Too late for gun cleaning???

[graodo]

The Michigan firearms season starts on the 15th. Is it too late to clean my gun? I don't want to reek of gun oil on opening day.

[buttonbuckmaster]

I would clean it as usuall and place a HS scent wafer in the case with it for a few days. Should help a lot. I always thought if the deer smelled my gun oil I either used to much...or they are in range.

[Pauly]

I guess it depends on what you use. I clean my guns at the kitchen table withM Pro 7 gun cleaner and Break Free CLP gun oil, and have never heard the wife complain of any smells.

Good luck, can't wait til Monday morning

[Trustee]

What? Now we have to worry about when we clean our guns. I guess I will take my chances and clean my gun the day before hunting season any and every year.

[1dahunter]

ORIGINAL: Trustee

What? Now we have to worry about when we clean our guns. I guess I will take my chances and clean my gun the day before hunting season any and every year.

I do the same only I clean it every night that I have fired it, probably not necessary but I dont like leaving anything to chance.

[tbonecpa]

I THINK YOU GUYS ARE ASKING FOR TROUBLE! I have read many places that once your gun is sighted in leave it alone. Long before the season I give the bore a good scrubing with a multipurpose (copper, lead, powder) solvent and clean the action. Then it is off to the range to fire a couple fouling shots and sight in. After that it gets put away until opening morning. Accuracy can be seriously affected by any foreign substance in the barrel , especially oil. In fact, I try to remove most of the oil on the gun anywhere. That is to reduce scent to a minimum and when it gets really cold the oil in the action gets thicker and can bind it up. If it rains or snows while I am out I lightly wipe down the outside of the gun with oil but the barrel remains untouched.

[rem7400 2]

I strip my gun completely after the season and give it a good cleaning. Lightly oil everything and store it. Then, like Tbone said, I will shoot the gun several times during the off season and lightly wipe it after shooting. Depending on how much I shoot it during the off season I may partially break it down and wipe it clean and reclean the barrel but I always try to have the barrel clean and dry by deer season.
I never have cleaned my gun the night before opening day though.

[Coastie]

I have heard that too, as a matter of fact I have tried to duplicate the situation on my range with a freshly cleaned rifle but have never been able to see much of a difference. It has been written that the point of impact from a clean, cold barrel can be as much as 3-4 inches from that of a fouled barrel but I just cannot duplicate it. At the range, I will run a dry patch through the barrel after every five or six shots and allow about a minute between shots for sighting in purposes. Once I am satisfied the rifle is sighted in as good as it will get, I will fire several rounds of rapid fire to see what the effect will be on the point of impact with a hot barrel. As for odor being a concern, it doesn't worry me a whole lot, generations of hunters have somehow managed to do fine before these odorless oils came on the market, for those that do feel that this might be a problem, there are a couple of "Odorless" lubricants available at only slightly exorbitant prices. I think Outers has one on the market and there are likely several others as well.

[zrexpilot]

If you clean the inside of the barrel you want to fire it at least twice befor you hunt with it. It will shoot different. at 200 yds a freshly oiled barrel will hit high on the first shot. I have done it several times at the range. the oil aloows the bullet to travel down the barrel more freely, it will actually have increased velocity. I wont clean my barrel during hunting season I do however wipe it down after every hunt, I'm not worried about deer smelling it from a 100 or 200 yds away, they cant.