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CHAPTER XIII. - CLEANING.
THE rifleman can hardly take too much pains in cleaning the weapon on which his credit depends in peace and his life in war. But he will clean with more success, and no less zeal, if he tries to understand what he has to do and why he has to do it. The interior of a rifle has to do delicate and carefully-regulated work under conditions much more trying than are usual in ordinary machinery.
The bearing, parts of a machine are carefully fitted and lubricated, and are seldom allowed to become heated. The interior of the rifle barrel is scarcely lubricated at all, and a hard-coated, tightly-fitting bullet is forced through it by pressure of intensely heated gas. Nor is this all ; for the gas itself from many powders contains free oxygen, ready to combine with the intensely heated surface, and literally burn off the very face of the metal. Surely here are all the conditions of " wear and tear."
Our Service Rifles have exceptional wear because the exigencies of our Empire prohibit lubrication except so far as it can be applied to the part of the bullet enclosed in the cartridge case; and our very safe and stable powder," which can be used successfully in all climates of the world, is yet a very " fiery " one, with gases of high temperature, and its fouling is very " biting " to the metal.
No matter how perfect the rifle may be, or who made it, a very little neglect may very soon make it entirely useless for accurate work; and, indeed, many excellent rifles are ruined by neglect, and perhaps as many by bad cleaning. The reason is that the fouling is acid : it contains oxygen ready to combine with the iron to form rust ; and it is to some extent burnt in.
The only successful method of cleaning is to remove the acid fouling, and then cover the metal from contact with the oxygen of the air by oiling. But there is more than one way of doing this, though there is no very easy and ready way.
It is not sufficient to cover up the fouling, because it will go on eating the metal under a coat of oil just as well as if there were no oil: since the oxygen is in the fouling as well as in the air. Neither is it sufficient to keep tearing off the rust as it forms day by day—a method much too common in our Army : for when rust is formed and rubbed off some of the metal is gone, and no cleaning can possibly replace it. Then in the little pits left where the rusted metal once was, the next lot of fouling hides, out of reach of the roughest of pull-throughs, and eats the pits out yet deeper and deeper, till at last poor Tommy comes under stoppage for a new barrel.
Fouling must be removed, and removed as soon as possible; for it hardens and clings till the task of removing it is doubly and trebly hardened.
Since the fouling is acid, it is possible, to neutralise it with an alkali, and the most successful methods of cleaning depend more or less on the use of some alkaline preparation. But it is plain that methods that may be easy enough at home may not be applicable on the range, and some may be easy on the range but not possible in the field. We may most conveniently consider them in this order.
One most effective way of cleaning after practically any powder is to wash out the barrel with very hot water containing caustic soda. A rod and many " swabs " to wipe and dry the interior are needed ; and a funnel with a bent tube is very desirable. Very careful drying is necessary, and a good oiling afterwards to keep off the air. The caustic soda can be dispensed with, but makes a better job. Unless the rifle be placed in a vice or bench clip upside down, the water is apt to get in the lock work, which in all military rifles is practically open.
For this method a smooth steel rod with a slit for the rag is about the best kind. A wood-covered rod will not stand the boiling water and soda. Neither will the hands bear much of it, as the soda is quite capable of taking off the skin. Still for a thorough clean, when the rifle is to lie by, there is no better method.
A solution of caustic soda in methylated spirit can be used ; but the spirit evaporates readily, and a thin coating of soda is often left on the bore. This absorbs moisture from the air and sets up rust after all.
Of other solvents one of the readiest is " acetone." It certainly does dissolve the fouling very readily, but it needs great care in cleaning off. Rust sets up very quickly where acetone has been left; and the writer has known several rifles ruined by the use of it, though exceptional care was taken.
There are many more or less secret preparations on the market for cleaning purposes, and one or two of them will do the work very fairly ; but the writer does not propose to take the responsibility of recommending any one of them, nor of naming those that are of little use. The principle of most of them is that of using an alkali in some form to kill the acid ; and the principle is in itself sound. Almost all of them are much more effective if used at once after firing, before the rifle has cooled.
