The Definitive Guide to Cleaning Guns

It’s important to clean rifles and pistols to preserve accuracy, and for shotguns, particularly semi-automatics, to prevent them from jamming or misfiring. When a center fire rifle is fired, powder leaves a residue as it burns, called powder fouling, and the copper jacket on the bullet leaves a residue as it travels down the barrel called copper fouling. These residues build up after every shot, particularly the copper fouling. This buildup of residues will be greatest at the part of the barrel in front of the chamber where the rifling starts, called the throat. Once this buildup gets large enough, say after about 20 shots, it sizes each bullet as it passes it. Since the sized bullet no longer exactly fits the bore, an amount of accuracy is lost. Even if this build up is only .002 to .003 inch in thickness, it will reduce accuracy. Properly cleaning the bore is the only way to prevent this buildup of residues and resulting loss of accuracy. If the barrel of a center fire rifle is not cleaned after firing 20 shots or more, the powder and copper residue will chemically bond and be ironed into a compound harder than the steel it adheres to. Once this happens, it can’t be removed without damaging the barrel and accuracy is forever lost. This includes the .17 HMR, .17 Mach 2, and .22 Magnum rim fire rifles, which also have copper jacket bullets and travel at high velocities. While properly cleaning the bores of pistols and standard .22 caliber rifles is also important to prevent the loss of accuracy, since these bullets travel at much lower velocities, these guns only need cleaning after about every 100 shots. And, periodic cleaning of shotguns is the only way to insure their reliable functioning. According to gunsmiths, improper cleaning techniques have ruined the accuracy of as many rifles and pistols as not cleaning them at all. This booklet takes you step-by-step through the correct process of cleaning center fire rifles, rim fire rifles, shotguns, pistols and black powder rifles – bolt actions, lever actions, over/under, semi-automatics, assault rifles and revolvers.

Robert Allen Morris, a Florida native, is an agricultural economist with over thirty years of experience in Florida agribusiness. He is currently Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for Blue Lake Citrus Products, Inc., the company that produces and markets the Noble brand of high end specialty citrus juices as well as bulk citrus juices sold to other brands and retail chains. From 2007 until 2012, Allen was on the faculty of the University of Florida in the Food and Resource Economics Department. His responsibilities included both educational programs and research. Prior to that, he held managerial positions with various companies including Prudential Agricultural Investments, the largest lender to Florida agribusiness, Cutrale Citrus Juices USA, the North American subsidiary of Sucocitrico Cutrale, one of the world's largest citrus growers, processors and exporters, based in Araraquara, Brazil; Tropicana, one of the largest global citrus juice brands; The Cola Company; and A. Duda and Sons, Inc., a Florida-based family-owned company that produces and markets vegetables, cattle, and citrus with operations in Florida, Texas and California. Allen's advice on agribusiness has been sought after as a consultant by global soft drink companies, national and regional citrus juice brands, international agricultural asset management firms, commodity trading exchanges, insurance companies, banks, and citrus growers and processors. His clients have ranged from Fortune 100 companies, to family-owned businesses, located in Florida, New York, California, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, and China. Allen has been an invited speaker on agribusiness topics in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, and China, and throughout the U.S. He has taught case studies on agribusiness at the Harvard Business School and at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He has published over thirty articles on Florida agribusiness in trade and professional journals. In 2014, Allen also published two novels - Florida Gold: A Historical Novel of Florida; and The Wine Queen: Love, Romance and A Woman's Quest For Success In The California Wine Industry. Both are available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. Allen has also been a hunter and shooter of all types of firearms for over 50 years. He currently resides with his wife, Kate, in Florida, and can be contacted at AllenMors@aol.com.