Dirty Guns

I’ve been shooting guns a long time. And, I’ve been cleaning them too. After all the time I spent in the military and on the police range, today I found the dirtiest gun I have ever seen. I’ve been working on a .300 Blackout article for Shooting Illustrated. The article deals with .300 Blackout ammunition and after testing 10 loads in one rifle, the results suggested I needed to try another rifle. That “other” rifle was loaned to me by a manufacture who had recently used the rifle at a media event where gunwriter after gunwriter had pushed round after round down range.

I notice the bolt on the AR did not want to go all the way into battery so I took it apart and it was like looking inside a coal furnace. It was all I could do to get the firing pin out and nothing else wanted to move. I’m on a deadline here and the weather being what it has been along with other pressing deadlines, I had to shoot this rifle today. What to do?

I grabbed a can of Ballistol and sprayed the bolt like I was coating a swimsuit model in tanning oil. 10 minutes later I went back and the bolt carrier came apart just like it was supposed to. After about 20 minutes of judicious cleaning the rifle was right as rain.

Conclusions: carbon fouling has got nothing on Ballistol and gun makers should make gunwriters clean the guns they shoot.