For cleaning on the range or at home a rod is almost essential. There are several forms of rod on the market, but that in most common use is the " wood-covered " rod. It has, however, two serious defects. The most important is the metal at the end of the wood. This is in the form of a square edged lump which batters the lands just at the most important place—the muzzle. The second is the liability of the wood to take up and carry grit to the injury of barrel. Grit gets imbedded in the wood, and then the rod does far more damage than a steel rod.
For attachment to a rod as a jag to carry the rag, by far the best thing is a very stiff bristle brush. It should be too short in the bristle to be any good as a brush, but it makes a jag that holds rag very firmly, keeps it up to the bore, reaching to the bottoms and corners of the grooves, and yet never gets stuck. A brush with a small shank which will be completely covered by the length of rag is necessary, as a big shank must be left bare, or it may make a jam. A brush alone, used as a brush usually is, cannot clean a rifle; because it gets dirty itself very quickly. But a brush used as a jag does not get dirty, because it is covered with the rag. An ordinary Morris Tube rod with a bristle scratch brush covered with rag cleans the .303 very well indeed ; but the rod can be had covered, and is then still better.
The oil issued by the Government contains a very small percentage of a solution of caustic soda. One of the best methods of cleaning is to make this oil very much stronger, put plenty of it on a piece of rag, and work it up and down the barrel with the stiff brush. When the oily rag has been well worked up and down—of course, from the breech end—a clean rag should be used to wipe the barrel out. Then a second oily rag and a second wipe out should follow. This should be done three or four times at least, and then two or three rags should be used to get the barrel clean.
For a final oiling, good Rangoon oil alone is better than that containing any caustic soda; but pure vaseline
is better still. Unfortunately, it seldom is pure.
The whole success of this method depends on using plenty of strong oil, keeping the rags tightly to the bore, wiping dirty oil and fouling all out, and then covering the bore from the air.
The oil is easily strengthened by dissolving some sticks of caustic soda in methylated spirit, and then pouring about a wineglassful into about half-a-pint of Government oil. But as caustic soda and methylated spirit both have a trick of absorbing water whenever they can get it from the air, the solution, the soda, and the oil ought all to be kept in glass-stoppered bottles. In fact, both the solution and the oil will eat away cork. This trick of absorbing water is the greatest fault of the substance as a cleaner, and the reason it is not wise to use it for the final oiling if the rifle will not be touched for some time. It will do no harm for a day or two.
As it is not possible to carry a cleaning rod on active service, some kind of pull-through is a necessity. But it does not follow that there need be wire gauze on a pull-through, or that the pull-through cannot be efficient without it. But whether there be any wire gauze on it or no, there is one simple improvement that is easily made and greatly increases its efficiency. This is simply to tie a length of good string to the loop end of it, so that it becomes a double pull-through, capable of being worked rapidly backwards and forwards through the rifle. The simplest way to use it is to drop the weight through from the breech to the muzzle, loop the weight round any knob, hook, or peg, or give it another man to hold, and, holding the other string in one hand, work the rifle backwards and forwards along the pull-through with the other. Plenty of oil on the rags and plenty of rags are, of course, necessary. If strong oil be used, and the cleaning be well done, and the rifle wiped out clean and then oiled with clean ordinary oil on clean , rag, the rifle will be easily kept clean afterwards.
As the oil is apt to settle, and the drums it arrives in are not easy to shake or pleasant to handle in uniform, a good deal of oil that has little soda in it gets issued to the men ; and their difficulties are increased by the weakness of the oil.
Now, with good oil and a rifle that was never neglected on any occasion there does not seem to be any necessity for gauze on the pull-through for a Metford barrel. But for a rifle that has once got rough and lost its polish, the gauze does become necessary. For Enfield rifling the gauze is more necessary and less use, as will be 'seen later.
