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Gunsmithing Blood in my action

J

johngfoster

Sergeant
Minuteman
Oct 2, 2007
565
1
NW MT
#1
Today I shot my first coyote of the season--230yd bang-flop. However, it was a bit of a hike back, so I hefted him up over my shoulders for the trek back to the car. I expected a bit of bleeding and to have to wash my cammies. But when I got home, I was a bit surprised how much blood there was on my rifle. I took it apart for a good cleaning, but I'm still getting blood out of the bolt hood, and the bolt release is sticky. I took the barreled action out of the stock and gave it a good scrubbing with a damp rag, then sprayed it down with gunscrubber to try to get rid of any residual water. Then I gave it a good oiling and cleaned the barrel. I had blood on the bolt lugs and in the chamber! This sucker bled like a stuck pig! Anyone else have experience in getting blood out of an action/bolt?

dsc1113d.jpg


I think I may just take it to my gunsmith and have him give it a good once-over. But if there are any other tricks that I can try to avoid the expense, I'm all ears.
 
#4
Re: Blood in my action

Hi remove the stock and scope then disasemble the bolt, now get some WD40 or similar pressure pack penetrating oil and blast it into every port or hole. make sure to get into every corner dont use water on a rag as it will remove the blod but does nothing to stop the chance of rusting.

once the whole action and bolt is blasted then wipe the excess dripping oils from all of the parts then rebuild the rifle and you will be good to go. this is all that we would lo if you wanted us to try to clean any debris or blod from the rifle then go over the stock with some water on a rag then a good stock type wax to re condition the stock.
 
#6
Re: Blood in my action

John what I have done is use warm water to get all of blood off, dry with a rag, blast the parts with air, follow up with brake cleaner on the metal and finish with WD-40 to displace any water and leave a protective film. Generally I will just soak it down and let it sit overnight before cleaning up the excess WD-40.

Oh, and make sure you get that chamber and bore uber clean. The salts in the blood will corrode the bare metal in the chamber and bore very well.

We should get out shooting sometime. Nice coyote by the way, what are you doing with the hide?
 
#8
Re: Blood in my action

Like everyone mentioned above, get the blood off. It will make chrome steel rust like crazy. Not that it will spread that bad. But in my experience where ever it is will rust and pit pretty quickly.
 
#15
Re: Blood in my action


BLOOD , is the worst thing for RUST , lots of nice salt in it .

You need to totally strip this down , drop into sink , and cover it in boiling water , and scrub the hell out of it .

YOU should have No concern about the water causing rust , as the metal will be so hot , as to evapourite IT all off the steel .

And when its all cool , spray it with brake clean , and then Oil .

Later Chris
 
#19
Re: Blood in my action

Thanks for the tips. I've gotten all the blood out that I can, but there is still some under the shroud of the bolt. I think I'll soak it in warm water and then try to take it apart and give it a really good cleaning. I cleaned the barrel and chamber last night, and then oiled everything. My two big worries are: trigger/bolt release stop and the bolt. The bolt release still seems a bit sticky after cleaning with water, gunscrubber and penetrating oil. No more blood that I can tell. What's the best lube for this? (bolt release, Rem trigger)

Coyote hide is in the freezer, double-bagged in ZipLock bags, awaiting either the prices to go up, or send to the tanner for a wall hanger. Treebasher, just let me know when you want to go shoot. Thursdays and Sundays usually are best for me.
 
#20
Re: Blood in my action

Gave everything a once-over again tonight. Blood between the firing pin and bolt body, blood between the action and scope base and between the scope and the base. Gave everything a good scrub in warm soapy water, then dried off and sprayed down with WD-40. No rust yet. We'll see how this works. When I mount the base back on the receiver, do I need to use some kind of bedding compound? I know some do bed the base. Mine looked like there was something under it, but only in small patches. Wondering if this was start of corrosion vs caked dust vs some grease/bedding compound. Almost reminded me of LocTite (I don't have any experience with this).
 
#22
Re: Blood in my action

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SPDGG</div><div class="ubbcode-body">IMHO: Lots & Lots of Brake Cleaner </div></div>

x2
Just take the stock and scope off first
 
#24
Re: Blood in my action

Whoever said Hydrogen Peroxide, I give it a +1. We use it in the hospital to get blood off of equipment/people/building. It will cause the cells to break apart and it will get it all even in the little nooks and crannies. Afterwards, give it a good soaking in oil and you are GTG.
 
#26
Re: Blood in my action

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: cm92</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Looks like you grabed the rifle by the barrel and used it as a club to beat the animal to death. </div></div>

It was the coyote's revenge!
wink.gif
 
#27
Re: Blood in my action

Throw a garbage sack in your pack so next time you get one, you wont get covered in blood. I have a friend that used to bring a can of break parts cleaner, and when he shot one he put the dog in the bag and then sprayed it with the cleaner. He claims it kills the fleas so its not so bad to clean.
 
#28
Re: Blood in my action

Well, thanks to treebasher, we got all the blood out of the action, scope rings and bases. We also lapped the rings, snugged everything back in place, and today I took it back out to check my zero. After having the scope/base/rings all appart and put back together, it was only off by 3" left and 1" high. And this is no picatinny rail either. Windage adjustable rear ring on Leupold 1-piece base.

Then I took it out in the field again. Very 1st stand had this dog come in. Rolled it at 250yd, but it got up again and staggered another 20 or so yds towards me before a second shot put it down for good. Them's tough critters!

dsc1114u.jpg


dsc1115.jpg


This is remnants of the 1st shot recovered under the hide on the other side when I skinned it.
dsc1117f.jpg
 
#29
Re: Blood in my action

On clothing cold water will remove all blood if left soak. If you use hot water it will stain. So might apply to a rifle action as well?
To remove the water. Spray the metal parts with electrical contact cleaner. This is pure liquid CO2 and will get rid of all water and will not cause rust as it acts without O2. This stuff is also a very good degreaser for all contacts and leaves a perfect clean dry surface as it evaporates.
Then quickly spray with oil or such like protectant.
 
#32
Re: Blood in my action

When we took the rings off there was dried blood under them too. John did a great job of cleaning it up, you never would have know that he used that rifle to stir a cauldron full of blood
laugh.gif


I will have to say that his rifle and rings are one of the better ones that I have aligned and lapped. With everything tightened up the alignment bars were within a few of thousands of each other and the rings required very little lapping. One of my 700's has a 0.015" shim under the rear base so that it is straight with the world and I am starting to find that isn't uncommon with the newer Remington rifles.
 
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