Cleaning Your Franchi O/U

[scottr]

I have owned a Veloce 20 Ga O/U shotgun since October and was cleaning yesterday after a day of hunting. While in the field I noticed a little rust on the spring pins behind the auto ejectors. That night, I dis-assembled the ejectors and found the spring was also a little rusty. I believe this happend due to a day of grouse hunting in the rain. I always try to dry the gun out, clean it well and make sure everything is well oiled. I did not know to clean this part of the gun so it must of had some residual moisture in there.

I used a brass brush to clean off the rust parts and applied gun grease to the mechanism parts. I also tried to clean out the spring chamber with an oiled cotton swab. The gun seems to be fine now and I do notice the ejector is much smoother. I feel like it is clean now, but I worry about rust as I live in Washington State and it is very damp here. Often I am hunting in rain, mist or wet snow.

My question is how often should I clean this part of the gun?

Should I be worried about the damage the rust may have caused?

Do I need to worry about other hidden mechanisms like the trigger/firing assembly? Can I take these apart to them myself?

Finally. besides wiping the stock down with a silocone cloth what do you do to care for your stock?

Thanks

Scottr

[birddog]

Hi scottr - It sounds as if you answered your own question ... If you feel that the gun is clean now ... it's probably the best you could do and sounds fine.

If the rust didn't 'eat' through anything (which I doubt it did in such a short period of time) I wouldn't worry about it - you now know what needs attention in days to come!

If your hunting in 'weather' it's a good idea to get her towel dry and surface oiled as soon as time allows keeping the barrels, fore and, action seperated and leaning in a safe dry place (away from direct heat) so everything gets air.

Due to the circumstances I'd take a look at the entire action assembly - better safe than sorry! If your comfortable doing this take a shot at doing it yourself. However, I'm not. I've put my trust in my gunsmith for this with my doubles. For the money I've put into them a $30 cleaning charge sits better than messing something up. Then if something does go wrong it's in his hands. After all they're the experts.

As for stock care I use a fine furniture polish that contains no wax, silcone or, abrasives on hand rubbed oil finshes. I believe it's also got a UV screen in it too to protect from fading.

I hope this helps - Good Luck

[scottr]

Thanks Birddog.

Now that the season is over I think I'll take it in to the shop for a cleaning. I'll rest better knowing its clean.

scott