New to shotguns, cleaning advice requested.

[bigjack]

Just purchased my first shotgun, a Mossberg 500 with 20" barrel.

Purchased new. It arrived almost dripping with oil.
It will need to be cleaned and appropriately oiled.

I am new to shotguns and I am looking for suggestions on
cleaning and oiling. Both product and method suggestions
welcome.

Thanks

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[bellarum]

If you bought it new it should have a manual with it that includes safe handling, loading,operating, and cleaning. If it didn't you should down load it from their website. Good choice for your 1st shotgun!

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

Bore snake and your favorite CLP.

 

[Peteralexander78]

Like Nick said, I will also add use an old tooth brush after the clp. Youtube is a great resource for cleaning and maintaining.

 

[etrain16]

I've got a Mossberg 500 myself - with both the 20" barrel and a replacement 28" barrel for trap, etc. When I got the gun, it was a bit oily, but definitely not dripping with it.

For me, cleaning is pretty simple. I use a solvent cleaner to remove the oil, wiping down the barrel inside and out, cleaning out the chamber. After cleaning, I always give it a once-over, inside and out, with some gun oil - a very thin film, you don't need any more than that. I do make sure to lube the moving parts of the action (slide rails, slide and bolt (not the bolt face). Bore snakes work great for cleaning the barrel - I own several of them. My opinion is that you shouldn't have to do a complete take-down for the initial cleaning - some folks might disagree with me on that. When the time comes that you want to do a complete take-down for a deeper cleaning, YouTube has some great videos on this.

I know there are a lot of differing opinions on cleaning and lube products. I personally grew up using Hoppes and it's always worked well for me, so I've had no reason to switch. I used to use Hoppes #9 solvent, which works great for cleaning, but kind of stinks. I switched to Hoppes Elite, which also cleans great, but has no odor. As for oil, there are plenty of great ones, I happen to be using Outer's Gun Oil at the moment. Great choice on a first shotgun, I really enjoy mine.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

+1 on the bore snakes/Rip cords, they're great for shotguns.

I too use a proper degreaser first. I use MPro 7, the non petroleum based/non smelling cleaner. MPro7 also make the Elite cleaner for Hoppes, i thought i'd just go for the original brand as it's likely to be their best solution, besides, i can get 8oz bottles for about $9 on Amazon

I try to stay with the non petroleum products where i can, i've found that FrogLube and now Seal1 work really well for exterior protection as well as inside the barrel. I will say though, that for things like pump slides and bolt guns, i'd rather use a grease, like Slip2000 EWG as i think it will react a little better without the heat that FL likes.

 

[Steve Sloan]

Lots of great suggestions for lubes/techniques above.
Couple experiences,
Exterior protection: Ezzox, Great stuff, suggest using alternate lubricant. No adverse effects to metal, tupperware or wood. Go To protectant for 15+ years now.
Wad residue and cleaning any bore, J-B bore cleaner, lube of your choice. As a paste you can repackage it in appropriate sized containers for field use.

Steve