New/First House...Need Gun Stuff

[ASH556]

I just bought my first real house! My wife owned a townhouse when we got married, so I moved in there and have lived there since college, but now I have a garage, yard, bonus room (read: room for guns/gun stuff). Now that I have a place to keep my stuff, I need some. Here's the deal, I work at a Gun Shop part-time for ammo money, and so any cleaning/maintenance I have done in the past was either on the shop bench or with my crappy steel rod 3pc universal cleaning kit on the living room floor.

Weapons I'll need to clean:
AR
.308 Remington Bolt gun (Precision)
12GA shotgun
.410 shotgun
.22lr
9mm Glock
1911 45ACP

Let's pretend I know absolutely nothing about gun cleaning/maintenance. If you were starting from scratch, what would you get? Do you go the OTIS route? Just buy a nice Dewey rod and a bunch of brushes?

Also, now that I'm done saving for my house, I want to take some formal training. It seems like a good idea to take some cleaning/maintenance stuff with me to a class/competition. Is there a smaller field kit, or do you take the good stuff with you from home?

I'm concerned about using the segmented rod in any of my guns, but especially the Remington.

What's the goods? Thanks guys and great site (7 year ARFCOMMER)

[SouthPark]

I use only coated rods the correct length/size for the barrel along with a pointed jag properly sized for the bore, and I buy good gear from Midway such as Dewey but there are several who make nice rods and jags for gun cleaning. I use an action cleaner spray sometimes on actions and wipe them off. Then I work on the barrel and cylinders gently with bronze brushes if necessary (but often isn't) and then use a pretty potent cleaner. Sweet's or something like it. For lube I use Tetra or Slip EWL. I never oil the barrel unless I am storing it, but I live in Colorado where things don't rust unless they get wet. For shotguns I use an Outer's Tico Tool mop which is just amazing at removing plastic residue. At least as important at picking a good lube is knowing the places to apply it.

If you don't have one, buy a decent safe for your collection.

That's my 2 cents.

[BBossman]

Various caliber BoreSnakes, old tooth brushes and FP10

[kartoffel]

First off, you'll need a proper MAN CAVE to do your gun stuff. I'd set aside an area in the garage or the den or something, so that you won't ever have to clean guns on the living room floor again

My old standbys are: Eezox, Kroil, Ballistol, foaming bore cleaner, Mobil 1, and grease.

[stifled]

Whatever you do, claim a room and fill it with your stuff as quickly as possible. Once it is a firmly established fact that it is your room to do with as you please, set it up however you want. If you leave an unused room unclaimed or unused long enough, it will end up being a "sitting room" or a "formal living room" or some other made-up nonsense.

More on topic... I like bore snakes, I like the Otis system, I like rods and jags... As long as you use them properly you'll be just fine. I have bore snakes in .22 and .30 since they will clean most of my guns, an Otis that came with one of my guns that I only use on that gun, and a 'traditional' rod that I use for everything else since it's the most adaptable.

[ASH556]

Bore Snake seems like a good way to go for semi-auto .22's to avoid cleaning from muzzle end, but I've heard that they're only good for one pass, otherwise you're just dragging the dirt back through the bore. True?

[ASH556]

Any more thoughts? What about safes? Best for $500 or less? I read the article on the benchrest site, but $2500 + for a safe just isn't going to happen. Whatever I get will be bolted to the slab.

[stifled]

Any more thoughts? What about safes? Best for $500 or less? I read the article on the benchrest site, but $2500 + for a safe just isn't going to happen. Whatever I get will be bolted to the slab.

Frankly, nothing under $500 is going to be secure against much. The inexpensive gun "safes" on the market are thin gauge steel walls with a formidable looking door that can be broken into with an axe. A gun cabinet will save you a lot of money and have the same functionality as one of these safes--keeping your neighbors honest.

Check out the Gun Safe Buyers' Guide on 6mmbr.com. It's the best no-BS safe information I've found all in one place. Boiled down: you want as much steel as you can afford primarily and after that you want over 500lbs empty weight, bolted to the ground, and external hinges. Also keeping it away from things like power tools and pry bars could save your butt a little.

[usmcvet]

Do Not Buy a Cheap Chinese Safe! Think about what you're protecting. Spend at least a grand and probably twice that for a good safe. Just spin the dial on a real safe VS the cheap ones and you should quickly be able to tell what poor quality they are. One AR/SBR with an optic, sling, redimod, X300 is over. $2K multiply that times all of your guns and buying a cheap safe quickly becomes a very bad idea.

If you buy the right kind of safe.it can be the crown jewel in your man room. The paint on some of those babies is freaking awesome. Also buy a safe you can grow into. Look around for a used high quality safe.

[arbninftry]

Every Man/Gun room needs a good reloader and a gun safe too. If you are going to do it, do it right the first time. Those two items will save you in the long run. You can always put a TV and a couch in there as well. They come in handy sometimes.