How to Clean Your Shotgun

Rain does not stop a good hunt, but it can be hard on your shotgun. Wet fields, mud and sudden rain all bring moisture into places that you may not check. And the last thing you want to find before your next hunt is rust on your favourite gun.

The good news: maintenance is not complicated. It starts with a quick wipe before you leave the field, and a proper cleaning at home. This guide shows you how to do both. It also includes field-tested tips from ShotKam, the camera that fits under your barrel and films every shot.

What You Need

You do not need a large cleaning kit. But the right supplies make the job much easier. We link to some of our favourite products in this article.

Cleaning essentials:

• Cleaning rod or bore snake
• Bronze brush and cleaning patches for your calibre
• Gun cleaning solvent
• Gun oil
• Soft, lint-free cloths or a silicone gun cloth
• Small nylon brush or old toothbrush
• Cotton swabs
• Choke key and choke grease (the type that your choke manufacturer recommends)

Useful extras:

• Wool mop to apply a thin protective layer of oil
• Cleaning mat to protect your table
• Corrosion protectant for wet weather
• Nitrile gloves to protect your hands from solvents

How to Clean Your Shotgun, Step by Step

1. Unload and check twice.

Always point your shotgun in a safe direction and open the action. Check the chamber or chambers, and the magazine on a semi-automatic. Move all cartridges away from your cleaning area. Look and touch to confirm that the gun is empty.

2. Remove any accessories.

If you film your hunts with a ShotKam, remove it before you clean the gun. This keeps solvents away from the camera. It also lets you check the barrel under the mount for water. The steps to remove and refit the camera are below.

3. Take the gun apart.

If you do not know how to do this, do not force any parts. Always start with the manual for your gun. If you bought the gun second-hand and do not have the manual, search YouTube for your make and model. You will likely find a helpful video. This is very useful for guns that are more difficult to take apart, such as many semi-automatic shotguns.

Semi-automatic and pump-action: Make sure the gun is unloaded and the action is open. Unscrew the magazine cap at the front of the forend. Then slide the barrel forward and off the receiver. On most semi-automatics, the forend also comes off. On many pump-actions, it stays on the gun.

Over-and-under and side-by-side: Close the gun. Release the forend latch. This is usually a lever under the forend or a push button near its front end. Lift the forend away. Then open the action fully and lift the barrels off the hinge pin.

Then use a clean, dry cloth to wipe away any water you can see, especially under the forend and around metal parts.

4. Clean the barrel.

Put a little solvent, for example Ballistol, on the bronze brush. Push it through the barrel from the chamber end several times. Then push clean patches or a mop through until they come out mostly clean. This removes powder residue, plastic from the wads and water. All of these can cause rust and small holes (pitting) in the barrel.

Do not forget the chokes! Use your choke key to unscrew each choke. If you are not sure how, check your manual first. Clean the chokes and the threads. Apply a thin layer of choke grease, for example Krieghoff Choke Lube, before you refit them. Tighten them with the key, but not too much.

Steel and other non-toxic shot do not leave lead in the barrel, but the plastic wads still leave residue, especially around the choke. Brush the barrel and the choke one extra time, and always check that your choke is suitable for steel shot before you use it.

5. Clean the action.

Use an old, soft toothbrush and cotton swabs to clean around the receiver, the bolt and other moving parts that you can reach.

On a gas-operated semi-automatic, check the gas system for dirt. Dirt here can stop the gun from loading and ejecting cartridges correctly. Follow your manual to clean it, because every model is different. Inertia-driven guns, such as the Benelli M2, do not have a gas system, so you can skip this step.

On a break-action shotgun, pay extra attention to the hinge, the ejectors and the metal parts under the forend. Check these areas for dirt and water. They can cause rust or make the gun harder to open and close.

6. Oil the gun.

Push a lightly oiled mop through the barrel. Put a small amount of oil on the moving parts, as the manufacturer recommends. Wipe the outside metal with a lightly oiled cloth or a silicone gun cloth.

