Cleaning Double Guns

[Neal Haarberg]

I disn't want to hijack the refinishing you duck gun thread but Todd broght up something I have alwasy been curious about.

"I know this might sound old fashioned... I have always hunted with either a double sxs or an o/u. With a wood stock. Every other hunt, I'll hit the metals with wd-40. If I've been in the salt, then I'll rinse them with fresh water and I always take them apart and dry them over the wood stove on the hearth after a hunt. "

I prefer to shoot a double but have always shyed away form using one as a duck gun becasue I have always been concerned with the inner workings rusting up since they cannot be easily taken apart and cleaned like my old trusty 870. Hunting in the PNW it will get wet and on occasion I hunt the salt. For what it is worth I have always used WD-40 on my guns as well.

So my queastion is this, How do you keep the trigger assembly and other parts that are not easily accesable on a double gun in good shape if you hunt wet conditions regularly?

 

[roy brewington]

I disn't want to hijack the refinishing you duck gun thread but Todd broght up something I have alwasy been curious about.

"I know this might sound old fashioned... I have always hunted with either a double sxs or an o/u. With a wood stock. Every other hunt, I'll hit the metals with wd-40. If I've been in the salt, then I'll rinse them with fresh water and I always take them apart and dry them over the wood stove on the hearth after a hunt. "

I prefer to shoot a double but have always shyed away form using one as a duck gun becasue I have always been concerned with the inner workings rusting up since they cannot be easily taken apart and cleaned like my old trusty 870. Hunting in the PNW it will get wet and on occasion I hunt the salt. For what it is worth I have always used WD-40 on my guns as well.

So my queastion is this, How do you keep the trigger assembly and other parts that are not easily accesable on a double gun in good shape if you hunt wet conditions regularly?

Remove buttstock and clean, lube. But if your gun is constantly getting soaked in rain or you take it for a swim your probably better doing what your presently doing. Save the break action guns for dryer days afield. It really does take sitting in heavy rain or a dunk to reach inside stock to trigger mechanism. Other than that just break down ,wipe down and lube with a oily rag. Hunted with double's for a lot of years with no issues but they never took a swim.

 

[William Reinicke]

I disn't want to hijack the refinishing you duck gun thread but Todd broght up something I have alwasy been curious about.

"I know this might sound old fashioned... I have always hunted with either a double sxs or an o/u. With a wood stock. Every other hunt, I'll hit the metals with wd-40. If I've been in the salt, then I'll rinse them with fresh water and I always take them apart and dry them over the wood stove on the hearth after a hunt. "

I prefer to shoot a double but have always shyed away form using one as a duck gun becasue I have always been concerned with the inner workings rusting up since they cannot be easily taken apart and cleaned like my old trusty 870. Hunting in the PNW it will get wet and on occasion I hunt the salt. For what it is worth I have always used WD-40 on my guns as well.

So my queastion is this, How do you keep the trigger assembly and other parts that are not easily accesable on a double gun in good shape if you hunt wet conditions regularly?

I have hunted an over under for a few years now. I RARELY hunt my semi auto anymore. the both go with me everywhere, as I travel enough that if I were to have a malfunction with one, I absolutely want a second to hunt with. Gun safe is TOO FAR to save a hunt if one of the tools isnt working. Generally the o/u is back up to the semi, but I guess I am just a weirdo.

To answer your question though, I have a cheap turkish Charles daly that I had the barrels cerakoted in a brown. The receiver is aluminum, and the stock is black plastic. It is just a cheapo beater, but its a shooter. There are two screws in the back end of the butt stock, that will expose all the springs and internals of the over under. Every few hunts (unless a real wet hunt), I will take this apart and spray with gun cleaner, scrub with a bristle brush, and then put a few drops of lubricant on all the springs. Put the stock back on, put the barrel and forearm back on, and work the barrel open and shut a few times, and dry fire the pins an wa la good enough for a beater gun to kill ducks with.

