Cleaning and Maintaining a Bolt Action Rifle

This is a simple way to clean and keep your bolt action rifle working properly and shooting accurately when you need it too. Before you put your rifle away for a period of time you should clean and oil it to prevent rust. These instructions do not include taking the whole gun apart this a simple yet effective way to clean a gun.

Once the bolt is removed inspect it to make sure it is in good working condition. I personally oil the bolt and wipe it down good with a rag and then re-aplly oil and put it back the receiver once i am done cleaning the gun.

First part of cleaning the barrel is to wire brush it out to make sure to get all the loose powder out and residue from shooting the gun. Make sure to run the brush all the way through the barrel into the action and repeat until nothing comes out of barrel.

swap the wire brush to a soft tip, beofre running the tip through i like to get it wet with oil no soaked just damp. Run it through the barrel to get the barrel wet with oil and to pick up some of the loose residue. Now switch to a plastic tip that holds cleaning clothes and run as many clothes through until they comes out clean.

The last step is to make sure the bolt and action is clean then oil them both and put the bolt back into the gun and cycle it a couple of times to distribute the oil. The last thing i do is oil the outside of the barrel and anything else metal on the gun give it a good coat then wipe lightly with a cloth so that some oil remains on the gun for storage. That is how i clean my bolt action rifle to keep them in good condition.