What to Do With Wood
Stock combs are easily nicked with rod handles. Before pumping a cleaning rod through the bore, protect the comb of your wood stock with a rag. A wash-rag wrap of the checkering protects it from hands slick with dirty solvent. To clean checkering, scrub it with a toothbrush dipped in boiled linseed oil. Then, with a rag and a dry toothbrush, remove dirt and excess linseed oil from the cuts.
Epoxy wood finishes and polymer rifle stocks won’t be damaged by incidental contact with oil or solvent while you’re cleaning. Wipe off spills and mis-directed spray with a dry rag. A periodic rub-down with boiled linseed oil freshens a wood stock and helps protect spots worn bare. Rub until your hand gets hot. Then towel off any excess linseed oil. The stock shouldn’t feel sticky when you finish. Tape recoil pads to keep them free of linseed oil in this effort, then remove the tape. — Wayne van Zwoll
Cleaning Kits for Field and Shop
Otis cable kits in zippered “biscuit” pouches let you clean rifles in the field. Drop the coated cable through the bore, then tug the patch or brush out the muzzle. Otis Ripcord cables have threaded brass ends and 10-inch sections with rigid Nomex fibers to “trap fouling better than nylon.” While cable kits (from $44) can’t clear plugged bores, the Otis Multi-Caliber Rifle Kit ($50) does, with a jointed brass rod. The 40 items in Otis’ Elite Universal Kit ($160) include all you’ll need in your shop.
Real Avid also peddles a suite of cleaning kits, from the Gun Boss Multi-Kit ($30 to $35) to the Bore-Max Master Cleaning Kit and Mobile Work Station ($200). Hoppe’s has a universal Field Cleaning Kit in a canvas pouch ($35); an “On the Go” kit comes in a hard case with integral handle ($55).
When cleaning isn’t enough, and there’s emergency gunsmithing to do, you’ll want a magnetic screwdriver kit with a generous array of hard hollow-ground bits. Mine are from Brownells and Midway. Crisp, new-looking screw heads, like clean bores, say much about your habits with rifles. — Wayne van Zwoll
The Problem That Went Away
Bores of blackpowder rifles seldom wear out. That is, they’re not eroded by high-pressure gasses or friction from fast bullets. But they can suffer from corrosive or hygroscopic residue.
When smokeless powder supplanted black, misfires increased, as smokeless was harder to ignite. Adding mercury fulminate gave primers “hotter” spark, but mercury eats brass and with no blackpowder residue to absorb it, quickly destroys cases. In 1898, the H-48 primer in .30-40 Krag ammunition replaced mercury fulminate with potassium chlorate. This compound spared the case but deposited corrosive salts. Shooters had to scrub bores immediately with boiling water and ammonia, then follow with oiled patches. Germany’s RWS had a non-corrosive primer by 1901. Remington chemist J.E. Burns developed “Kleanbore” non-corrosive priming in 1927, with Peters “Rustless” and Winchester “Staynless” to follow. After German chemists Rathburg and Von Hersz pulled potassium chlorate and mercury fulminate from primers, Remington developed a non-corrosive, non-mercuric primer. Its lead tri-nitro-resorcinate, or lead styphnate component is still used in centerfire primers. — Wayne van Zwoll