Now there was one hunt, it got soaked soaked soaked. I did the same thing (removing barrel, forearm, and rear stock and exposing all internals), got a tub that the receiver could lay in, and I let it sit over night in hoppes 9. I then used an air hose to spray it all off the next day. Scrubbed with a plastic bristle brush and then lubed all the springs real good. I liked how clean it got after a good nights bath in hoppes, that I now do this after every season before it goes into summer hibernation.

 

[Ronald Bock]

I hunt exclusively break action guns. I have for 30 years. Every hunt I cleanmy gun religiously and use wd40 as well. When the gun is apart I use the red tube on the wd40 can to spray some into the firing pen holes and up into the trigger. That seems to do well. Once a season I pull the stock and drop the receiver in a coffee can of wd40. I clean it thoroughly then blow it out with canned air. None of my guns has ever failed me. I hunt lakes in Alaska until they freeze over then hunt the coast near Valdez. Wet, cold, salt. Then I hunt Grouse and Ptarmigan in the snow with the 20's.

 

[RM Anderson]

I don't mean to disapoint the legions of wd-40 advocates, BUT I found this on the web...

WD-40 is not a firearms product. It does not act as a persistent lubricant in firearms.

Excessive or repeated use in your firearms can be both costly and UNSAFE.

Save yourself a trip to the gunsmiths or hospital, use PROPER lubricant/rust preventative products.

WD-40 will build up over time and get "gummy" Really really gummy. It is very annoying to remove either mechanically or chemically. Usually repeated applications will build up over the years but occasionally a single very heavy application will dry enough to impede function.

I am a gunsmith. I have had "3 horror stories" in 3 days. These are "guns on my bench and in my hand" not anecdotal.

I had a Marlin 336 that was so caked that I could not more the firing pin, and the action took about 4 times the normal effort to cycle. I had to soak all the components in simble green over the weekend and 40 minutes scrubbing it today. That set the owner back $30 for the cleaning and another $10 to replace a few parts (plus the cost of parts.)

I had a Marlin 60 "run away" with a stuck firing pin.... That was startling. Came in with "doesn't fire" on the repair tag. Guess who got the firing pin to go forward! Where it stayed..... It was essentially a fixed firing pin submachine gun. Thankfully I only had 4 rnds in the magazine.

I had a reasonably nice custom Remington 700 come in with "Fix trigger" on the tag. The trigger assembly was so gummy that the sear could either not move or barely move, I didn't look closely enough. Regardless, the firing pin fell every time you closed the bolt.

Edit: These were all customers' guns that would not have needed any service if it wasn't for WD-40 "gunk"

We were taught in gunsmithing school that the only use a gunsmith had for WD-40 was to dissolve old WD-40 buildup. That's not quite true, its really handy to remove sticker residue.

 

[William Reinicke]

I don't mean to disapoint the legions of wd-40 advocates, BUT I found this on the web...

WD-40 is not a firearms product. It does not act as a persistent lubricant in firearms.

Excessive or repeated use in your firearms can be both costly and UNSAFE.

Save yourself a trip to the gunsmiths or hospital, use PROPER lubricant/rust preventative products.

WD-40 will build up over time and get "gummy" Really really gummy. It is very annoying to remove either mechanically or chemically. Usually repeated applications will build up over the years but occasionally a single very heavy application will dry enough to impede function.

I am a gunsmith. I have had "3 horror stories" in 3 days. These are "guns on my bench and in my hand" not anecdotal.

I had a Marlin 336 that was so caked that I could not more the firing pin, and the action took about 4 times the normal effort to cycle. I had to soak all the components in simble green over the weekend and 40 minutes scrubbing it today. That set the owner back $30 for the cleaning and another $10 to replace a few parts (plus the cost of parts.)

I had a Marlin 60 "run away" with a stuck firing pin.... That was startling. Came in with "doesn't fire" on the repair tag. Guess who got the firing pin to go forward! Where it stayed..... It was essentially a fixed firing pin submachine gun. Thankfully I only had 4 rnds in the magazine.

