Warm/Hot water when cleaning and flash rust

[codger]

Shooting black powder in rifles and shot guns for 50 years....a bit of machine cutting oil in water or just plain tap water is all I've ever used....never remove barrels from the stock on rifles...sometimes do with the double shot gun.
Everyone has their own preference...clean is clean. good idea to run an oil patch down the next day and you should be fine.

 

[SDSmlf]

Just do it when you change the filter, put a bucket under the housing and crack the shut off valve.

Just changed the whole house filter at the first of the year. Won’t be changing again until I see a drop in flow or July 1st, whatever comes first. Unless the head cook and household manger determines it needs done sooner. Curious about what the test will show, but not so curious that I need to do it now. I try and remember to do it the first chance I get.

 

[Carbon 6]

I don't have any filters on my system (really good water) or I'd check it myself. It was just a curiosity.
Thanks.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Back in the day, most probably doused the barrel in a stream, river or lake on the go...most likely cold. Doubt most hunters, etc., took the time to heat water to cleanup spend BP !!!

Your right. They didnt heat water to clean a gun.
They heated the water to cook and make a warming beverage.
Dipping a barrel in freezing water only to watch said barrel become iced up may encourage making a fire purely to dry the gun off though!
I wonder how many times they made that mistake on the north west passage before they learnt hot water may just have the edge!

 

[nhmoose]

IMHO the internet made flash rust a thing to worry about.

Having blued a few hundred thousand barrels commercially Flash rust is a joke. See color after wiping, oil the barrels bore.

 

[hawkeye2]

IMHO the internet made flash rust a thing to worry about.

Having blued a few hundred thousand barrels commercially Flash rust is a joke. See color after wiping, oil the barrels bore.

I agree, it disappears after oiling and I've never seen any damage from it. "Wall rust" is another another one that some seem overly concerned about but is easily dealt with. Wall rust: rust that forms on firearms displayed in the open with little maintenance.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I used room temp bottled water today and will check the bore tomorrow morning. I don't know, hot water just "feels" like it cleans better to me.

 

[dennyntx]

I posted a while back on another thread about the difference in water. I used to get flash rust when I lived in town and after I moved here and am using well water with no additives I no longer see it. I haven't changed my cleaning regimen and the water only goes through sediment filters with the final one being 5 micron with carbon. Other than that it's as it comes from the ground.

I always use boiling water when cleaning my pistol and rifle it causes the water to evaporate very fast so you don't get the flash rusting

 

[david58]

I quit using hot hot water when I burned my hand on the barrel. Wimp, I guess...

When I quit using hot water, and went to warm soapy water, or windshield washer fluid (the best), I no longer got that "flash rust." Now, I use the ww fluid (the kind with methanol) and the gun cleans fast and clean. And no rust. I guess living in NM helps a bit with the rust, but in Oregon that was how I got shed of the rust.

 

[dennyntx]

I quit using hot hot water when I burned my hand on the barrel. Wimp, I guess...

When I quit using hot water, and went to warm soapy water, or windshield washer fluid (the best), I no longer got that "flash rust." Now, I use the ww fluid (the kind with methanol) and the gun cleans fast and clean. And no rust. I guess living in NM helps a bit with the rust, but in Oregon that was how I got shed of the rust.

I will have to give that a try as I live in southeast texas about 30 miles from the gulf of mexico so everything rust here

 

[LME]

I have quit worrying about flash rust . It use to bother me to no end as I am anal when it comes to any tool,gun or mechanical gadget. I have a 54Cal. Ithaca Hawken I bought in 1985 and every time I cleaned it flash rust appeared. I use mutiple clean patches and oiled patches to rid the bore of the rust . It worked but it was labor intensive and I dreaded it every time I shot the rifle. The main thing I want to say due to newer ML shooters that are going through what I did is the accuracy has never changed. The rifle is extremely accurate still? I am going to try a few of the suggestion here on this post and if it works I want someone to kick my hind part for not thinking about it!

 

[CTShooter]

I have always used boiling water and didn't know flash rust was a thing until I saw it here. I have never seen it

 

[Captndan]

Ad a little Murphy's to the wash water. No rust.

 

[renegadehunter]

I have always used boiling water and didn't know flash rust was a thing until I saw it here. I have never seen it

Do you use city water or draw from a well?

 

[renegadehunter]

Ad a little Murphy's to the wash water. No rust.

I actually used Murphy's when first starting out rather than dish soap. Didn't make a difference, if the water was heated there was rust. I've also tried Hoppes BP solvent, Birch-wood Casey #77, and Ballistol just out of curiosity to see if they would make a difference.
The common denominator is my city tap water.

 

[CTShooter]

Do you use city water or draw from a well?

Well water, interesting observation.

 

[D.Summers]

I've been shooting a long time. Always got my well water hot. I've never seen "flash rust'! Cleaned a lot of tools with water, never saw any rusting. I do believe it happens, but it's odd how it happens with some, and not others! Hmmnn. A mystery!!

 

[renegadehunter]

I've been shooting a long time. Always got my well water hot. I've never seen "flash rust'! Cleaned a lot of tools with water, never saw any rusting. I do believe it happens, but it's odd how it happens with some, and not others! Hmmnn. A mystery!!

Kind of my purpose of this post. The answers from several on here that have never seen flash rust all seem to be drawing from a well. The ones that do see rust are using city tap water with chlorine and other additives.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Before I changed to my current cleaning procedure, with my first flinter I would take the barrel out of the stock and bring it into the shower, get the water as hot as I could and cleaned the bore in the shower.
Once I slipped and the tang hit the tub floor, still a mark there today.

 

[S.Kenton]

I just wonder if the flash rust issue is due partly from water softener systems? A water softener adds salt and minerals to the water that runs through it. I’m sure that’s not great on the bore of a rifle. I normally clean with cool/cold water from outside spigot, no flash rust ever. I’ve had flash rust from heated water from the same outside spigot before though.