[Questor]

I just got a trap gun to shoot it in a league. This will mean lots more shotgun shooting than I have done in the past. Can you recommend some good maintenance tips for a trap gun? Mine is a Winchester over-under with barrel ports.

One thing I'm particularly interested in understanding is bore maintenance and how to remove wad fouling without working my fingers to the bone to do it.

Thanks.

 

[jbmi]

I shoot about 18,000 rounds of trap a year and here's what I do:
After each shoot I'll run a bore snake down the barrels with just a touch of oil. About once a month I'll scrub the barrel with a brass brush and Shooter Choice. I shoot reloads and use Claydot powder as it's very clean burning. If I'm using factory stuff I'll clean it just a little more often. Unless you shoot thousands of rounds plastic build up isn't a big problem, you may find it inside your choke tubes and they clean up easily.
The BIG thing to remember is after every shoot loosen and retighten your choke tubes and when you scrub your bore remove the tubes, clean the threads real good, lube them with a good choke tube grease and put them back in. I've had problems with two of my Browning forgetting to do this, both guns had to be sent in to get the tubes out.
Don't worry about the porting holes, you can clean them with a pipe cleaner if you want, but I just wipe them down on the inside and outside.

 

[Graybeard]

I truly despise ported shotguns. I don't believe they help or if they do I've never noticed it. They are a real PITA to keep clean if the gun has them tho. As to bore cleaning there is no better than those fuzzy rods that fit tightly into the bore. Run that back and forth thru your barrel and it's clean as it can be, well except those pesky ports. It's the simpliest and fastest and most effective bore cleaning method I've found.

I do not take my choke tubes out very often but do make sure to have them properly lubed. So far I've never had mine stick to need assistance in getting them out and I shoot a LOT. If you'll take them out when new and properly lube them you'll likely not need to do this very regularly. I think the biggest problem most have is they don't properly lube them to begin with. Nothing gets down into those threads so as long as they have proper lube they should do just fine.

I keep my guns in a break down case. My normal lazy man routine calls for having a rag either oily or the silicone ones you can buy which I mostly use to wipe down the barrels each time before I put it in the case. Wipe down the frame and trigger guard as well with each use. That's really my daily maintenance schedule if the gun didn't get wet while shooting. IF it does then you MUST do a thorough detailed cleaning and drying. From time to time as crud builds up on the inside of the receiver I'll use Hoppe's and Q-Tips to clean it out the crud and I usually use Kleenex to remove the cleaned area to remove it. I then lube it back up properly.

Make sure you keep adequate grease on the contact areas at hinge and all other metal to metal contact areas and lightly oil the extractor/ejectors.

I've been shooting O/Us for skeet and trap for 30 years or so and that's all I've ever needed to do. As meticulous as you are you'll likely want to do the extra stuff I do less often each time you shoot.

I highly recommend you get Briley extended tubes for your gun. Nothing in my experience patterns better and the extended tubes are much easier to change when you want to do so.

 

[Questor]

Thanks! I'm printing this for reference. I really appreciate the help.

I'm glad I asked, and now I better put some of that grease on my Beretta chokes if I can still get them off! I've had the gun 9 years and after installing the IC/Mod chokes initially I don't think I've ever had them out. I'd hate to have them freeze in there.

I use one of those fuzzy rods for my 20 gauge and consider it the greatest invention since the wheel. I just take it into the shower and wash it with detergent every so often, then rinse it out good.