Rifle bath

[RealNick]

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?

[brett1868]

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.

[KWhorenet]

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

[Chronos]

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

[Oldbloke]

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.

[huccl]

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

Now that's an interesting idea....

[RealNick]

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

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.

[on_one_wheel]

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.

[anthillinside]

Sort of Auto vs Hand car wash?
Might have some merit but nothing beats a good hand job
Bolt actions are no problem easy stripped easy cleaned.
I reciently had a close encounter with a VERY old Winchester lever action
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.

[Warrigul]

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.

[Vati]

Ultrasonic bath.... Want to see photos

[Monty]

Ultrasonic bath.... Want to see photos

Is this what you were thinking Vati?

[pic removed]

[Vati]

Ummm. No

[trekin]

About eight and a half grand.

[anthillinside]

Looks more like a deep fryer to me.
Rifle cakes/scallops anyone?

[Lorgar]

There are no potato cakes... Only scallops

[Boatman]

About eight and a half grand.

Bloody hell.....

[anthillinside]

There are no potato cakes... Only scallops

We're going to deport you to NSW

[Lorgar]

C'mon, it took me 25 years to escape the first time!

[Oldbloke]

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

[Wes]

IMO big deal over bugger all.

Depends how OCD you are over cleaning maybe

[Yelp]

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

Massive overkill IMO though.