doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com shotgun cleaning?

I have a real nice SxS headed my way and was thinking about cleaning it when it arrives. How many of you folks use those fancy cleaning tools that you see in magazines. You know; ebony rods, silver bottles, handmade "turnscrews" and such? Is there any evidence that this upgraded stuff will actually help? What say you? Thanks...

if you enjoy using them and clean your gun better or more often because of that

then yes, they help

Not much in the way of upper end shotgun accessories around here; (Sacramento). Any suggestions for online shopping? I think I high jacked my own thread...

i have purchased items from these sites

http://www.csmcspecials.com/category_s/4.htm
http://www.peterdyson.co.uk/acatalog/TURNSCREWS.html

a couple others I have bookmarked

http://www.centuryarms.com.au/docs/turnscrews.html
http://www.jeffsoutfitters.com/store.aspx?categoryid=64&panel=1

Hi GaryO,
Careful with those turnscrews,eh ?
What is the Gun you're waiting on ?
cheers
franc

Dickinson 16ga. SxS shotgun...

yes - realize they will need to be properly fitted to your gun

Careful about being too anxious about cleaning a beautiful old gun if it really doesn't need it. What I mean to say is, in most instances you'll find simple cleaning maintenance is all the doctor ordered, and you don't want to risk damaging your gun in any way by going overboard.

If your gun is coming rom a reputable source, I think you'll find it doesn't really need to be cleaned. However, you are planning to shoot this thing and there are a few products I can strongly recommend.

Hoppes #9 Bore cleaning solvent. It's the old standby and many other solvents have come and gone, but I still find this one to be just fine. There's a reason it's been around so long. And the bouquet is heavenly.

EEZOX is a cleaner and rust preventative. A light coat of this in your barrel will go a long way in keeping it rust-free. If your gun has damascus barrels, this stuff is heaven sent. A thin coat on the outside of your Damascus barrels not only protects them from rust, it makes the pattern stand out beautifully.

Renaissance Wax. This stuff is great. It can be used on many surfaces, metals and wood included, but I use it strictly on wood. A good application and buffing to your stock will make the wood look marvelous. Not shiny, like a pimp's car but rather rich and deeply luxuriant. Supposedly it's the same formula as the stuff the British Museum to "revive and protect valuable.........." the list goes on and on. There are some who would argue an oil finish is superlative, and they may well be right in certain cases. In fact, I own a William Evans sidelock that I would argue for an oil finish, it's just that I don't know the proper way to achieve it. Maybe this thread will spur some expert to tell. But the wood has to really be such that it calls for this type of finish.

Stay away from the seductive ebony handled turnscrews in carved ivory boxes with inlaid initials in sterling silver and....you get what I mean. All those ebony handled turnscrews are are screwdrivers and they don't even come to you ready to use even after shelling out a lot of $$$ for them. They must be ground to fit the screws of your gun exactly so that they can be used without a heavy risk of buggering them. But there is still a risk of buggering them, and in my opinion nothing detracts from a beautiful vintage gun more than buggered screws. If you really feel the need of unscrewing fine screws of a fine gun pick up a gunsmith's screwdriver set from Brownell's.

That's about all I can advise you on at this point. Everybody wants all the special whistles and bells to go along with their fine vintage British double, especially if it's their first. Fight this urge, or at least calm it down. The gun itself is the thing and you'll find it can look and operate at its best with just a few things, one of which is very often a little elbow grease.

Enjoy your "new" old sweet sixteen!

Ugh! Krakow Kid speak with straight tongue. Heed well his wisdom...

Forgot to mention some other things that I didn't include.

The most important being of course, a "ramrod" to clean the insides of your bores with. I never used wooden ones until I got into vintage percussion guns. They're nice to use especially because they can't mar the inside of your barrels or damage the bores.

But I had amassed many aluminum ones, or plastic coated ones from my prior (and still current) hobby or shooting modern rifles. They do the job well, just remember to use a bore guide that fits your weapon to prevent damaging the bores. The attendant cleaning patches should be cotton twill, again sized to your barrels. Chamber brushes and barrel brushes. I often use nothing stronger than plastic brushes, but for tough cleaning jobs I'll use bronze ones. NEVER NEVER use brushes made from stainless steel. NEVER! You run a serious risk of damaging the insides of your barrels and for no reason at all, i.e. your barrels will never be so dirty you'll need anything "stronger" than the aforementioned ones.

Grease. I expect a lot of people will have personal opinions on this one. For the hinge pin on my doubles I used Cleanzoil hinge pin grease but am now using Ken Owen's hinge pin lube since he gave it to me for free and he's very very smart when it comes to these things and the stuff seems to work very nicely. But you won't be disappointed with the Cleanzoil HingePin grease.

There are other areas that need just a little dab of grease but I advise you to do some reading about that. Michael McIntosh's writings are a good place to start.

The problem I have answering this post is that from the timbre of your question I assumed you were a novice, but I just noticed you've been a member here for 4 years, so I'll stop right now and apologize if I've bored/insulted you.

Peace - Marc