Cleaning a Modelgun

Post by Mark

Maintaining a modelgun after firing it is fairly easy, just remember to have oil, hot water, Q-tips,baking soda and some clean dry towels available after finishing shooting the modelgun(s) for the day.The modelguns have to be cleaned as soon as you are done firing them if you want them to remain in good condition.

The trouble with leaving the modelgun(s) un-cleaned, is that the caps filler (phosphorus) is highly corrosive and it rusts the steel and it will eventually, corrode the zinc parts too.

The gasses created by burning phosphorus in the caps gets into the modelguns internal parts so, neutralizing the corrosive phosphorus coating on the detonator and other parts needs to be washed off as soon as possible before the steel parts rust and the zinc and brass parts corrode.

I usually dissasemble and wash the parts the crossive gasses settle on, with a hot water,vinegar and baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) mix.

The baking soda will foam-up when it is poured into the vinegar/hot water so, make sure that the mixture is in a tall container..

This mixture removes the phosphorus residue and leaves a clean surface. I then dry the parts with a hair dryer after rinsing off the parts with hot clear water.

After cleaning,rinsing and drying the steel,zinc and brass parts, the steel parts should be coated with a light flim of oil to insure that they don't corrode.

The mixture works great on the cartridges too...
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Wanted to buy: MGC Sten MK3....trades?(still)

MGC MP40 Marushin MP40 Nakata MP40 TRC MP40

Modelgun manufacturers, past and present:CMC,CAW,Hudson,HWS,LS,MGC(R.I.P. 1960's~2007) Marushin,Marui,Kokusai,Shoei,Tanaka and Western Arms

Post by rizzo

Oo I only ever do that with my cartridges, I'll do a complete strip down now

Post by Claymore


Yep you have to clean the whole thing, especially the barrel pin and the barrel. The barrel pin will come out pretty black and depending on the lube and how much you use in the rounds it will be pretty gundgy as well, the barrel will need a good swill through also.

Not cleaning those 2 parts can lead to rounds not detonating and failed ejection as the round gets stuck in the gunk and slows the blowback down.

I use marks recipe for cleaning the rounds but i chuck them into a sonic jewellery cleaner and let them soak for a while then give it about 10 mins with the cleaner on and the rounds come out bright shiny and clean and no hard work on my part, it's a great piece of kit for modelgun fans.

Post by Mark

Yes, although the modelgun teardown seems to be a troublesome task after firing a few rounds, it is absolutely necessary for proper function and maintance of the modelguns. When i first started "shooting" my first modelgun, i was used to shooting my real firearms that need cleaning only when they start to malfunction!
Needless to say, my Mauser M712 was in bad shape after i had put it away for a while after shooting it! I quickly discovered that the phosphorus gasses are corrosive!
Also, the brass cartridges corrode FAST and they are very hard to unscrew them if you don't clean them immediately after firing them. The cartridges that have been "forgotten" and have corroded, can usually be saved by soaking them in over night in vingar and then, after disassembling them you can soak them in the baking soda/vingar/water solution for a while.

CAUTION: If you have any Tanaka cartridges with the aluminum "bullets" be careful not to leave the "bullets" soaking in the cleaning solution for long periods of time, as the acid in the vingar will attack the aluminum and leave you with a very corroded "bullet"