Firearms maintenance afield

[Guy Miner]

Just returned from my three-week trip through the southwest. Camped for a week or so before Mama joined me in Arizona. I had two handguns with me, a 45 Kimber 1911 and a very compact 9mm Kahr. Both good, American made guns.

Dang, did they get dusty! The desert wind can sure stir up some dust & sand. I didn't even shoot them, but did wipe them off time to time. Came home and gave 'em a good cleaning. They didn't seem to need one while I was on the trip, just a good wipe-down to get rid of the sand & dust.

Last year on the trip to Alaska and back, also about three weeks, I had just one firearm, a blued steel 30-06 in a walnut stock. I kept it in the hard case all the way up and back, in my Jeep, and camped most nights.

At our arctic camp for nine days, there was rain and/or sleet off and on pretty much every day. Again, I wiped down my Remington 700 daily, with an oily rag. Kept it from rusting. And kept it ready to go. Shot the bear on the 7th day of a nine-day hunt, rifle was ready to go.

I had a small cleaning kit with me on both trips, so I could take care of my firearms. It was pretty simple:

A little Hoppe's solvent.
A little Hoppe's lube.
Some patches.
A bore-snake for the rifle.
A cleaning rod & nylon bristle brush
Some patches appropriate for the calibers

Also had some appropriate screwdrivers & wrenches for disassembly if necessary.

Really very compact, and the kits did just fine, though I didn't need to detail clean at all in the field. That chore happened at home after each trip.

You guys take a little cleaning/maintenance kit with you on trips?

Guy

 

[mcseal2]

I take an Otis kit stripped down with only the tools I need for the calibers I have along. I stick a small lens cloth and the Torx or Allen wrenches my rifles scope mounts take in the kit also. The truck has more tools in it's toolbox full time if I need more.

 

[salmonchaser]

I keep a cleaning rod in our wall tent along with a small box of tools, patches and gun oil.
I also tape my muzzle with electrical tape, never have plugged the barrel with snow or mud.
On rainy or snow days I remove the tape and run a patch through just to be safe. If it's hot and dusty, typical during deer season I don't worry about it.



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[Guy Miner]

Taping the barrel sure helps!

 

[salmonchaser]

Taping the barrel sure helps!

I always have a partial roll in my pack; seems like the worst trouble I've had is after making the shot packing my rifle, a front quarter and the head.
I've never found anything better for attaching a tag to antlers either.


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[mjcmichigan]

Taping the barrel sure helps!

A bag of balloons from the dollar store work well too


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[diverdown]

I take a standard field cleaning kit with tools and a pull through Bore cleaner in my backpack. Takes up very little room. I also take a quantity of small Green balloons for the muzzle. A little tape to hold the balloon in place works perfectly. Sierra did a lot of testing on Muzzle covers and found that the Balloons do not change bullet impact unlike some of the other covers being used.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't carry a cleaning or maintenance kit. If I'm traveling a considerable distance, I either have a partner with a rifle I can use in a pinch or I'll have a spare rifle in my camp. I've had situations arise when I've used both to complete a hunt. In both instances I had issue with the scope that were well beyond my ability to take care of on a hunt.

I do tape the muzzle to keep the goobers out of the barrel and I keep a lens cloth to clean any of the optics- most frequently binos rather than the scope.