I would like to start a on going post of things that I have learned over the years.....Firearms related......Could be of help and maybe even a laugh or two........My main focus is CHEEP & SAFE..........Please share with me ! Heres a couple to start out with.......Weedeater line is excellent for cleaning 10/22s etc.....melt a ball on one end cut a angle at the other, spear a patch on it.....great way to clean a bore without damage to crown etc. Next cheapest charcoal bricks make awsome targets when having the kids out shooting 22s, makes a nice "puff" of smoke when hit! No clean-up as rain melts them and CHEEP ! This is just small start......Share yours, I will share more as my mind gets in gear........Could be a learning exp for all.
Thanks Ernie

For cleaning .22s, I've tried the melting a ball on the end of a piece of weed-whacker line but without too much success. I now use the Patchworm, a commercially available version of same with a plug secured to the end. Its not as free as your suggestion but its pretty cheap. I've also recently mixed up my first batch of Ed's Red for gun cleaning. The initial outlay for the four ingrediants will set you back a few dollars but provides gallons of low cost solvent that so far I'm very happy with.

I don't have any right now that I can think of, but I sure am going to try that charcoal trick, I bet my boys are going to love it! Thanks!

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Dom

Howdy,
There have been times when I have removed a scope or optic and not had plugs for the holes. You can plug them with wax from a black birthday candle. Light the candle and let it drip into the hole. You can smooth it out with most any heated metal rod,drill bit etc. It can be cleaned out with heat or a toothpick. If the surface happens to be serrated (AKA 41) you can wipe with the serrations with a brass bore brush and the repair is almost invisible.
Target pasters make great stick on labels for reloads or anything else you might want to label.
Another one is a 30-06 brass case hammered together at the mouth makes a great scraper and is easy on a guns blue to remove Loc-Tite or epoxy from a finish.
Thanks
Mike

Running some Gorgonzola cheese on a patch down the bore is a great way to get rid of the smell of Hoppes #9.

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

I use lint-free cotton make-up removal pads for wet/dry patches and similar items for other gun cleaning chores.
Make-up removal pads & cloths come in various sizes and shapes and only cost a fraction of what the ones made by Tiptons, Hoppes, Outers, etc sell for.
Much to the dismay of my LGS owner, his wife clued SWMBO in on this when she asked where the wet/dry patches were kept.

Next time you're in Wally-World, check out what is on the shelves in the cosmetic aisles instead of just checking out the ladies shopping there.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

Be shooting next to a Marine at a 2700 bullseye match when his .22 goes down big time during the first slow fire string, and have the identical High Standard in your box as a back-up that you give to him with two boxes of the ammo for which it is sighted-in.

Come back to your bench at the end of the 2700 and find 20 boxes of Federal Match .45 185-grain wadcutters waiting for you from him and the other members of his team.

By God, I miss bullseye shooting in the DC area. . . .


Bullseye

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Five screws and 3-1/2 inches.

Necco colored candy waffers are great cheap targets that you dont need to pick up.

Make sure your thumb is clear before you let the bolt fly forward on the M1 Garand.

Make use of large ziplock bags when disassembling certain firearms that have all manner of small springs that tend to fly away. Like say the Ruger MKII pistol and related models. If you need more room in the bag you can tear a hole for the barrel to stick through. I read this advice on the internets before doing a complete disassembly of my MKII but thought I'd never need the bag because I was far too skilled to need such a thing. I had to wait two weeks for the new spring to come in before I could get the gun back in service.

Skateboard tape (or any other type of peel-n-stick friction material) works great on handgun front/backstraps & slides....I cut some for the frontstrap of one of my 1911s and it's been on there for more years than I can count. Another neat trick with that stuff is to pop out a bunch of little circles with an ordinary hole punch and arrange the dots in a pattern. I did the front strap of my SW 910 with those....also used some on the frontstrap, backstrap, trigger guard and slide of my Kel-Tec P3AT. I also made a rubber trigger shoe for the Kel-Tec by cutting a piece of 1/4" shrink tubing, sliding it over the trigger, heating it with a hairdryer to shrink it, then trimmed up the end with a razor blade. Would work for almost any revolver or D/A pistol trigger...

