First let me start by saying that I'm fairly new to shooting and hunting in general. I picked it up earlier this year in the summer, and so far it's captivated me to the point that I honestly never get tired of reading about ballistics/hunting. But in these few months I've learned as much as I could with the resources I have at hand. (Primarily the internet, and these forums, which have proved to be very useful. )

At any rate, about two months ago I was lucky enough to purchase an M44 Ivehsk 1945 dated Mosin Nagant for $80. I've taken it out with me many times to target shoot and on occasion hunting (with little success), and it recently came to my attention that all milsurp. ammo is corrosive and harmful to the barrel, despite the way it's often advertised. And I know I've put at least 50+ rounds through this Mosin. My question is this, how exactly do I go about properly cleaning the barrel? I have Hoppes gun cleaner as well as patches, but I've been unable to find a detailed process on the web of how to do it. I'm concerned mainly that if I just try it without a better idea of what I'm supposed to be doing that I could potentially screw up the rifling.

-Rosk

Mostofthe corrosive compounds in ammunition are water soluble. Stick the end of your barrel in a pot of hot soapy water and fit the cleaning rod in the breech. Run your cleaning rod with a tight fitting patch up and down like a piston. The water will be sucked into the barrel and expelled with each stroke. The hot water will heat up the barrel and it will dry quickly. Finish with your usual method.

I do what Wingbone suggests.

The barrel, boltface and everything that comes in contact with primer/powder residue needs to be cleaned with hot water, dried, then oiled or you'll start seeing red fuzzy stuff growing on the metal.

Thank you very much for the help both of you. But uh, one more question. I don't exactly have a standard "method" I use. I've actually never even done this. I've cleaned other parts of my gun, (esp. receiver, bolt, etc.) never the barrel though. So basically the patch simply wraps around the cleaning rod, right?

If you don't have a cleaning kit, get one. It'll contain a brush and a slotted "thingy" thatscrew on the end ofthe rod. You can thread a bit of patch through the slotted "thingy", (enough to get a tight fit), or wrap a patch around the cleaning brush. Clean from the breach end of any rifle. If you bang up the rifling at the muzzle witha cleaning rod, you'll ruin your accuracy.
My "usual" procedure is to dip my brush in a copper solvent, (Butch's Bore Shine, Hoppe's Bench Rest, etc.) I give the bore a good scrubbing, followed by dry patches to clean out the residue. I then use a patch with a small amount of oil or WD40, and follow it with more dry patches.