well ill try to give you some suggestions here. i use it on all of my guns. on my shotgun i try to run the foam all the way down the barrel and then i wrap a rag around both ends and stand them up, turn them end for end a couple of times to get the foam spread out and lay them flat. on my muzzleloader i do the same thing except you only have to plug up one end. i usually let them lay at least an hour, but sometimes over night. so far im loving it. i hope this helps you out some.