Properly maintaining a shotgun is an obvious step for any gun owner, but when the shotgun is your personal or home defense weapon, it is absolutely necessary! Improperly maintained, or unmaintained, firearms become increasingly less reliable. Lack of reliability could have detrimental consequences if you get a malfunction when your shotgun is absolutely needed to function properly.

Method 1: Safely Unload the Shotgun

Pump-Action Shotgun

Be sure you always handle your firearm safely.

Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, treat the firearm as if it were loaded, and keep your finger off the trigger.

Press the bolt release (usually in front of or behind the trigger guard).

Cycle the pump action. Repeat until no shells are visible in the magazine tube or in the chamber.

- Be double-sure your firearm is unloaded. You do not want an unexpected boom while cleaning your firearm.

Keep your ammunition separate from your shotgun while cleaning.

Auto-loading Shotgun

Be sure you always handle your firearm safely.

Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, treat the firearm as if it were loaded, and keep your finger off the trigger.

Pull the bolt-grip back, and release it.

Repeat until no shells are visible in the magazine tube or in the chamber.

- Be double-sure your firearm is unloaded. You do not want an unexpected boom while cleaning your firearm.

Keep your ammunition separate from your shotgun while cleaning.

Method 2: Clean the Shotgun

Cleaning a pump-action shotgun doesn't need to be a lengthy process. As long as undue amounts of sand or dirt has not gotten into the action, the shotgun should function reliably. If you need to do a more extensive cleaning, or are using an auto-loading shotgun, the this is the necessary process: No stripping is needed; opening and closing the bolt as required is sufficient.

Wipe down all components using some paper towel (or cloth, but this is less important to be lint-free).

- Remove as much of the thick, caked-on carbon buildup created by the friction of use. Also wipe off any old oil and all unburnt powder buildup.

- Be sure to wipe the ejector and the area around the chamber. You will find certain areas turn the paper towel black (clean these areas more).

Spray solvent (preferably designed to be safe to continually contact your skin, like M-Pro 7) on all possibly dirty components.

- A liberal amount of solvent is better than not enough.

Let the solvent sit for a couple minutes.

Make sure any area with dirt, carbon buildup, or unburnt powder has a healthy amount of solvent on it, soaking in.

Scrub the whole gun with a brush (no metal bristles — like a toothbrush).

This works in the solvent and loosens up the buildup on the gun. Try to get into all the nooks and crannies.

Wipe the gun clean with lint-free cloth (you can buy pre-cut cloth, but a clean old shirt or socks also work).

Get everywhere you put the solvent (should be pretty much everywhere) and wipe it until it wipes clean.

Wipe down the whole gun (inside and out) with a solvent-soaked lint-free cloth again, and look again for any areas turning the cloth dark, and clean it.

Use the pick to get off any thick chunks of carbon or powder buildup, or buildup in tight parts of the gun.

- The most common area with carbon deposits is in the chamber. Buildup occurs in the corners of the pieces of metal.

Swab the barrel with a cloth soaked with solvent.

Repeat with clean cloths (still soaked in solvent) until a cloth comes out clean. Then swab it with an oil-soaked cloth, this coat of oil will protect your barrel from oxidation (rusting).

- A quick-and-dirty method for a less precise cleaning would be just to run a bore snake through the barrel.

Oil all the components requiring lubrication.

Often the manual for the gun will have specific areas needing oil, but a quick look at where the gun is wearing will give you a good indication of the needs.

- Be sure to oil the rails for the bolt and the bolt itself.

- Try to keep oil away from the openings into the firing pin housing (oil is a collector of dirt and powder buildup, and buildup around your firing pin can prevent it from firing).

Wipe down the whole gun and remove any excess oil.

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