did i destroy my mosin?

[sleeper]

went to the range today around six and had a great time with my new mosin m44, in the parking lot i rinsed the barrel with a bottle of water hoping to wash away the corrosive salts but now that im looking in the barrel i see rust, what should i do??????????:confused: need help asap

[rugerdude]

You need to scrub that bore with a copper wire brush soaked with Rem-oil. You also need to dry the barrel completely after using the water, or clean it with solvent.

On an M44, I really don't think it's going to matter much. As long as you don't shoot benchrest with it, you probably won't notice any accuraccy differences if it's just a little rust anyway.

[bcrash15]

^ advice sounds like the best bet

I seem to recall someone advocating a certain type of bore foamer (can't recall the exact name, it was marketed as being for "neglected bores") followed by a thorough run through with a brush for that type of issue. Your bore may never be really *shiny* again, but it will probably shoot ok.

[RedneckFur]

Next time, dont pour water in the barrel at the range... wait until youre home, and use boiling hot water... Its not necessary to wet it down at the range. Salt is corosive, but it takes a little time to rust a bore.

Or you can forego the water completely, and use windex with amonia... thats what I use when i'm shooting corosive, and it works fine for me. Remember to dry and oil the bore after every cleaning.

[sleeper]

all great advice, ill do my best right now!!!!!!!:D

[Mike U.]

My post-shooting Rx is to spray Windex down the bore and on the bolt face and run dry patches down the bore until dry. Getting home be sure to clean as normal and that does the trick. I'm all about hitting that bore with the Windex and dry patches before leaving the range.
It's a surefired way to keep those corrosive salts from damaging these fine old weapons.

[Old Time Hunter]

Use plenty of WD-40....run a couple of patches down it, then fire ten rounds. After that clean it up normally, throw it away and buy an AMERICAN gun.

[RedneckFur]

Hey, no need to be hostile. There's nothing wrong with foreign guns.

[Mike Irwin]

Corrosive priming residue is best attacked with hot, soapy water.

The hot water makes the priming salts dissolve faster and better, and the soap cuts through any residual oil that might be in the bore and which can hide priming salts.

Word to the wise.

Potassium chloride is the compound that causes bore rusting.

It DOES NOT dissolve in oil. It will only dissolve in solutions containing lots of water.

Don't believe me?

Take some regular table salt (or if you're on a low sodium diet, salt substitute, which is potassium chloride) and spray on your favorite oil based cleaner.

It won't dissolve.

[270Win]

Hey, no need to be hostile. There's nothing wrong with foreign guns.

+1... and in some cases, they're better.

[Slopemeno]

Nothing wrong with the Mosin. I just picked one up and its actually pretty nice, and at $79.95? Such a deal.

[BillCA]

Note on cleaning corrosive ammo residue

SOP for the US Army up through WW-II, when lots of corrosive ammo was used, was to repeat the soap & hot water rinse the following day, followed by a thorough cleaning of the rifle.

The Army found that even after cleaning, the cooling of the metal overnight could cause remaining corrosive salts to be forced out of the metal pores. Because these salts are hygroscopic, even low ambient humidity would start corrosion. Repeating the cleaning process the following day removed this residue.

Note that oiling the barrel does not (as indicated above) dissolve the corrosive salts. If the oil is allowed to evaporate over time, the salts are uncovered and will absorb moisture from the air, causing corrosion.

Personal observations:
* Do not use dishwashing soap as some kinds can damage the bluing.
* Wash hands and any rags used after cleaning. These may contain mercury and/or lead contamination.
* Don't forget to clean the chambers and bolt with hot soapy water too.
* Relubricate the bolt properly after cleaning.
* Don't neglect the gas system on gas-operated weapons!

[O6nop]

My method is to use Windex as stated in one of the posts above. I use the two sided oil can that came with the purchase of the gun. One side I have Windex, the other side is gun oil. I keep the cleaning rod and plenty of patches handy. After about 10 rounds, I soak a patch in Windex and run it through the barrel. Run a dry patch, then an oil soaked patch, then another dry patch and commense shooting again. I do this after every 10-20 rounds. At the end of the session, I repeat and then run an oil soaked patch again and leave it until I get home again. Do a thorough cleaning and store it away until my next outing.