Music to clean guns by, yet again.

It's Friday night. It's 11 degrees outside, and the stove's roaring. Time to put some Blues on, bust out some beer and clean a few rifles.

Belle's snugged in behind the rifle rack, Murphy's on the stair landing, and it's Jonny Lang time.

That Justin Beiber pissant could take a lesson from Jonny.

The Spanish 1895 Mauser in 7mm was the first one to get a good scrubbing, just because.

Well because I like it, and because I eventually want to get the whole batch of them done since I've got all this free time.


Cleaned and oiled and ready to shoot some more.

This rifle is a Belgian Mauser, Model 1950, one of the last bolt-action Mausers ever produced. It got a cleaning too, and judging by the crud that came out of it's bore, it needed it. Shame on me.

It was made in .30-06 because the US was giving away so much of that stuff to allies after the war. This one was made in 1952 and bears the Belgian crown over a letter "B" for King Baudouin, the monarch of Belgium.The letters "ABL" stand for Armee Belge-Belgisch Leger, or "Belgian Army Rifle" in both French and Dutch. This one came out on the Fabrique Nationale plant in 1952, and got it's scrubbing just because yesterday was John Browning's birthday.

Time for some B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Vaughn and Buddy Guy.

That put on, the Swedish M-96 got some attention too.

When they get to be 115 years old, they've earned a periodic clean and lube.

And the Kar-98a got another scrub, even though it hasn't seen the range in years. It didn't come to me in the best of shape but I'll be damned if I let it get any worse. It's earned a soft retirement judging by the use it's been put to by persons unknown, probably somewhere in France once upon a time.

I needed some Dr. John, too.

But the cleaning wasn't all about Mausers. The Japanese Type 99 Arisaka got hit too. Since I finally discovered what a great shooter it is, it's getting more attention, both on range day and on cleaning day.


And the Ishapore L2a1 got some time on the bench because I had this funny feeling that maybe I hadn't cleaned it the last time I had it out.

This time I was wrong. It was pristine.

And even though they were already cleaned and oiled, all the black powder rifles got an oil patch run down the bores, just because black powder need extra attention to keep the corrosion at bay. Gonna wind it down with some Koko Taylor while I do them.

Now the beer's gone, I'm in a blues state of mind, and life is great.