MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

Well, Mybrother and I accidentally flipped my canoe in a creek this afternoon. My Ruger All Weather .30-06w/ leupold VX I went to the bottom. I grabbed it as quick as I could, but it got some sand in it. The scope looks like it made it, I don't see any signs of damage. I spent an hour cleaning the barrel, action, andall the sandin the cracks. My question is:
What should I do before I shoot it tomorrow?
I am upset because this is my favorite rifle.Everyone else thinks that it is to funny.

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

Anyone who owns and appreciates their rifles would never laugh at you for this. I guess if it happened to me I would completly disassemble the gun (even taking the scope off) and first thoroughly clean every part, and then go over all metal parts with a wd40 type of spray that will displace water. Youd be surprised where rust will build up if you dont disassemble everything.

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

Be careful under your scope rings. Bad place for rust to start. Your trigger assembly and bolt are the most critical. Take the bolt all the way apart.

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

Yeah, I don’t see nothing funny with the unfortunate accident but like mossy said, I would take it apart as much as possible to remove any water. Good luck.

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

I have already taken the bolt out and carefully cleaned all sand out of the cracks and crevaces. I used REM oil and sprayed it down into every spot that I could find.
I really don't want to break it down, But Should I take out he screw and seperate the barrel from the stock?

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

Absolutely borty. Take out the whole barreled action from the stock. Disassemble the bolt, don't just clean it out. If its like a mod 70 bolt, its pretty straight forward.

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

Ditto what's said so far - take the scope off, take the barrel/action off the stock (very simple), dissassemble the firing pin from the bolt (if it's a mod. 70, it's very easy. other actions, I don't know).

If you're at all in doubt, call your local gun shop and ask them if they can take care of a thorough cleaning for you. My local one offers such a service. Althoug I've never done it, I could imagine circumstances where I'd be glad to have a major cleaning done by a pro shop (time, hassle and expertise factors).

Reminds me of a fall evening on a river in the middle of nowhere when my buddy and I spent about an hour holding the canoe in a very strong rapids/current while we fished for his .308 using a heavy spoon and fishing pole. Finally got it. Ruined his stock and cheapo scope, but the barrel and action were fine after re-hab. He replaced with synthetic stock and a good quality scope and had an upgraded gun to show for it.

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

Completely disassemble the gun. Remove it from the stock. Remove the bolt and disassemble it. Remove the scope and bases as water will stay under the bases and rust badly. If you can, remove the trigger assembly from the receiver. Basically disassemble it as far as you are comfortable with and are sure you can get it back together.

If you have compressed air blow out every bit of water but make sure no little springs are going to be lost. Then spray it down with rem-oil or other aerosol gun oil. Blow out the excess oil and wipe dry.

Do not use WD-40 on firearms. Use a gun oil.


BTW, it is funny as long as no one or nothing got hurt. Which seems to be the case here. I once slipped crossing a shallow stream elk hunting in December in Colorado. The water instantly froze on me and inside the gun. It didn't seem funny to me at the time cause I was soaking, freezing wet and it was about 10 degrees. Luckily it happened leaving camp so I was able to get changed and dried off. My grandfather sure got a laugh out of it though. [8D]

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

Disassemble the whole thing and then use a gun oil not wd40

RE: MY CANOE FLIPPED AND MY RIFLE WENT TO THE BOTTOM
 

I use WD-40 to get rid of the water.
THEN wipe it all off and oil it. the WD in WD-40 stands for WATER DISPLACEMENT!
Other than using WD-40 for starting small engines instead of either, that is the only times I use WD-40