Sometimes a good shot finds that his rifle has somehow gone off its shooting in one way or another. It may seem to shoot more to the right or left, or higher or lower, than usual ; or it may simply shoot irregularly. Very often the cause is metallic fouling. This is a real solid fact—only too solid, indeed ; although sometimes ammunition makers will ignorantly assert that it was only seen at Bisley in 1899, and never before or since. Well, some folks are ignorant of the very things they ought to know. It is a fact that under certain circumstances some of the metal of the bullet covering does get deposited on the barrel, mainly on the lands; and it sticks there most tenaciously, and not only spoils the shooting of the rifle, but becomes a positive danger to the rifleman. Sometimes the metallic fouling is so thick that it takes long hard work to clear it off sufficiently to get the barrel guage to enter at all. A tight middle band helps it to form in the middle of the barrel, and a tight nose cap near the muzzle; but it may form anywhere in the bore.
Many breakdowns are due to this cause, and many men have fouled rifles but do not know anything about it. The whole of the conditions of this deposit of metal are not fully understood, though some of them are plain enough. A rifle with rust pits or other rough places is certain to tear off some of the outside of the bullet's jacket, and such a deposit has a tendency to increase. Once well started, the fouling accumulates, and no ordinary cleaning takes it off, but only smears oil over it. With some steel barrels the fouling is so persistent that no reasonable care will keep them free of it, and nothing an ordinary rifleman can do will clear them.
Naturally, the Enfield rifling is very much more subject to this plague than the Metford rifling; for the sharp edges of the former cut into the metal, and these edges are extremely liable to foul. Of course, the pull-through cannot sweep the Enfield grooves out perfectly, though it can tear some of the roughest fouling off.
Now, the surest way to avoid metallic fouling is to keep the original polish of the barrel undiminished—if it ever had any. But if a man watch carefully for the very first appearance of this plague, and clean it off at once, it will not be likely to be a great trouble to him.
The easiest way to detect its unwelcome presence is to wipe the rifle out perfectly clear, put some irregular white substance such as a handkerchief or a white cap on the ground in a good light, and look through the barrel from the muzzle at the white object. By looking carefully down the lands, moving the rifle gently so that they are well lighted in turn, the metallic fouling may be seen in streaks or patches smeared on the lands. A practised eye will recognise it at once, where a novice only sees a bright barrel. Diffuse reflected light shows it up much plainer than the light from a piece of glass or any direct source.
Now, supposing a few strips of " nickelling " are seen on the lands, it will be necessary to get them cleared off at once ; but great care must be taken not to damage the barrel in doing it. The sooner they are attacked, the easier they will be routed.
If they are promptly seen and attacked, a good rubbing both ways with a double pull-through with tightly-fitting gauze will usually curl them up from each end and drag them out. But if it will not move them, even when the gauze has been packed with a bit of rag to make it fit very tight to the bore, then there is only choice of evils. To let the nickel remain is fatal to the barrel, though care will keep it from getting worse very rapidly. To scratch and tear the nickel out is to destroy the polish of the barrel and invite more nickel.
There is a wire brush in the market with its wires sloping backwards, that will often move nickel and rust that a pull-through only runs over. This is often used, and is useful in an emergency. But the habitual use of it in cleaning is not wise ; and yet once it has been used, it is almost always necessary to keep on. The brass wire brushes usually sold are very apt to bend just enough to get through, and bow down contentedly, and do nothing but raise the muscle, and perhaps the temper, of the user.
Of course, an expert hand may have some success with a lead lap and emery, and the nickel seldom shows again in the same place, because the lap slightly enlarges the bore; but very few riflemen can safely use a lap or emery at all. Still, fine levigated emery and a rag on a tight brush will do little harm in careful hands.
Cleaning with sanded soaps is sometimes done; but once it is begun it must be continued, and while steady scrubbing does tear off nickel (and steel), the rough " scoring " ensures more nickel next shoot.