Lots of neat tips......Keep em coming....heres one thats very easy to overlook, Scope parallax...Look thru the scope at a target with the scope steady...Move your head if you have a parallax problem you will see it very easy............really makes a difference on target shooting.
Ernie

That's great for small bore stuff.. but for big bore I prefer
Parmigiano-Reggiano

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

Cut a piece of small rubber tubing or lawnmower fuel line tubing and stick it in the back of your Ruger or Keltec .380 between the hammer and the back of the slide. This will cushion the hammer so you can dry fire practice, and you only have to pull the slide back about a half inch to set the trigger.
Paper plates with a vanilla wafer hot glued to the middle for an "exploding bullseye" target. Cut some thin rope or parachute cord and tie it to your belt in two places a few inches apart and leave a little loop. This makes a "poor mans" inside-the-waistband holster so you can stick your gun in your pants but it will keep it in place and not slide down. The bottom of a ceramic coffee cup for a knife sharpener, and wadded up soft green leaves for last ditch hearing protection.

I like "farmers" Tips..........I am sure there are plenty more out there.
Thanks Ernie

1) Used and torn panty hose (the wife's, not mine...not that there's anything wrong with that) can be used for filtering liquids, or as a mesh bag to keep different caliber brass separated in the tumbler.

2) Dryer sheets - if you're a real cheapskate, you can use used ones in your tumbler to help reduce static cling. I also use a dryer sheet and rub down the interior of my powder supply cannister on my reloader to reduce static cling.

3) "White out" is a pretty decent flat paint for front sights.

4) A paperclip is useful when removing the coil mainspring on a J-frame.

Regards,

Dave

Bio-degradable (in our lifetime?) clay pigeons make good breakable targets. If you choose, the pieces are fairly easy to pick up. Use an indelible marker to mark a target on disposable pie plates or cookie tins. I often recycle paper targets by marking a black dot about a half inch in diameter somewhere outside of the rings and then shoot at that. While you're at it, mark several dots around the edges of the target and then shoot them in some order. (Aim small - miss small.)

For my 22 target rifle friends, I make targets by placing dimes on the copier machine glass and let her fly. If you can keep 5 shots on a dime at 50yds, that tree rat doesn't have a chance.


Charlie

Just got a new puppy a few months ago and bought some of those puppy pads......to put on floor for the pooch to use while training.

Now he's trained and I'm using those pads as gun cleaning pads for the table. Work great, absorbant and don't leak through. And...if you're not too messy with the oil and Hoppes, you can fold them up and re-use them.

Have several steel targets that stay outside all the time. Surface rust does away with the pretty original colors.
Use an old CD or DVD as a template, a cheap can of spray paint (I use white) and spray each target with the CD/DVD laying on it, in the center. Allow 'overspray' on the outside edge of the disc. Now there will be a easy-to-see circle with a white dot in the center.
Re-spray as needed.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

Who in their right mind would want to GET RID of the smell of Hoppes #9? It makes great aftershave!

Make a quick and easy over-travel stop for your Kel-Tec P-11 by cutting an eraser tip off a pencil with a razor blade.
Now glue the eraser to the front strap inside the trigger guard behind the trigger with crazy glue. Get out your Sharpie and color it black.
It may take a couple of cuts to get it just right. Now you'll have quicker resets of the trigger without the long DAO pull. This will likely work with the Ruger LCP, and other polymer framed DAO pistols. Makes a world of difference too.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ..."ERIN GO BRAGH"

A vice made with some wood scraps,adhesive felt and a woodworkers clamp from harbour freight.Routed a slot in the base so the yoke can slide to accomodate any rifle or pistol.

Scope Zero, my Dad taught me this trick years ago...I hope that my instructions are understandable...

For a quick zero, make sure that your loaded rife is resting rock solid on the bench, and the scope adjustment caps are off, chamber and fire one round into a plain piece of paper, without making any movement have your shooting partner dial in the crosshairs to center them into the bullet hole in the paper instructing them in what direction to move them. Your zeroed.

