Shotgun Advices (For Beginners)

[ThePlinkster]

Hey Guys

I purchased a "under & over" shotgun not long ago and I thought I would write a quick little guidance summary for the people starting out with shotguns
Could be handy for the people starting out

#1
Putting Together Your Under & Over Shotgun
If you struggle working out how to put together the shotgun at the start
Don't stress, it's actually very easy
Watch this video and you'll be sweet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd7BKuL ... GSOutdoors

#2
Very Tight/Very Stiff Action
If your action is very stiff/very tight
Don't stress
Apply as much grease/oil as possible for the action to smoothen out
And you'll be sweet
In your spare time, you can also try to work the action as much as possible too
That too should help smoothen it out

#3
Very Tight/Very Stiff Top Lever
If your top lever is very stiff/very tight
Try applying some grease/oil to that area too
I have read that with time, the top lever is supposed to automatically get smoother too

#4
Top Lever Not Being Centred
If your top lever is not centred after closing the action
Don't stress
From what I have read, that is normal, it is supposed to be this way and with time, it will edge more and more towards the centre

#5
Cleaning
The advice that I was given regarding cleaning is this;
- Dissemble the shotgun
- Spray the cleaning product that you use down the barrels (always away from the choke areas)
- Use paper towel (make a tight ball of it)
- Shove the tight ball of paper towels down the barrels
- Use any straight cleaning rod to push the paper towels down the barrels a couple of times until the paper towels come out relatively clean/relatively white
(Give the barrels a really good scrub internally this way)
I got told that it was very important to push the paper towels away from the choke ends of the barrels, this way, you're not pushing any junk/debris/carbon into the choke sections

#6
Always Always Always Always Use a Choke
Never shoot choke barrels without using choke tubes.
Shooting without choke tubes is very dangerous as debris could be trapped by the threads and create barrel obstructions.
It may also cause erratic shot pattern and can damage the barrel's internal thread irreparably.

Being relatively new to shotguns myself
I knew nothing about shotguns and I had to do all the research myself to make sure that I was doing all the right things whilst I was getting started
That's why I thought I would publish my findings on here so that I could help future shotgun beginners get started

If anyone has anything else to add in terms of advices for shotgun beginners, please feel free to add to this thread

Thank you

And God Bless You All

[LawrenceA]

good advice.
Personally use a bore snake to do the barrels regularly and occasionally need to use something more vigorous to remove the fouling build up from the choke tubes.

[ThePlinkster]

good advice.
Personally use a bore snake to do the barrels regularly and occasionally need to use something more vigorous to remove the fouling build up from the choke tubes.

I've only used my shotgun a couple times now
So I guess that my shotgun never got that dirty yet
So far though
Using tight balls of paper towels seems to have worked fine
After running tight balls of paper towels down the barrels of my shotgun, I looked down the barrels afterwards, naturally
(to see how good the cleaning/scrubbing was)
Surprisingly
I found that the balls of paper towels have worked quite well
The insides of my shotgun barrels seemed very clean and shiny to me
I didn't see much carbon/debris in there at all
I was gladly surprised
But like I said
That may have been because my shotgun hasn't been through "heavy use" yet

[LawrenceA]

It is surprising how well it works. I have used it to remove leading from rifle barrels and it works a treat.
Never know. I find the Skeet chokes foul badly but the trap ones don't. Go figure???
I clean the skeet ones by putting a bronze brush in the drill. I know people who scrape it out with a pocket knife but wouldn't go that harsh.
Anyway How is it going?
Smashed any clays yet???

[ThePlinkster]

It is surprising how well it works. I have used it to remove leading from rifle barrels and it works a treat.
Never know. I find the Skeet chokes foul badly but the trap ones don't. Go figure???
I clean the skeet ones by putting a bronze brush in the drill. I know people who scrape it out with a pocket knife but wouldn't go that harsh.
Anyway How is it going?
Smashed any clays yet???

Yes
Cleaning by putting a bronze brush in a drill was an advice that was given to me too
I haven't done that yet
But I may do that later on

Yeah
I have smashed a few clays
It's actually surprising how much concentration it takes if you wanna be consistently good at hitting clays
The 1st few times I went
I did a decent job I would say
(Because I was very focused, I was very concentrated, I really wanted to do well)
But the last time that I went shooting clays
I went in in a "very relaxed mood"
I didn't do that good of a job then

Definitely have to stay very alert when hitting clays
That's for sure

[LawrenceA]

Its a funny game.
I struggle as the mind wanders they just emerge and disappear........
It won't take long and they will feel slower and like you have much more time to aim and shoot.
I am sure they have already told you that.
Good to hear you are having fun!

[Robin]

good advice.
Personally use a bore snake to do the barrels regularly and occasionally need to use something more vigorous to remove the fouling build up from the choke tubes.

I was using bore snake ,but I found it wasn't cleaning the barrel well.

For me, I really enjoy clay shooting, im crap at it but still enjoy it, the cleaning part I will admit is where my OCD takes over and I do a full clean every time, I know I dont have to but I find it a relaxing thing to do .

[ThePlinkster]

Its a funny game.
I struggle as the mind wanders they just emerge and disappear........
It won't take long and they will feel slower and like you have much more time to aim and shoot.
I am sure they have already told you that.
Good to hear you are having fun!

Yeah man
Prior to getting into shotguns
I was only using rifles
You know
Setting up a target
And trying to achieve the tightest groups possible
That was fun for a while
But it is interesting for me to get into shotguns now
I have to say that shotguns are a lot of fun
Clay Target Shooting is very addictive I find lol

[ThePlinkster]

good advice.
Personally use a bore snake to do the barrels regularly and occasionally need to use something more vigorous to remove the fouling build up from the choke tubes.

