy Smith wheel guns. Still no Break Free for me.

The Smith 41 is about the best target 22 pistol made in the US for those who don't know. My grand kids will be shooting it long after I'm gone. It's still a young in as I'm now only on my 4th case of CCI standard. A case is 5000 rounds.
 
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