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firearm rust prevention

$50.00 for an Otis Tactical Cleaning kit will give you just about everything you need to clean weapons from .17 cal to .45 cal. Shotguns, pistols, and rifles...the whole mix.

imo, WASTE OF MONEY.

I have one. It works exactly as advertised. A royal PITA. It's great if you want to quickly run a few patches through your gun in the field, but it is a very inefficient and laborious. The flexible wire rod is a tedious. It takes FOREVER to get a really clean bore. MUCH faster and more efficient is taking the barrel off and using a rigid cleaning rod with a nicely fitting o-ring bore jag that uses most of the patch to clean, instead of the little rubber bit that uses a tiny, tiny fraction of the patch.

I shoot sporting clays every sunday, and clean my shotgun every sunday night. I've JUST about had it with the otis system. Like I said, it would be great for quick cleaning a gun in the field without taking the barrel off, just to get some of the gunk out, but I swear, if nobody took a hint and bought me a better cleaning system with a real rod and o-ring cleaning jag, I will be buying one before next sunday's cleaning.

This is just my opinion, from using the otis system weekly for months. It was a mistake. I understand others rave about it, but I couldn't let another shooter buy one without at least putting forth the reasons that I dislike my Otis cleaning system so much. After using it 20 times or so, I have come to hate it.
 
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The one thing that will make my fun meter go from 10 to 0 is when someone cleans the bore and slathers something on the exposed metal and thinks they did a good job. The real maintenance is under the stock and most important the action.
 
imo, WASTE OF MONEY.

I have one. It works exactly as advertised. A royal PITA. It's great if you want to quickly run a few patches through your gun in the field, but it is a very inefficient and laborious.

+1 on the Otis system, I don't care for it either. Rod guide and a GOOD rod (I prefer one piece uncoated steel rods, worth every penny imo) are the way to go for me. For bore cleaning, I like a quality copper solvent (Sweet's or Montana Xtreme or something similar) used in conjunction with Hoppe's No. 9, Ed's Red, or my favorite, Kroil. For surface rust prevention, I've never had any problem with plain old Rem-Oil, but Ballistol is also a very nice product.
 
"...MUCH faster and more efficient is taking the barrel off and using a rigid cleaning rod with a nicely fitting o-ring bore jag that uses most of the patch to clean, instead of the little rubber bit that uses a tiny, tiny fraction of the patch."

I understand you are not an Otis fan..that's cool. One thing however, certain popular firearms do not lend themselves to popping the barrel off for routine cleaning, my Browning BAR, Marlin 336, Ruger 10/22 and Mini-14 being among them. Hence, unless you decide the optimum method for bore cleaning to be running a rod from muzzle to chamber and scrubbing it out in that direction, I think the Otis system is something to consider as a better option.

For those other firearms with bores that can be easily cleaned in the PROPER direction (most shotguns, bolt rifles, most auto pistols, etc.) for sure, a good rod will work fine and yeah, is probably a tad less tedious than the Otis cable
 
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All the goop in the world isnt going to help.

Ever wonder why the Army stores all their small arms in open vertical racks?

Air circulation.

Never store any firearm in a case. Oils are made to lubricate, not prevent rust.

An old wall locker, with a light bulb for a heater, and a PC fan for air circulation, and a lock to keep the kiddes out is all you need.

I spent a career in the Army as a small arms tech. All my stuff is in a safe, with a dehumidifier, and fan in it.

and not a drop of anything on them. Except grease on the slides.

BTW my two lube agents are LSA (medium) and Lubraplate.
 
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For those other firearms with bores that can be easily cleaned in the PROPER direction (most shotguns, bolt rifles, most auto pistols, etc.) for sure, a good rod will work fine and yeah, is probably a tad less tedious than the Otis cable

I agree with you.

HOWEVER, I have been thinking about what the "correct" way to scrub out a barrel is. It seems that on my shotgun, the majority of powder, plastic, and lead residue seems to be in the forcing cone. So, if the barrel is OFF, what is the drawback of cleaning it from muzzle to forcing cone? That way I'm not pushing all the dirt from the forcing cone and over the gas ports further up the barrel?

I've not cleaned the barrel from muzzle to forcing cone yet, instead going from forcing cone to the muzzle, but now I'm rethinking whether or not that is the best way, with the barrel off.
 
I bought a roll of VCI paper in 2004. Since then, every rust prone item I have is in it. VCI = volatile corrosion inhibitor and it begins to outgas as you unroll it. That coats whatever is in close proximity with an anti-corrosion agent and it is very effective. I have it in my toolboxes as well as store firearms in it. I've even stored some shotguns in an attic with temp swings. Not one bit of corrosion on anything since I began using it! No oil to wipe off, items are ready to use immediately. There are many methods to fight corrosion, this is the one I use.
 
I have Boresnakes for each caliber I own. I love them. I store my AR in a case, but after reading here I'm rethinking it although I do tend to slather the thing in Remoil when I do and I keep a large pouch of that silica desicant gel in there. Haven't had issues, but I REALLY don't want any in the future either.
 

OkieStubble

Dirty Donuts are so Good.
I concur on the Otis comments. Other than cleaning my Ruger 10/22 because the barrel doesn't come off the reciever during field stripping, every other gun barrel I own gets cleaned with a military uncoated steel rod, even in the field.

I also don't understand why some think Rem Oil gets a bad rap. Been using it for years and never had a problem with rust. It is a cleaner, lubricant and a metal preservative.
It will clean lead & copper from the bore. I have always used it when storing weapons long term and never a problem with rust. However, If I am running hot in a carbine course and need a combat lube? I go to Slip 2000.
 
We have no guns but use for silver storage an effective, long standing (maybe even old fashioned) approach to preventing oxidation on tools and silver: camphor. Camphor off-gasses a protective layer (heavier than air) of fumes which prevent the ambient air (oxygen, sulphur gas, other things that corrode or oxidize) from staying in contact with the metal. Works very well. You will typically hear people talk about camphor blocks but so much of that is now synthetic that I do not trust its effectiveness. If you google "bulk camphor granules" you will find the place we get our natural camphor from. Not blocks, but granules which you can keep with the metal in any open container or, to prevent them ending up all over the place, you can even put them (as we do) in an inexpensive stainless tea infuser (those balls made of stainless mesh). You can also buy natural white camphor essential oil and put some drops of it on cotton or tissue, and that produces a similar result. To keep humidity out, we also use silica gel that comes in perforated aluminum boxes (you reheat in oven when color changes to show it has absorbed water vapors).

Craig
 
FireClean or M-Pro7 is what ive been using on my fire arms. FireClean for the semi's and pistols and M-Pro7 for the bolts guns. Frog lube is ok too, I have that and have used it, but FireClean is far superior in my opinion. If you want something to clean your barrel and keep it rust free invest in some Wipe Out and Wipe Out accelerator. And always use a bore guide and one piece coated cleaning rod. Hope that helps.
 
Tried the Eezox, but wife complains about the aerosol spray. She found this zerust gun cleaner that seems to do the same job. I guess I will have to buy some and give it a try. Will let you know how it works.
 
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