I had a reasonably nice custom Remington 700 come in with "Fix trigger" on the tag. The trigger assembly was so gummy that the sear could either not move or barely move, I didn't look closely enough. Regardless, the firing pin fell every time you closed the bolt.

Edit: These were all customers' guns that would not have needed any service if it wasn't for WD-40 "gunk"

We were taught in gunsmithing school that the only use a gunsmith had for WD-40 was to dissolve old WD-40 buildup. That's not quite true, its really handy to remove sticker residue.

Yes this is what my gunsmith taught me as well when I worked in gun shops at a young age. He taught me the trick of soaking in hoppes 9. Obviously this isnt necessary after every hunt, so a good spray of gun cleaner, simple wipe off and blow off with the air compressor/canned air. Then I use slip 2000 lube on all my shotguns. I found this to be the absolute best stuff in the freezing cold. When my semi's started to slow down in the cold (I didnt always take the best care of my guns), I would put some of this on the moving parts and it would bring the gun right back to life.

 

[Capt Rich Geminski]

WD 40 is a great product and has many uses. WD is made to dissipate water. If you submerge the gun in Salt water, spray it with WD heavily and drop off at the gunsmith, do not remove wood stocks. Sxs and o/u do not fair well in soaking rain or using as a paddle. Break open guns are like fine furniture, most be treated well and cleaned well.

 

[Ronald Bock]

I don't mean to disapoint the legions of wd-40 advocates, BUT I found this on the web...

WD-40 is not a firearms product. It does not act as a persistent lubricant in firearms.

Excessive or repeated use in your firearms can be both costly and UNSAFE.

Save yourself a trip to the gunsmiths or hospital, use PROPER lubricant/rust preventative products.

WD-40 will build up over time and get "gummy" Really really gummy. It is very annoying to remove either mechanically or chemically. Usually repeated applications will build up over the years but occasionally a single very heavy application will dry enough to impede function.

I am a gunsmith. I have had "3 horror stories" in 3 days. These are "guns on my bench and in my hand" not anecdotal.

I had a Marlin 336 that was so caked that I could not more the firing pin, and the action took about 4 times the normal effort to cycle. I had to soak all the components in simble green over the weekend and 40 minutes scrubbing it today. That set the owner back $30 for the cleaning and another $10 to replace a few parts (plus the cost of parts.)

I had a Marlin 60 "run away" with a stuck firing pin.... That was startling. Came in with "doesn't fire" on the repair tag. Guess who got the firing pin to go forward! Where it stayed..... It was essentially a fixed firing pin submachine gun. Thankfully I only had 4 rnds in the magazine.

I had a reasonably nice custom Remington 700 come in with "Fix trigger" on the tag. The trigger assembly was so gummy that the sear could either not move or barely move, I didn't look closely enough. Regardless, the firing pin fell every time you closed the bolt.

Edit: These were all customers' guns that would not have needed any service if it wasn't for WD-40 "gunk"

We were taught in gunsmithing school that the only use a gunsmith had for WD-40 was to dissolve old WD-40 buildup. That's not quite true, its really handy to remove sticker residue.

Recommendations for my next tear down and clean? They're all due. I know it opens a can of worms about who has the best products. I'd rather hear it from duck hunters though.

 

[RM Anderson]

I'm sure there are many newer products but for displacing water and preventing corrosion I recommend CLP because we used it in the military. Less is more for guns with wood stocks as you don't want to soften your furniture. Richard

 

[roy brewington]

Recommendations for my next tear down and clean? They're all due. I know it opens a can of worms about who has the best products. I'd rather hear it from duck hunters though.

I,ve been using CLP Cleaner / Lubricant for many years and loving it. And usually available at Walmarts in my area so I don,t have to search for it. As far as actual cleaning i,ve used everything from submersion in K1 kerosene and brushing to spray gun cleaner and brake cleaner. All works. A air hose is your friend.