Cleaning Kit For a Shotgun

If you’re looking for the best gun cleaning kit for a shotgun, we’ve got you covered. Every good gun cleaning kit should contain all the gun cleaning supplies you need in order to properly clean and lubricate your firearm. A dirty shotgun is an unreliable shotgun. There is one thing we should require from our firearms, absolute reliability. Whether it is being used for self defense or a long dreamed about pheasant hunt in South Dakota, when you pull that trigger you want it to go “bang”!

There are some long term effects as well to not taking care of your guns. Neglecting your firearm’s cleanliness can lead to corrosion, rust and the gumming up of moving parts. It’s like most things in life, take care of it and it will last you a lifetime. Treat it wrong and you’ll be looking at costly repairs or replacing it. Besides there’s memories attached to our firearms, don’t let those memories fade because it takes a few minutes to properly maintain them.

So with that being said, we now know the “why” of properly maintaining our firearms. We put together a list to help you understand the “what” you’ll need in order to do this. Let’s break down the essentials of what you’ll need to keep your shotgun in tip-top shape and why those supplies are so handy.

CLP

A solvent for gun cleaning as well as a lubricant. You’re not gong to break down contaminants such as carbon, lead and whatever other debris your shotgun has picked up without this. Instead of buying a mess of gun cleaning solvents and lubricants, CLP is an all-in-one solution. It stands for Clean, Lube and Protect and it does just that.

A huge advantage of CLP is that you leave a thin layer on your firearms at all times. By doing this, it is cleaning your gun round the clock. While sitting in your gun safe? It’s cleaning it. When walking the grouse woods with your birddog? It’s cleaning it.

Save yourself the hassle and pick up some CLP. You’ll thank us for it.

Bore Cleaning Kit

Your gun’s bore takes the brunt of the exploded powder and lead or steel shot that careens its way down it. It sees a lot of action to say the least. This is certainly an area you are going to want to concentrate on when it comes to maintaining your shotgun. 

So bore snake or gun brush and rod system? Why not the best of both? That’s exactly what Sage & Braker’s bore cleaning kit gives you. The scrubbing power of a rod and brush system with the ease of use of a bore snake. Not only that, you can decide if you want to pull just the brush through, just the buffing rope (big fat rope that follows behind the brush) or both of them together. 

There’s no reason to settle for one or the other. Our kits come in all gauges (well almost all gauges, if you still have a 10 gauge you might want to use a janitor’s mop to run through that cannon). Shotgun gauges we cover: 12 gauge, 16 gauge, 20 gauge, 28 gauge and .410 gauge. 

You want one more advantage of going with a bore cleaning kit just to solidify the deal? They're small and packable enough to throw in your pocket or game vest and take it with you in the field. Jam your gun's barrel one time in the muck on a duck hunt and spend the next fifteen minutes trying to clear it with a stick and you'll be thanking us for filling you in on this little secret.

Gun Cleaning Brush and Picks

Not all carbon, lead and other contaminants are easily removed. Especially if they’ve been sitting on your firearms over time. CLP will start the process of breaking them down, but a good scrubbing from nylon or bronze gun cleaning brushes can make all the difference. They’ll allow you to scrub off these unwanted freeloaders without causing damage to your firearms. 

There are times that a pick will be necessary to remove contaminants as well. Perhaps the gunk is in a tight corner or maybe it’s just clinging on to your gun for dear life. A good set of picks, particularly bronze tipped picks (these won’t scratch your gun like stainless steel can), will come to the rescue in this situation. They’re certainly not needed for a typical cleaning, but they become invaluable when other methods fail.

Long Stem Cotton Swabs

There’s just areas other tools can’t reach. It’s as simple as that. Long stemmed cotton swabs are your ticket in these situations. Dig in to all those tiny slots and narrow areas that other conventional tools can’t get too. An absolute must in your gun cleaning kit.

Gun Cleaning Cloth

You’ll want something to wipe down all surfaces both interior and exterior. A gun cleaning cloth is the perfect tool for just such a thing.

However, not all gun cleaning cloths are created equal. This can be an easily overlooked piece of equipment, but some cloths used for gun cleaning are more hassle than they’re worth. Paper towels for example, although cheap, they often end up tearing, causing your fingers to do more cleaning than the actual product.

Other towels will leave lint behind and become part of the problem, not the solution to keeping your gun nice and tidy. A well made microsuede gun cleaning cloth becomes the answer. Rugged, reusable and most of all it won’t leave any of itself behind to become attached to your firearm.

Gun Cleaning Mat and Gun Cleaning Supply Storage Area

A good gun cleaning mat is meant to protect your gun from the table or tailgate that you’re cleaning it on and vice versa. A great shotgun cleaning mat also stores all of your gun cleaning supplies in it. A superb gun cleaning mat does all the aforementioned things while also looking good doing it. Add a lifetime warranty and the ability to roll up and become portable and you might just have a work of art in your hands.

Gun Cleaning Parts Tray

It doesn’t do you much good cleaning your firearm’s parts if you can’t find them. You need an area to contain them and allow those parts to soak in CLP. It has to be durable, preferably collapsable and easily cleanable. Something that rolls up and fits in your gun cleaning mat would make it all the better. Hmmm… have you ever wondered if there is a company out there that would be as thoughtful as that to come up with such an invention?

Choke Tube Wrench

You’ll want to take your choke tubes out from time to time to clean the threading both on the choke tubes as well as the threading on your muzzle’s bore. Leave these in too long without lubing them with some CLP and they will eventually become welded in there. It’s best to pull them out to clean and lubricate them a few times a year.

The Why

These gun cleaning supplies are the lifeblood of maintaining and protecting our firearms for generations to come. We are firm believers that our guns are more than just tools to be used in the field. They have memories attached to them that few other pieces of equipment can boast of. Look at grandpa’s old boxlock shotgun hanging over the mantle and try not to find a hundred stories that go along with it.

I still remember opening day of my first season chasing squirrels with my father. The Winchester youth 20 gauge pump-action in my hands, with a shortened beechwood stock. The crisp morning and the anticipation of a young boy finally allowed to follow his father into the woods with a gun in hand, an equal of sorts. 

The same gun will be handed down to my son, and God willing his son or daughter after that. New memories will be made and every time I look at that little shotgun a smile will erupt from my face. These are family heirlooms and with a little tender care and respect they will stay that way for generations to come.

// Fred Bohm