Rifle bath

Improving and repairing firearms. Rifle bedding, barrel work, stock replacement and other ways to improve your firearms.

Rifle bath

Post by RealNick » 13 Mar 2015, 9:36 am

Something got me thinking.

There is a bike shop near me that does top end bikes and one of the service options they offer for them is a 'bath'.

They strip the chain, cables etc. submerse the whole bike in whatever you use to clean a bike so they get every single last nook and cranny. Get it back literally as clean as new.

Seems like a rifle could benefit from the same thing every once in a while for a full refresh. Get to all those hard to reach places.

Remove the stock obviously, probably the trigger mechanism too. And the bolt, since that's not too hard to clean.

Just submerse the whole open action and barrel in an appropriate solvent, or solvents in stages to bring back every last square mm of it to clean and sparkly. Dry it out 100%, good to go.

Thoughts?
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by brett1868 » 13 Mar 2015, 11:22 am

Anyone who Cerakotes rifles can "bath" your rifle as it's a requirement prior to coating to ensure proper bonding. Mobile rifle wash trailers, there's a thought...I'd love to outsource the cleaning of some of my gear as it can take me a full days work to cleanup after a 4 day trip away.
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by KWhorenet » 13 Mar 2015, 12:42 pm

Alternatively and just for interests sake...I you had me googling DIY Ultrasonic Baths

The parts aren't expensive either.

Make it long enough for barrelled actions
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Chronos » 13 Mar 2015, 2:52 pm

Firstly I'd say I would never fully degrees or bath a bike chain, it's very important that the internal rollers on the chain remain lubricated. Same goes for things like brake cables

As far as ruffles go I find it hard to believe any rifle could get so dirty that it needs to be given a bath or degrease

I've got oh problems giving my rifles a wipe down with shellite to remove any grime and then re oil it and grease the locking lugs

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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Oldbloke » 13 Mar 2015, 4:31 pm

Chonos is pretty right I think. But I was told ages ago the local gunsmith uses diesel to clean parts because it is also a light oil. Makes sense.
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by huccl » 14 Mar 2015, 11:48 am

KWhorenet wrote:Alternatively and just for interests sake...I you had me googling DIY Ultrasonic Baths


Now that's an interesting idea....
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by RealNick » 14 Mar 2015, 11:50 am

Chronos wrote:Firstly I'd say I would never fully degrees or bath a bike chain, it's very important that the internal rollers on the chain remain lubricated. Same goes for things like brake cables

As far as ruffles go I find it hard to believe any rifle could get so dirty that it needs to be given a bath or degrease

I've got oh problems giving my rifles a wipe down with shellite to remove any grime and then re oil it and grease the locking lugs


Forget the bike thing, that's just what got me thinking here. I dunno what they do exactly and aren't looking to clean a bike. I'm sure they know what they're doing :lol:

As for the rifles it wasn't about the rifle getting so dirty it needed a bath. I'm thinking about the corners and hard to reach areas inside the action or magazine well etc. The idea is about getting to those spots specifically.
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by on_one_wheel » 14 Mar 2015, 12:07 pm

I dont see the need for a bath as such for a rifle as they can be easily stripped down to each seperate component and washed, dried and lubricated eaisly ... just the same as you would a bicycle, using a small dish of kerosene and a paint brush, followed by a blow dry with compressed air then a lube.
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by anthillinside » 14 Mar 2015, 12:32 pm

Sort of Auto vs Hand car wash?
Might have some merit but nothing beats a good hand job :o :silent:
Bolt actions are no problem easy stripped easy cleaned.
I reciently had a close encounter with a VERY old Winchester lever action :shock:
A month of Sundays in an ultrasonic cement mixer wouldn't have cleaned out the gunk in that action.
No rust and it was working before we stripped it down, amazing just what happens to lubricants over ??? years.
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Warrigul » 14 Mar 2015, 2:41 pm

Chronos wrote:Firstly I'd say I would never fully degrees or bath a bike chain, it's very important that the internal rollers on the chain remain lubricated. Same goes for things like brake cables

As far as ruffles go I find it hard to believe any rifle could get so dirty that it needs to be given a bath or degrease

I've got oh problems giving my rifles a wipe down with shellite to remove any grime and then re oil it and grease the locking lugs

Chronos


It is no problem, you just soak the chain a tub of oil before you put it back on or as I used to do as an apprentice throw non o ring drive chains in a crock pot of molten low temp grease.

Any motorbike rider from yesteryear knows how to re lubricate a cable.
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Vati » 15 Mar 2015, 7:51 pm

Ultrasonic bath.... Want to see photos :D
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by KWhorenet » 15 Mar 2015, 10:28 pm

Vati wrote:Ultrasonic bath.... Want to see photos :D


Is this what you were thinking Vati?

[pic removed]
Last edited by Monty on 16 Mar 2015, 7:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Easy... pushing the limits on the PG theme here with that picture :P
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Vati » 16 Mar 2015, 7:48 am

Ummm. No :P
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by trekin » 16 Mar 2015, 8:19 am

Image
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by anthillinside » 16 Mar 2015, 9:32 am

Looks more like a deep fryer to me.
Rifle cakes/scallops anyone? :mrgreen:
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Lorgar » 16 Mar 2015, 2:18 pm

There are no potato cakes... Only scallops :P
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Boatman » 16 Mar 2015, 2:19 pm

trekin wrote:About eight and a half grand.


Bloody hell.....
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by anthillinside » 18 Mar 2015, 11:48 pm

Lorgar wrote:There are no potato cakes... Only scallops :P

We're going to deport you to NSW :lol: :lol:
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Lorgar » 19 Mar 2015, 1:00 pm

C'mon, it took me 25 years to escape the first time!
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Oldbloke » 19 Mar 2015, 7:38 pm

IMO big deal over bugger all. Dismantle, wash in solvent of your choice, oil, reassemble. Worked OK for tne past 100 or so yrs.
If it was a production line u might do it differently but for the average bloke with the average firearm should work
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Wes » 20 Mar 2015, 7:38 am

Oldbloke wrote:IMO big deal over bugger all.


Depends how OCD you are over cleaning maybe :lol:
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Re: Rifle bath

Post by Yelp » 20 Mar 2015, 7:39 am

If you want to go to those lengths there'd be no harm.

Massive overkill IMO though.
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