I was using bore snake ,but I found it wasn't cleaning the barrel well.

For me, I really enjoy clay shooting, im crap at it but still enjoy it, the cleaning part I will admit is where my OCD takes over and I do a full clean every time, I know I dont have to but I find it a relaxing thing to do .

Yeah
I got told by a couple guys that bore snakes aren't the best for cleaning shotguns
In the sense that
What they told me is;
Once you have ran a bore snake once through the dirty shotgun barrels
Your bore snake then becomes quite dirty on its own
And then for you to re-run that dirty bore snake back into the barrels again
Didn't sound like the best possible way to clean shotgun barrels to me
That's why I opted with running VERY tight clean disposable paper towel balls down the barrels instead
Like I said
So far
To me
They have done a very good job at cleaning/scrubbing the insides of the barrels
(From what I have seen so far)


Yeah
I love my shotgun
After each clay session I clean my shotgun too
I would say that I look after it very well lol

[Col]

Fellas

After shooting for a while the plastic from the wads can build up in the barrel. The best way to clean this is to dip a bronze brush in 2 stroke fuel and run that up and down the barrel a few time. Then clean with your paper towel etc. The petrol dissolves the plastic and oil portion helps lubricate/prevent rust, although a lot of barrels are chrome lined.
Always best to clean when still warm if possible, even running a boresnake down the barrels while warm and then a proper clean when you get home.

Enjoy smoking them clays, it gets quite addictive and a great stress relief when all going well.

col

[Robin]

Its a funny game.
I struggle as the mind wanders they just emerge and disappear........
It won't take long and they will feel slower and like you have much more time to aim and shoot.
I am sure they have already told you that.
Good to hear you are having fun!

Yeah man
Prior to getting into shotguns
I was only using rifles
You know
Setting up a target
And trying to achieve the tightest groups possible
That was fun for a while
But it is interesting for me to get into shotguns now
I have to say that shotguns are a lot of fun
Clay Target Shooting is very addictive I find lol

I do rifles also, however as much as I enjoy it, it gets boring after a while, I prefer clays, for me it's the fun of chasing a moving target and blowing them out of the sky.

[Diamond Jim]

#2
Very Tight/Very Stiff Action
If your action is very stiff/very tight
Don't stress
Apply as much grease/oil as possible for the action to smoothen out
And you'll be sweet
In your spare time, you can also try to work the action as much as possible too
That too should help smoothen it out

Just be aware that too much oil can soak the woodwork and discolour it and make it soft and spongey. Apply oil/grease only where you have metal to metal contact and not to the point it can run off onto the timber. Make sure you clean and lube the choke threads after a day at the range.

[Oldbloke]

https://ssaa.org.au/stories/shotguns.html

[ThePlinkster]

Col;
Thank you for your cleaning advices
I will definitely follow your advices once I need to do more thorough cleaning of my shotgun
When you love your shotgun, you wanna take good care of it
That's for sure


Robin;
Yeah I agree
Clay Target Shooting is heaps of fun I found
Heaps lol
I'll probably alternate between "target shooting" with rifles and "clay target shooting" with shotguns
It'd be hard to get bored if you alternate between the two once you get bored with one of them etc



DiamondJim;
Yes that's right
I should've been more specific when I wrote "apply grease/oil"
I only apply grease/oil to the metal to metal contacts only
After I finish applying the grease/oil
I then monitor my shotgun very closely
If there is an overflow of oil or grease somehow onto the wood, I do make sure to then wipe it off right away
I use G96
According to the G96 company, they do say that their product doesn't do damage to wood at all
I have spoken to quite a few people who have used G96 for years as well
And all of them have told me that they have never seen the G96 do any damage to their wood at all either
But with that being said
I like to be cautious too as well
So I always try to avoid the G96 spilling onto the wood as well
Just to be extra safe as an extra precaution
Better be safe than sorry


Oldbloke;
Thank you for that link

[ThePlinkster]

Slight Update;
When I first started to use my shotgun
It wasn't too dirty at the start
(As it hadn't gotten that much use yet)
So at the start
Cleaning the barrels of my shotgun with really tight paper towel balls, that worked just fine for me
The tight paper towel balls did a great job at the start
And I was really happy with that

But now that I have used my shotgun more often and more frequently
Now that my shotgun gets dirtier and dirtier etc
I have found that tight paper towel balls aren't enough to finish the job properly for a very thorough cleaning/scrubbing of the barrels

I find that now I have to use a bore snake to finish off the job for the barrels to eventually get very clean and very shiny on the insides

I still use very tight paper towel balls at the start to get all the initial biggest pieces of dirt and carbon out to start with
But I just use a bore snake to finish off the job now
That seems to work well for me right now

For me (and that's just me), I just don't like the idea of running a dirty bore snake inside my shotgun barrels over and over again
That's why I'd rather get the initial biggest pieces of junk/carbon out first as much as possible with disposable paper towel
I then get the last remaining smallest pieces of dirt and carbon out with the bore snake to finish off the job properly with a great few last scrubs
This way I minimise having to run a dirty bore snake inside the shotgun barrels as much as possible

Again though
Everyone is different
And everyone has got their own methods that they prefer
But for me, that seems to work well for me right now

[Robin]

For Ammo , I use Winchester and the only issue i have had so far, is that it leaves your shotgun dirtier then my mind.

[on_one_wheel]

For Ammo , I use Winchester and the only issue i have had so far, is that it leaves your shotgun dirtier then my mind.

That reminds me of a meme I seen recently

20210209_211741.jpg (68.72 KiB) Viewed 3617 times

[LawrenceA]

For Ammo , I use Winchester and the only issue i have had so far, is that it leaves your shotgun dirtier then my mind.

Try black powder.
More leeway for your mind