Cleaning your hunting gun is vital to keeping the equipment safe and in working order. A hunter shouldn’t hunt with a rifle or shotgun if the inside of the barrel, the bore, is dirty. A dirty gun is less accurate and less safe than a gun that’s been properly cleaned and cared for. Here are some tips on how you can clean and store your hunting gun.

Light Cleaning

To start, we’ll highlight the single most important aspect of gun cleaning and storage: safety. Make sure the gun is unloaded at all times. A gun should never be stored or cleaned while loaded. The only time the gun should be loaded is when you’re at the range and ready to shoot or you’re on an active hunt and you’re ready to take the shot.

If you didn’t take a lot of shots and the gun didn’t get any mud or other debris on it, or in the barrel, you’re probably good not to give it a deep clean. Cleaning the outside of the gun with a cloth is often sufficient for light use. A hunter should thoroughly clean the gun if it’s visibly dirty or wet or if they were practicing at the range, shooting a lot of rounds.

Periodically Deep Clean

A hunter should clean the barrel of their gun periodically. If you shoot multiple rounds at the gun range or something gets inside the barrel on a hunting trip, you should clean the barrel. You can clean it by using a cleaning rod and swiping a cleaning patch through the barrel. You can alternate a cleaning pad that’s soaked in cleaning solvent and a dry patch. Continue running patches through the barrel until the patches are clean.

Storage

You should clean the entire gun, including the barrel, before you put it away for an extended period of time. Then, clean it again when you take it back out for use. You can complete the cleaning process by putting oil on the metal components to prevent rust and corrosion. Make sure there’s not too much oil on the gun when you put it away, just enough to protect it. You don’t want to store the gun wet, it should be totally dry. Where you’re storing the gun should be clean and dry, as well. You should keep the gun in a gun case or a gun safe. You should know that this site talks about gun safes in your garage.

When hunting season opens once again, you can use our Gun Shelf to prop up your gun while you’re hunting from your Stump blind. The shelf has a notch to rest your gun against when you’re not using it and a shelving unit to store your phone, drink and other personal items and accessories as you hunt. You can also use our Bi-Pod Shooting Stick to rest your gun as you’re actively hunting and getting ready to take your shot. It rotates, has a rubberized v-brace and is made of lightweight aluminum. It adjusts from 21 to 40 inches, has foam grips and a universal mount for cameras, lights, and other accessories.

Whether you’re actively hunting or it’s the off season, cleaning and properly storing your gun is essential to the heath and safety of the hunter and the equipment. Our guidelines will get you started, but please default to the equipment manual or specific regulations for more specific cleaning instructions on your specific hunting gun.

What methods do you use to store and clean your hunting gun? Let us know in the comments below?

 

 

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