Firearms Care

Regenerative & Transitional Technology Transition Tech
#1

Plenty of us have talked about using firearms to hunt and protect ourselves in our rewilding journeys, so I think it reasons that we understand how to keep them in working condition as long as possible. They won’t be around forever, but they might make transition easier. Since I started here years ago, I’ve become a bit of a “gun guy”. Okay, not really, but I now own a few and know how to take care of them and such. This might be more important as the collapse unfolds, since you eventually won’t be able to just mosey into a big box store and buy some fancy cleaning kits.

If you own firearms, the first thing to do is make sure you know how to disassemble it for cleaning. Most of the time this can be found in the manual, but if it isn’t or you didn’t get one, you can usually find guides online. If you’re using firearms with detachable magazines, the same goes for them. Most have a button or something that allows a piece to slide out, so you can clean and lube the spring.

Fernando Aguirre wrote about taking care of his firearms after the economic collapse in Argentina a decade ago. His advice built on the usual stuff: clean off any rust, make sure all the parts are lubed, clean the barrel out as soon as possible after shooting, etc. He added the practical advice of everyday stuff that can be used in place of high priced lubes and solvents. This is pretty obvious: motor oil makes great gun lube, and solvents like kerosene are great for cleaning out residue and taking off rust. Cotton rags are perfectly good for cleaning.

Another great example I think we should pay attention to is the Bourgainville Resistance Army. In the movie “Coconut Revolution”, which was about their struggle for sovereignty as a colonized indigenous group, we see that they cleaned and lubed their captured and improvised weapons with coconut oil. I know some people who use muzzleloaders prefer tallow to anything else. So it seems natural oils work just fine. It might be best to use saturated fats, I’m not sure if it makes a difference. I know saturated fats tend to have lower smoking points, so maybe that makes a difference. I’ll try olive oil sometime and let you know if it gums up or anything.

#2

Woah. This is a great topic!

#3

Here’s a thought I had: beaver or bear fat would probably make a decent gun lube. And obviously beef tallow, which is what a lot of people who like traditional muzzleloaders use.

#4

Do you think that a simpler gun like a revolver or shotgun would be easier to care for and find parts for than an automatic? Or does it matter?

#5

Revolvers are often just as complicated and at least as hard to repair as a semi-automatic pistol. Single shot shotguns are extremely easy to repair, as are bolt action and pump long guns. In most modern firearms, the most commonly damaged parts are the springs and firing pins; springs can be replaced with a similarly strong piece of spring, and the firing pin can be replaced by a tiny bar of decent strength steel.

To show the simplicity of single-shot shotguns:

A simple improvise shotgun used by the Filipino resistance during the Spanish American war was made up of a 3/4" steel pipe, a 1" steel pipe, a cap for one end of the 1" pipe, and a short nail (maybe something to fix it in place). The nail is affixed in the center of the cap, which is screw onto the 1" pipe, the two pipes are filed down slightly so that the smaller one easily slides into the larger one, and the 12 ga cartridge is inserted into the back of the smaller pipe. When the smaller pipe is quickly slammed back into the larger one, the small nail strikes the primer of the cartridge and ignites the powder.

Also, I saw an epsisode of Dual Survival recently in which Dave used the grease gland from a dead beaver to oil an old muzzeloader. Guess I was right.