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So this weekend we hit the family ranch and of course we took along some of our firearms for family range time. We get there and my wife's cousin approaches me and asks if I could take a look and possibly clean her husband's AR. Wow...what a complete disaster. The rifle had been used hard a few years ago and stored filthy. I couldn't even get the bolt to move at first. I soaked it with gun blast and WD40 until the bolt finally started to move. Then the fun began. I've never used a hammer to disassemble a bolt carrier, but I had no choice. The firing pin was frozen in the bolt due to carbon buildup. Long story short, after SEVERAL careful whacks, it came out and I was able to proceed. I used a ton of paper towels and q-tips, but in the end it was clean enough to fire. The moral of the story is clean your AR's before storage!

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Some of the used up M16 rifles we got from the US Army basic training depots apparently had never been cleaned.  We understand your pain.  Amazing the rifles even functioned but they apparently did.  Some still printed well.

 

Same disbelief.  Same take down procedures.  Gas rings coming out in several pieces.  Cam pins grooved beyond recognition.  Frozen firing pins.  Bent barrels.  Some guns supposedly went over 50K rounds.  Loose head space.

 

Smashed furniture.  Worn off anodizing.  Corrosion everywhere.  The guns were absolute junkers.  But as a whim, we test fired some.  The guns still functioned.  Amazing design.  And the lowers were rebuild able by us.

 

Over sized take down pin holes.  Over sized fire control pin holes.  Custom over sized repair parts.  Bored out replacement parts.  Bondo.  Flat black spray paint.  Everything but the lowers got replaced.  Long ago, far away.

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And DON'T use Easy Off!

 

Mine was a 10/22.  I was shooting up the leftover .22 that my father's Guard unit didn't want anymore.  That Olin standard velocity is really dirty, and the 10/22 got so gummed that the firing pin stuck forward and ran away.  YE HAW!!! FULL AUTO!!!!  The Bingham mag adapter was full up with unburnt powder from that stuff.  But we did burn all 3000 rounds that day!  You aim, pull the bolt back, and let er rip!  NEXT MAG!!!!027.gif Even the guardsmen had fun watching that.

 

And the best problem to have is waiting for the barrel to cool in your .22LR.

Edited by Capt Nemo
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Some of the used up M16 rifles we got from the US Army basic training depots apparently had never been cleaned.  We understand your pain.  Amazing the rifles even functioned but they apparently did.  Some still printed well.

 

Same disbelief.  Same take down procedures.  Gas rings coming out in several pieces.  Cam pins grooved beyond recognition.  Frozen firing pins.  Bent barrels.  Some guns supposedly went over 50K rounds.  Loose head space.

 

Smashed furniture.  Worn off anodizing.  Corrosion everywhere.  The guns were absolute junkers.  But as a whim, we test fired some.  The guns still functioned.  Amazing design.  And the lowers were rebuild able by us.

 

Over sized take down pin holes.  Over sized fire control pin holes.  Custom over sized repair parts.  Bored out replacement parts.  Bondo.  Flat black spray paint.  Everything but the lowers got replaced.  Long ago, far away.

Catch any E1's that smelled similar to Ortho 24D under the buttstock?

 

Mississippi sent me one that had a barrel so pitted there was no rifling, and one with a AR-15 carrier installed along with the case of agent orange.

 

Loved the bent barrel I had on my first basic rifle.  Printed under a dime, but couldn't hit the target page at mechanical zero.  That got sent in for a rebarrel job.

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I once cleaned a 91/30 MN that was hard to unlock the bolt after firing. Found an entire cleaning patch wadded up and jammed into one of the locking recesses!

 Damned thing must have been that way for YEARS!

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Been into some nasty firearms myself, but the best ones to date have been a buddy's Marlin 60, and my grandfather's Model 12 from 1924. The model 12, I could believe a person if they told me had never been cleaned since the day it left the factory. Quite literally using a flathead screwdriver to just dig the gunk out of the receiver, layer after layer. The Marlin, though... Nothin' quite like pushing a rod through the bore, and out comes hundreds of little spiders.

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The worst bore was my Rolling Block after a long, cold day shooting black without swabbing. Lots of hot water and perseverance to get it loosened up, then loads of brush work to clear all the crud. 

 

Finding my empties was fun that day too.... They burned down through the snow and I had to dig 'em out.

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Not me, but a good friend of mine used to work part-time as a security guard at a trucking yard. He got a call one evening from the boss, saying the other guy called in sick and could he come in? He said "sure" and got ready and went in. He was told the other guy had left his issued sidearm in the locker and he could use it. My friend pulled the belt-rig holster out of the locker that had the revolver in it... and could NOT remove the revolver from the holster! It was fused in-place!  :eek:

He told the boss he could run home and get his own weapon, and was back in less than an hour. After his shift was finished, he took the gunbelt home and got to work on it. The holster had to be pitched, but he was able to save the revolver, eventually. The other guy was fired.

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I've had a few "screwdrivers" come in. I call them that because the cleaning starts with a flat blade screwdriver. I just start digging in areas until I can make out what appears to be machined features.

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i fired a 200 year old something and something that about blw up one time that was prolly the dirtiest gun i ever shot....

 

but...

 

my personal 22 marlin i have NEVER cleaned, and i have owned it for what? almost 35 years? (shit 40) i clean it with 5 rounds down the barrel, and i still can shoot grass stems with it.

 

I guess i look at guns a different way. they are a hammer.

 

thats like this guy that pulled his piece on me for no reason last month, or whenever it was. WITH MY BACK TURNED

 

if you are going to use the tool, at least be willing to do the job. LOL you do that to me out at the compound in AZ, your ass qwould be grass. like no shit, done deal dude. I dont expect that guy to have his license for much longer, after what i was told.....whatever....