Used toothbrushes are useful for cleaning guns, but if you cut off the head, you can shape the shaft to make all kinds of tools (scrapers, for example) that won't damage your gun's finish. If the handle of your old toothbrush is brightly colored, it will also help keep it from getting lost on top of your bench. We save all of our old socks - especially the infamous "orphan socks", and they are useful as temporary "gun rugs", as well as scope covers. If I'm working on a gun, for example my Ruger MkII, I'll put the upper in one old sock, and put othe small parts in a ziplock bag, which then goes into another old sock. This helps keep the receiver from getting scratched up, and parts from getting lost. Even though it embarresses my son, I also use an orphan sock to hold loose ammo, especially .22lr, when we are going to the range.

Best of luck,

Dave

My brother told me about this. Buy one man sized silhouette target. Cut out the shape. Place the OD shape on a piece of cardboard and cut it out. Go to Home Depot and buy a roll of heavy brown paper. Cut the paper to the size of your cut out. Lay your silhouette on the brown paper and spray the outline with paint. One roll of that paper well make dozens of targets. Works for me.

This can get just about anyone shooting even with a very tight budget, The Crossman 1377 single shot pump-up air pistol. I bought a couple years ago. Made in USA powerful and fun ........I think wally world sells em now for about 50 Dollars and ammo about 5 dollars for 250-500 rounds. I thinks a person could maybe hunt rabbit or squirells with one. I think they are decent made and a LOT of shooting for the Cheep !!!

For cheap fun target shooting I use plastic golf balls with all the holes in them and tie a string to them, hang them from the target frame. When you hit them they really spin around; fun for kids to shoot with BB guns all the way up to archery arrows.

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

When I saw the title..cheap, easy, maybe even free...my ex wife came to mind!

Pick up a roll of "rosin paper" - the red paper used for floor underlayment at your local building supply store. Cut off a piece for the bench or kitchen table for cleaning and disassembly, etc. Absorbent, makes cleanup easy, and cheap. One roll makes hundreds of "pads".

Many moons ago, my youngest boy, who is 41 now, used to gather balls out of the water traps at a golf course and brought home the ones that were too chewed up to be sold by the bucket at the driving range. Over the years, I've attached strings and used them for targets.

.22RF, .32acp, .38spl,.357mag and .45acp are all I've ever hit them with, but I suspect they'd stand up pretty well to most anything you want to shoot at them.
Word of caution. If you use .38spl or above and the string breaks, they will go into low Earth orbit.

I used to be able to hit them at 25yds when I put my mind to it, but these days they are fairly safe at 10yds on my best days.
Still fun to shoot at them though.

I also recycle old tennis balls as targets. Much easier to hit, but less durable.

For the geriatric crowd (like me), Glucerna (and similar dietary concoctions) bottles make pretty good hanging targets also.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

I will go with using the old socks to hold my different mags together in the box and keep them from rattling around and banging together.
And old t-shirts make great cleaning pads.

At the last gunshow I attended a guy had a bunch of them, brand new, for $35 each. I grabbed one and I love it! I've got a target made from a cast bullet box about 10 feet away on my workbench....all I have to do is swivel my chair around and shoot a few groups anytime I feel like pulling a trigger. I use little orange peel off stickers from Staples as targets. At two pumps, it'll put five in one hole if I do my part.

One of my favorite gun cleaning implements is the bamboo skewer. The sharp end can get into tight corners and grooves and get out gunk without having to worry about messing up the blue of the gun. The blunt end is perfect for cylinder notches and scraping off powder residue. The I use the long ones to run a quick oiled patch down the barrel & cylinders for routine lubrication for handguns that I don't shoot.

My favorite target is a plastic lemon juice container (the ones that look like lemons). Once they're empty, I pop the lid off, poke a hole in the lid, run a string through it and tie a knot on the inside, then pop the lid back on. The plastic is really soft, so they'll hold up to a lot of rounds. As they're bright yellow, they're easy to see.

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NRA Life Member

I have used the plastic letter opener on HUNDREDS of guns now, and I have yet to scratch one. It zips thru the lightweights without looking at them. Attack the solid, heavy ones at an angle with slow, steady pressure, and it cuts them reliably.
I don't know where to get them- all I have are advertising freebies. Try office supply stores.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Tried it, cause I trust your judgment. The cheese tasted weird afterwords and I have a headache. I thought you used 007 cologne to clean your guns?

