When I put guns away, I generally wipe them with Lanox saturated cloth. However, when dealing with scope rings, rails and other nooks and crannies, cloth just doesn’t get in there. Especially bolt heads after being out in the rain.
Tip - use a brush. I have one (shaving brush) that I’ve purchased on eBay for (I am 99% certain) $1.30 shipped. And a constant supply of old kids’ tooth brushes. Seems to work well. These are dedicated oil-gun brushes. Once they are saturated they are kept in a ziplock bag and last for a very long time (i.e. only need a microscopic coat of oil).
N.B. Avoid cross contamination, that is, using these brushes to oil other tools, because all the grit and crap will get transferred on to the gun (and could scratch it).
Try buying some new denture brushes. Bigger than a toothbrush with a small round section of bristles on the other side. Stiffer bristles than a toothbrush too. I go through about 20-25 a year cleaning and oiling stuff.
Save toothbrushes for your teeth.
If you are going to use paintbrushes cut the bristles short for cleaning, makes them stiffer and much more effective.
Been doing that to paint brushes since I first started work and was shown how. That was mainly for washing electronic PCB cleaning flux off after soldering and any other build up of shit that may have got on them over the years.
Wife replaces our toothbrushes… Well, we use electric, but kids use normal, so I get those on replacement - that’s what I use.
Keep in mind, I use it for oiling, not cleaning, so soft bristles to get into places are perfect.
For cleaning, I buy 99% of my gun cleaning stuff from AlieExpress (e.g. https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=gun+brushes), there is just no price equivalent here, including shipping! Only things I buy here are quality cleaning rods and solvents.
