Time to Clean your Shotgun - Call Lohman Gunsmith
Is it time to clean your shotgun? With just a couple weeks until Dove season open in Texas you should now be thinking about pulling that shotgun out and making sure it is ready to go. 90% of problems we see here at Lohman Gunsmith with shot gun fail to feed or fail to fire or something is that the shotgun is very dirty. If you are like me you might have used old trusty as a boat padel at some point during duck season last year. Salt is the worst thing for a gun.
When we clean a your shotgun at Lohman Gunsmith we take it completely apart. That means every screw and every spring come out and get inspected and cleaned. There are 3 easy steps to cleaning a shotgun. Spray, scrub, wipe off and repeat until it is clean. We visually check every part that was inside the gun to make sure nothing is worn or needs to be replaced.
O ring is a very inexpensive part to replace that could give you problems on your hunt. There are 11 reasons why a O ring can fail. I won't go to deep into this. I am sure your engineering friend would love to talk to you all night about this. They are grouped into three categories which are leaking, contamination, and change in appearance. The fators that contribute to a seal failing in the shotgun are from chemical, thermal, and pressure. Without diving deep into the O ring all you need to know is that a $5.00 part should not ruin your hunt. Make sure the O ring is inspected good at the time of cleaning.
Let's talk about springs inside your shotgun for a min. Just a visual inspection for rust and corrosion is the first place to start. Spray scrub wipe off and repeat until clean. Then put a light coat of your favorite oil on to prevent rust and corrosion.
How to prevent your gun from getting to dirty or rusting. First when you put the gun away put it in a case or sleeve that is not wet. If your gun is wet when you come out of the field the best thing to do is to wipe it down with a old T shirt. Once it is dry you can spray it with some oil (Remoil, or gun scrubber, or what ever you use) on the outside and down the barrel. When you get home then you can clean it better or if you are like me when you get back from a hunt your wife has a list of honey do's and you for get to clean your gun that day. With a light coat of oil it buys you a day of two if you need it. I would suggest to buy a bore snake and some oil and leave in your truck. Run the bore snake down it a couple of times and wipe the gun down and this will help in preventing problems in the future.
Last thing make sure you check and make sure you have a front bead on your gun.
Check out our web site at http://www.lohmangunsmith.com or send us a email at gunsmith@lohmangunsmith.com or you can call us at (832) 849 - 0009 if it is time to clean your shotgun!