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SOS USA

I don't know where you get "temporary" with the socks for gun storage-that's all I use. Our first .22 cleaning kits were those little bitty ball chains attached to a piece of 130# dacron fishing line for weight . A loop in the other end held a patch. Worked great and never had one break. Today use that new fangled Spectra line.
Also empty beer cans make great targets

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Forum consigliere

Long distance targets - Gallon plastic milk cartons with a bit of food coloring and a gallon of water Leave the cap off.

Haven't tried this one yet - read about it on the net somewhere (here??)
Take a brightly colored piece of cardboard (or paint a piece of cardboard) - Put stretch plastic wrap over it (tight). Paint the plastic wrap a color that contrasts with your cardboard. When it dries you have one of those targets that show where you hit.
Let me know if it works

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In dog years I'm dead.

I use that 24" x 24" plastic pasteboard in a Caldwell target frame as a target backer.
Last election (November) I found two 4' x 8' campaign signs after the election. I now have 16 backers for free. Each one lasts a long time. I use clothes pins to attach targets from my printer. Hang one or two pins from the bottom, because the wind always blows here. If a place gets blown out, rotate the backer.
There were lots of 24 x 24 signs in yards, but I didn't get into town until Thursday after the election and they were all gone.

This was handed down by Sipowicz.

When using paper plates for targets when they are all full, turn them over and use the other side.


When sighting in or even for general shooting when your cardboard has too many holes I have a roll of white freezer paper (butcher wrap). Tear off a piece and staple or tape it on. You now have a clean "slate"

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Still Running Against the Wind

Next time you’re at the dentists office, ask the technician for a complimentary denture brush. The bristles are stiffer than a tooth brush and the good ones have a large flat head on one side and a peaked head on the other. They’re great for cleaning gunk out of old stock checkering and they’re also handy for general revolver cleaning.

If you pull your own teeth, you’ll have to break down and buy one.

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"I also cook."

Growing up we had clothslines for drying, instead of a dryer. Used clothspins to hold balloons for our pellet and BB guns.

I use tookpicks and wooden kabob skewers (we will call dowels for this post) to pre-assemble small parts groups when I am working on revolvers.
Using a dowel slightly larger than the holes in the parts group you are working with, sharpen the wood, and tap it thru the holes of the parts to be held together. (This works the way that wooden boat makers install a square peg into a round hole to prevent leaks.) The excess wood will splinter off and the parts will be held together tightly, until you permanently install them into the frame using the actual pin they ride on to drive the the newly cut wood dowel out.
Before installing parts assembly into the frame, use flush cutting snips to trim the ends off the dowel so the whole assembly can slide into place in the frame.
I have even re-used these dowels once they were cut.
This trick has saved me countless hours of lost time when working on smaller trigger groups where spring tension is required during assembly.

Scope mounting tips:
Items needed to complete task: blue painter tape, 6 in level, 3 ft level, black magic marker,loctite, gun vise. See the post above for the homemade gun vise or buy a commercial one.
1. Put the scope on and Tighten the ring screws just enough to allow scope to slide. When you find proper eye relief, place some blue painters tape on the scope in front of the rear ring. Take scope off of rifle.
2. Make sure the rifle is level by placing it in a rifle vice and use a small level across the rings. Once the rifle is level, carefully place scope on the rings with the blue tape in front of rifle ring. Tighten the ring screws snug but not tight. Level the scope by looking through the scope to the verticle black magic marker line that you drew on your wall using a metal 3 ft level. The line only has to be about 12 inches tall. Tighten the rings down snugly. You did use loctite on the base screws and rings too, right?

For those of you who buy a Mosin-Nagant or other type gun in Cosmoline use Apple Cider Vinegar to soak it in to remove it. I bought a two inch piece of PVC pipe as long as the barrel and a cap, then fill the tube with the vinegar and let it soak.Works great !

To get the smell of gun solvent out of the kitchen, after cleaning your dirty guns, have your wife bake home-made cinnamon rolls.*

*Warning: this is advice from a batchelor.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Yep, the birds will eat the remains after you are done.

That's how Annie Oakley invented donuts.

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SOS USA