 

im still fouled about that, but it is what it is...

 

i was raised and belive guns are tools.

 

...and the Saiga12 and its counterparts are the BEST THERE ARE

my mom was pissed at my dad, but i have had a gun in my hand since i was 5 years old and ill be 46 this year, and still own the same gun and never cleaned it properly....some of you have seen me at shoots with it, havent cleaned it since then either....

 it either works or it dont.

 

usually it works just fine and i can drill anything just fine with iron sights on it at 100 yards or better.

 

cant shoot a pistol for shit, but a rifle? haw. you get pretty good at it when you have over a million rounds off your shoulder.....

 

i would like to go up against one of you premium shots one time with your own rifle one time for shits and giggles......

Edited by Ben Vampatella
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I clean my weapons after use and any prolonged storage before use because that is the way I was trained by everyone that ever taught me anything worthwhile.

Take pride in your weapon as you take pride in yourself. Sure it may be overkill but one never knows does one.

 

Because "usually works" is not my goal. 

 

Bought my seven year old grandson a Savage Rascal and took him to the range, he loved it I mean loved it. Went through every round I brought in five hours. Nice rifle BTW far better than the Cricket.

When we got back to house first thing we did was clean that weapon, because that is how I was taught and how he will be taught.

Sheesh takes all of two minutes..

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I agree with Ben, I too consider my guns tools.

 

But any tool without the proper care and maintenance is eventually going to fail. And probably when you need it most.

 

Hell, I even clean and oil my fishing rods after each use. 

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One thing is for damned sure... Ben comes off as a tool.

 

 

Tool: (noun)

1.) A guy with a hugely over-inflated ego, who in an attempt to get un-due attention for himself, will act like a jackass, because, in his deluded state, he will think it's going to make him look cool, or make others want to be like him. The person may even insincerely apologize later on, but only in an attempt to get more attention, or to excuse his blatantly intentional, and unrepentantly tool-ish behavior.

2.) Someone whose ego FAR exceeds his talent, intelligence, and likeability. But, of course, he is clueless regarding that fact. He erroneously thinks he is THE MAN!

3.) Someone who others normally refer to as a prick, dick, or schmuck.

4.) Someone who acts like a dick, because...well...he's compensating.

5.) Ben Vampatella on www.saiga12.com
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I think Ben is meaning he treats his firearms as poorly as he treats his tools.

 

I treat my rifles the same as I treat my tools in my shop.. I clean them after use so that they are in good condition for the next use.. I don't clean a rifle after a handful of fired rounds, but I don't just throw them in a heap dripping wet either..

 

Back when I worked construction I used to clean my tool pouches every couple days to get the nasty off of them, a little wipe down with mink oil the same as my boots every couple weeks.

Many people in the construction trades throw away a lot of money and efficacy by having poorly maintained tools and poor organization.. Having a compressor that is half full of water results in air tools that are constantly breaking. I can't tell you how many times I have heard sloshing air compressors on jobs, normally owned by guys that threw all their tools in a heap in the back of their trucks with little more than a tarp to protect them from the elements.. They likely spent twice what I did on tools to just maintain their rusty heap of junk.

Edited by csspecs
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My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready.

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I'm at both ends of the spectrum. Guns on fishing boats get extreme abuse constantly. They are being bashed around in storage cubbies out on the deck, getting splashed with salt water and acidic fish blood and slime. Few survive. My dad takes decent care of his other tools, but clearly grew up figuring out guns on his own without proper training. I still kinda keep an eye on him around guns. Basically he wants a gun that will survive abuse, until he has a crewman who will clean them. Crewmen vary in quality. Most guns don't survive this. 

 

He had a SS 10/22 clone made by AMT that pretty much outperformed everything, including the genuine rugers we had. He also had a winchester model 1300  SS marine police, if I have the designation right. That lived on the boat for about 30 years with old crusty ammo until it quit running. Then it got shoved in a moist container van full of tools and old parts. My step brother and I were cleaning the van and found it and some very dodgy ammo. We cleaned it up. He did most of it, but he was 6'4 and I was maybe 12. We had to soak it in penetrants for a couple days, and mortar it together for about half an hour to get the slide moving so we could disassemble. The stainless barrel looked mint, and the steel pins and such were fine. The slide latch was worn out. Inside was that greenish powder you get from copper dissolving, and congealed nasty. Unfortunately winchester does the foolish metalurgy many companies do when they want to call something "stainless" or "marine".... They made the receiver out of aluminum. That would have been fine. But the morons decided to chrome it. Chrome doesn't plate onto aluminum. It plates onto copper. So to chrome plate aluminum, they first copper plate the aluminum. The tiniest flaw in the chrome pulls in electrolytic moisture via capillary action. Then galvanic corrosion makes cancer blisters and the copper and aluminum based battery turns the aluminum into a greenish white powder.

 

 

The next worst was a S&W model 66 that now belongs to my brother. My uncle has a thing for that model, and stubborn habits. -- Also a fisherman who abuses his guns. Worse than dad, actually. This revolver had been stolen from my uncle in 1986 IIRC. I might have even done a thread on it here. Anyway years later (~2009?), it was recovered by sheriffs several counties away. My uncle was ineligible to possess at the time, so he told the sheriffs to give it to my brother. This stainless revolver was nearly black on every surface. The rear sight was chipped pretty badly too. I stripped it, and put the parts into a ziploc full of CLP for a few days and used 0000 steel wool. It actually looks great now and shoots like a dream. Amazingly, the bore was foul but flawless under the crud. It took a ton of searching to find the right rear sight leaf for less than an obscene price. It's one of my very favorite guns. I really wish I had before pictures. The pistol looked like a blued gun with holster wear, even though it was stainless.

Edited by GunFun
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