The much greater liability to nickel of the Enfield barrel over the Metford barrel is one of its greatest faults; but it cannot be denied.
The rags used in cleaning a rifle should be clean and dry. Very often they are more or less damp, and rust is the natural consequence. They should be as free as possible from " dress," which can do the bore no good, and may do harm. Flannelette patches of the regulation size will do very well with the brush ; but if thicker material be used, the pieces must be cut narrower.
The outside of the rifle must, of course, be wiped dry, and kept oiled ; but it is not at all necessary to keep the oil on when shooting. Care should be taken not to get oil on the backsight, as the oil will certainly spread from the recesses of the bar on to the line when the barrel is heated by firing. Many a line gets dulled by this, and the rifleman usually blames the paint for " going bad."
The wooden fore-end of a rifle is a very important part of the weapon, usually left to take care of itself, but not quite capable of doing it. Being wood, it is capable of warping; and if it be wetted one side and warmed the other, it must warp. Yet men do put rifles down on the wet grass and in the sun, and then wonder why they don't shoot very well. Of course, the barrel sets a limit to the amount of warp the fore-end can show; but although the barrel can do that, it cannot prevent the fore-end trying to bend, and so putting a strain on the barrel which interferes very considerably with the normal condition of it, and can both alter the direction and destroy the accuracy of the shooting.
If a barrel be stripped of its fore-end, it can easily be " sprung " out of straight with the hands, and a good viewer or any expert can see the distortion. It is a
good deal easier to spring the barrel a little way than to spring the fore-end the same distance ; though the fore-end would break before the barrel would. Fore-ends do warp and cause erratic shooting, and no one who has really investigated the matter can deny it.
The best way to keep water out is to soak oil in ; and the best oil is one that will absorb oxygen and thicken in the pores. Nothing is more suitable or effective than boiled linseed oil, which usually contains litharge, and dries better than raw oil. When the oil has been well rubbed in several times, the surface can be " boned," just as boots are, to make it smooth and stop the openings. A little resin, which can be carried in an old cartridge case, is useful to help the hands to grip the rifle when a bit oily or wet.
No rifle should be left about uncovered in any weather, and no rifle should lie on the ground. The little Colonial rifle rest, which can be bought of any dealer for a trifle, will keep a rifle off the ground at any time. Of course, the bolt should be kept clean and oiled, and the magazine kept free from grit.
A rifle should always be cleaned from the breech end ; and it is advisable to take out the magazine while cleaning, so that oil cannot run into it and weep out again at the bottom to damage the shoulder of tunic or coat. Any oil that drops on the magazine can be wiped off ; but oil that runs in is not easily got at.
The rifle should be carried to and from the range in a waterproof case; but should not be put wet into the case, nor left in it always.
The foresight protector should cover the muzzle also ; and neither sight protector should be liable to come off in taking the rifle out of the case. The rod can be carried in the case with the rifle.
The principles of cleaning are the same with most powders, though some are less trouble to clean than cordite. On the other hand, some powders specially brought forward as easier to clean than cordite, are in reality much worse. One especially is extremely corrosive of the barrel if a cupro-nickelled bullet be used, though it does not behave so badly with simple lead. Probably the iron and the sheath, under the influence of the fouling, form a galvanic couple.
There are several convenient forms of bag for carrying all the rifleman's tools, which the newspapers generally dignify as " paraphernalia," and assume to be " prodigious." Perhaps the latter word might suit the price of some of the bags fairly well. The assumption of many papers is that the crack shot cannot shoot without a lot of aids; but it would seldom pay an enemy to trust to that. The fallacy lies in supposing that the man who uses all the small conveniences cannot shoot without them, and that those who know not their use can.
SUMMARY.
Neutralise the acid fouling with alkali.
Wipe it out.
Clean again and again the same way.
Oil with good Rangoon.
Use a rod with a stiff brush for a jag, and plenty of clean dry rag.
Keep fore-end well oiled and out of rain and sun as far as possible.
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