Cleaning guns when using corrosive ammunition takes effort

Corrosive ammo, almost always old and often originating from Eastern Europe, getting your hands on what’s hopefully cheap ammo should be avoided if at all possible but if you want to use it, cleaning the bullets first is important.

There are several ways to address it, but let’s start with the most obvious and cheapest route:

Cleaning the ammo

Rinse and scrub in hot water. Don’t mix it with anything. Just use water.

Corrosive salts forming from the primer material is a problem so if you take the necessary step and effort to clean it first, make sure to dry it off immediately after.

After shooting:

• Clean inside the bore
• Use Tetra Gun Carbon Cleaner by running saturated patches down the barrel and in the chamber – swab out until dry.
• Alternatively, use Tetra Gun Carbon Cleaner Foaming Bore solvent can clean as well and possibly be more effective.
• Use Tetra Gun Triple Action CLP oil as a protective barrier from further corrosive salts fouling going forward, but you still have to run patches through the bore after every shoot with that kind of ammo.

So, in general, you want to clean with a water-based solution. So, to review:

• Not oil based
• Not solvent based
• Avoid household concoctions
• Avoid mixing different brands of chemicals
• Follow up with CLP Oil:
  • For lubricating and protecting going forward, you should treat the metal with CLP oil, for example.

Rationale: you don’t want any kind of residue left behind after the cleaning process. Lubricating afterwards is different.

Remember, corrosive ammunition opens the door to rust, so stop it in its tracks. Proceed with caution and attention.

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