[otisrush]

I have a Remington 511 I got from my dad which I love. He took great care of it so it's in excellent shape. We never shot it much when I was young, but I got it when he died and I love it. It's had more put through it in the last 5 years than it did in the previous 30 years. And now I'm an instructor for the Boy Scouts - so it's seeing use there as well.

The stock is accumulating general dirt and I think it's time to do a lite cleaning of the wood. I'm not talking refinishing by any stretch - just cleaning.

A couple of questions:
* I'm thinking Murphy's Oil Soap. I read in another gun forum of good success with this. Any recommendations or anti-recommendations?
* Would it be best to remove the stock or just leave it in place? At first, with whatever method I used to clean it, I figured I'd just dampen a rag to prevent moisture getting down between the stock and barrel - and I'm confident I can do that. I'm just wondering if it would be better to remove the stock and do it well.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

OR

 

[jim brady]

No matter what you use as a cleaner, you should strip the rifle down. You'll be much better able to do a really good job of it. Another point is that I'm pretty sure that your rifle is ready for a detailed cleaning and oiling by this time. No matter how good it looks right now, if you use a white cloth to do the cleaning you are going to be surprised how much rust you are going to get on that cloth when you are finished.

I am of the post WW2/Korean War generation, and my choice is good old LSA (GI Weapons Oil/Preservative). In your situation, and I've been there many times, I'd scrub that rifle down with LSA and get at every nook and cranny that I could get to. After you clean that stock, I'd carefully coat every inch of unexposed steel with that oil and leave a thin coat of it as a protectant prior to reassembly.

Just my two little pennies here. As far as the stock itself, I'd use a good furniture cleaner with lemon oil. Just work it with a soft cloth, then use one of the stock waxes like Birchwood Casey makes.There are dedicated products available on the market, but that has always worked for me.