How to Clean a Gas Shotgun

You get into the field for a hunt or to the range for some clay shooting with your shotgun and what was supposed to be a day of fun turns into a day of frustration because your shotgun isn’t working right. This happens all the time and the majority of the time it is due to a shotgun that wasn’t cleaned or lubricated recently or well.

If you’re like me, you love to shoot your shotgun, but cleaning it may not always be on the top of your list of fun things to do, nonetheless, cleaning your shotgun is important to help keep your shotgun operating as it’s supposed to and it will also extend the useful life of your shotgun.

Over the last 10 years of shooting 100’s of thousands of rounds, I’ve learned a thing or two
about how to quickly and effectively clean and lubricate a shotgun.

Watch this video to learn how I quickly and thoroughly clean my gas shotguns and what
products I used to get the job done. All the links to the products I use will be below.

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How to Clean a Gas Shotgun

Todays cleaning focuses on gas operated shotguns. Gas requires many more moving parts than an inertia system, so be sure to give yourself ample space and time to keep track of everything. Start by taking the shotgun apart all the way down to an empty receiver. Be sure to keep track of all the components that come off of the barrel and forearm.

Once it's apart, I take my Shooters Choice MC-7 Bore Cleaner and foam up the inside of the chamber and outside of the mag tube. I'd suggest doing this over a garbage can to avoid any more mess. 

As I let the chamber soak, I drop gas piston into a cup of Otis O12-C carbon remover (discontinued). You could also spray the piston with the MC-7 and let sit. In the meantime, I go back and spray down all the internal components with the Bore Cleaner. (Trigger, Bolt)

For the barrel I use the MC-7 again. I let the barrel soak for a bit as well and clean my choke tube in the meantime.

The choke tube often gathers plastic debris from the wad so I use the Shooters Choice Shotgun and Choke Tube Cleaner as it works on plastic better. After I spray the choke down, I use a 12 gauge brush with a drill attachment to aggressively scrub the interior of the tube.

This is where I bring out the Shooter Choice Quick Scrub to blast off all the debris - this spray will be used on almost everything and it saves a ton of time while helping get the gun down to bare metal so it can be lubricated.

BONUS: To avoid your choke tube from getting stuck on,  use the Carlson's Choke Tube Lube.

Now that everything's sat for awhile, I take a brush to everything and quickly and make sure everything is broke free. After this, I spray all the components down with the Quick Scrub. At this point, the barrel is looking pretty good, but if we want to be thorough, I take a 12 gauge Ripcord and run it down the barrel for a couple passes.

Also note that its important to scrub AND Quick Scrub the piston holster on the barrel as well. 

At this point I go back to my soaking piston and rag off the excess that the Carbon Remover has drawn up. I will brush and Quick Scrub this as well. Now that everything is basically cleaned, I will use the Otis Dry Lube and lubricate almost everything, and dry it off with a clean rag. 

Then reassemble, lube up the exterior, and you're hot to trot! Check out the list below of everything I use to clean my shotguns. 

MY FAV SHOTGUN CLEANING PRODUCTS

Use code “TFL20” for 20% off Otis and Shooters Choice products
⌲ Step 1: Shooter Choice MC-7 Extra Strength Bore Cleaner https://targetfocused.link/mc7borecleaner

⌲ Shooters Choice Shotgun & Choke Tube Cleaner https://targetfocused.link/scshotguncleaner

⌲ Step 2: Shooters Choice MC-7 Quick Scrub https://targetfocused.link/mc7quickscrub

⌲ Step 3: Otis Dry Lube https://targetfocused.link/otisdrylube

⌲ Finish the exterior with Otis Long Term Protectant
https://targetfocused.link/otislongtermprotect
OR CLP Wipes https://targetfocused.link/clpwipes

⌲ Ripcord https://targetfocused.link/ripcord
⌲ Lead Cleaning Hand Wipes https://targetfocused.link/leadcleaningwipes
⌲ Bore Brushes https://targetfocused.link/shotgunborebrush
⌲ All Purpose Brushes https://targetfocused.link/apbrushes
⌲ Otis Technology https://targetfocused.link/Otis
⌲ Shooters Choice https://targetfocused.link/shooterschoice

   Remember, whether in the field, or in life, to LIVE Target Focused

-STEVE