Use only a little oil. Too much oil collects dirt, becomes thick in cold weather and can soak into a wooden stock.

7. Reassemble and check.

Put the gun back together in the reverse order. Your manual has the details for your model, and you will find step-by-step videos on YouTube for most popular shotguns. Then, with the gun still unloaded, check that:

• The action opens and closes smoothly and locks fully.
• The safety clicks firmly into each position, and the trigger does not move when the safety is on.
• The barrel and forend are tight and do not move or rattle.
• On a break-action gun, the top lever returns to the centre when you close the gun.

If a part feels stiff or does not fit, do not force it. Take it apart and put it together again. If it is still not right, ask a gunsmith to check it before you use the gun.

8. Store it dry.

Your shotgun is now clean and ready for the next hunt. Correct storage is just as important as cleaning. Do not put it back in a wet gun bag. The water can quickly undo all your hard work. Store the gun unloaded in your gun safe, as the law in your country requires. In a damp room, add an electric dehumidifier rod or a desiccant, for example Pingi.

After a Wet or Muddy Hunt

Before you leave, wipe the gun quickly with a dry cloth, so that water does not get into small gaps. At home, remove the forend and dry all parts with a towel. Let them dry at room temperature. Do not put a wooden stock near a heater. Strong heat dries the wood unevenly and can damage it. Then remove mud and dirt with an old toothbrush and gun solvent.

Rust can start on a shotgun very quickly. Light surface rust (flash rust) can appear on bare or blued steel in a few hours, or overnight, if you store the gun wet. This happens especially in a gun bag or a damp car, where the water cannot escape. Salt water, marsh mud, blood and even sweat from your fingers make it faster.

After a Hunt Near Salt Water

Salt causes rust very quickly. Clean the gun on the same day.

First, wipe the salt from the outside metal with a cloth that is slightly wet with fresh water. Dry the metal immediately. Then clean the gun as usual. Pay extra attention to the action, the screws and the choke threads, because salt collects there. Also wipe your cartridges. Salt can damage them too.

ShotKam Pro Tip: Always keep the choke threads well greased with the choke grease that the manufacturer recommends. This helps to prevent rust and stops the chokes from becoming stuck in the barrel. Salt can also damage the black screws on your ShotKam mount. If they start to rust, use the spare screws that come with your ShotKam accessories.

Cleaning Around Your ShotKam

The ShotKam mount is designed to come off and go back on quickly. It is easy to make it part of every cleaning.

To remove it: loosen the silver mount screw with the Allen key supplied with your ShotKam. Open the mount fully and lift the camera away from the barrel. Wipe the camera, the mount and the barrel under the mount with a soft, dry cloth. Remove water spots from the lens with a microfibre cloth. If your ShotKam got wet during the hunt, unscrew the back cap and let the camera dry in the air for 24 hours. Then put the cap back on.

To refit it: when the gun is clean and dry, wipe extra oil off the part of the barrel where the mount sits, so the rubber pads can grip. Place the ShotKam directly under the barrel, with the USB port facing up towards the barrel. Open the mount fully, attach it from underneath (do not slide it on) so the bracket pads do not bend. Tighten the silver screw with a maximum force of about 2.3 kg.

If you refit it to the same gun in the same place, you do not need to calibrate the reticle again. You only need to realign the reticle in the app if you move the camera more than 5 cm in either direction, or use it on a different type of gun or calibre. For all the steps, see our Mounting and Calibration Guide.

ShotKam Pro Tip: If you can see the barrel in your video, move the ShotKam a little closer to the muzzle. Then check the live view in the app. There should be no dark or blurry curve at the top of the picture.

Ready for Your Next Hunt

A little care after every hunt makes a big difference. Give your shotgun a quick cleaning after every hunt, a full cleaning every time it gets wet, muddy or salty, and a deep cleaning before you store it at the end of the season. You will spend less time worrying about rust, and more time enjoying your next hunt.

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