Necessary operation, cleaning the gun requires patience, commitment and perseverance. Underestimating the maintenance of your shotgun is a mistake to avoid, since it could compromise the positive trend of the hunting trip.
Hunters become, with time and experience and it is precisely experience together with common sense that recommend periodic cleaning of the firearm. Normally the hunter is called to clean it after each hunt, or in the case of prolonged inactivity, obviously before getting back into business.
Even the cleaning of the gun is an art to which it is essential to devote time and effort, since a good cleaning and maintenance of the rifle lays the foundation for a good and fun hunting trip and cancels the risk of seeing your own weapon seized. at the crucial moment.
The rifle must be cleaned with the aid of a metal brush. It is basically a toothbrush that closely resembles the one used to wash the inside of bottles. The only difference is that in our case the brush will be made of metal or wool and through this the internal barrels of the speargun will be cleaned, but also lubricated, whether it has a smooth or ribbed core.
If you do not have a brush, it will still be possible to clean the gun internally thanks to a very simple wooden rod with a small hole on the end; in this will be tied small strips of rag soaked in oil specially designed for the lubrication of weapons. In the end, applications of mild metal rust scratching can also be fixed, useful precisely to purify the barrel of all those possible impurities that it could host, without being damaged.
After a long inactivity, however, the advice to follow is to disassemble the rifle in all its main parts. Only in this way can the weapon be properly cleaned with a lot of satisfaction on the part of the hunter. In the case of a side-by-side, this operation is really simple: it will be sufficient to extract the under-barrel by pressing on the small pin that is normally found in the front end, or if there is a lever simply lift it.
In this way the rifle will be opened and the stock and barrels separated. With a good deal of attention and patience the firearm will need to be cleaned and lubricated both internally and externally. This will protect it especially during humid and rainy days. Keep in mind that exaggerating lubrication, especially the internal one, will negatively affect future ranges. Virtue, as usual, lies somewhere in between. If you are in doubt of having exaggerated in cleaning the gun with the use of lubricants, you can clean the inner barrels with a dry rag, using the famous wand.
The cleaning of semiautomatics proves to be slightly more complicated, since the disassembly operation requires a greater level of attention.
In any case, the advice we give is to always use professional lubricants, designed specifically for cleaning weapons. You can find them quite easily in specialized shops. Although some still recommend them, it is better to avoid using olive oil, petroleum or similar.
It is also important to take into consideration the fact that cleaning the firearm is a dirty operation. It will seem a contradiction, yet this is the case and if you want to avoid hearing the complaints of others, you will have to take very simple and equally useful precautions. For example, you can line the work table with double newspapers, or maybe spray the oil inside the canes, keeping them facing exactly towards the newspapers and not necessarily in front of the carpet or the precious sofa. The parts of the rifle will also be placed on something soft which will obviously be dirty. This aspect must also be taken into consideration before starting the maintenance of the weapon.
Periodically cleaning your weapon means not only always keeping it efficient, but above all extending its life considerably. The secret? Never postpone what you can do today until tomorrow.
Be careful with metal brushes, they will scratch any rod, I see absurd things even from self-styled experts on YouTube, at most but very lightly and without pressing you can use a bit of steel wool well soaked in car engine oil, yes because listen to me for your best weapons the best oil is synthetic car engine oil. I can also remove the leads with a hard horsehair brush. I would never dream of passing a brush made of any metal through the smooth barrels.