New Gun Cleaning and Tool Kits from Real Avid

It's still hotter than blazes outside, but in the evening when the sun sinks further in the western sky, you can feel a chill. As hunters, that chill symbolizes something—something that ignites a fire inside us. Fall is on the horizon, and from elk to whitetail to mule deer, so is adventure.

Right now, I'm getting stir crazy. I'm ready to hunt. Still, there is work to do, and now is the perfect time to get my rifle ready for hunting season. Real Avid has the tools to help you get your big-game rifle dialed in for the months ahead. Plus, this "work" helps pass the time and fuels the excitement and confidence we'll carry into the fall hunting seasons.

Prepping For Hunting Season

Basic gun work like cleaning, optic mounting, bore-sighting, etc, isn't complicated. It's basic gun work that anyone can learn to do with the right tools. I know hunting is expensive, and I hate to begin this article with a little laundry list of must-have items, but you need to have the right tools for the job. Plus, once purchased, you won't have to give your rifle (or any gun) to someone else and pay them for simple gun-related tasks. These products will last you forever, and will make pre-season, in-season, and post-season gun work easier.

Tools of the Trade

While I don't think you can beat Real Avid's Bore-Max Master Cleaning Kit and Mobile Workstation, you can opt for a caliber-specific cleaning kit like the Gun Boss Multi-Kit. This caliber-specific kit includes all the necessary tools you'll need at home and in the field to clean your big-game rifle. The kit is housed in a durable plastic container that provides easy access and takes up little room in the garage, truck, or backpack. If you only have a couple of rifles and you plan to perform basic cleaning tasks, the Gun Boss Multi-Kit is the way to go.

Ninety percent of the time, I do my rifle cleaning at home in my shop, and I love Real Avid's Master Gun Workstation. This under $200 mobile station takes less than five minutes to assemble, holds your rifle tightly, is fully adjustable up/down and in/out, and lets you accomplish cleaning, scope-mounting, and repair tasks easily. Plus, the Workstation is easily transportable. I take mine to the range all the time.

My favorite feature of the Master Gun Workstation is the Quick-Adjust Shuttle, which allows for exact height and width adjustment for the precise location of the yoke. The padded stock pads with one-handed trigger-pull let you add pressure to the butt-stock to hold the gun firmly in place without causing damage, and you'll love the built-in, organization-boosting storage compartments. A stationary device like this one from Real Avid prevents chamber and barrel damage. It allows you to guide rods, brushes, etc., down the barrel while the gun is held in a steady, exact position.

Another Real Avid item I highly recommend is Real Avid's Smart Mat - Universal. The padded mat is 43 inches long and 16 inches wide. The mat offers a soft, padded surface to set down parts and cleaning supplies, and the oil-resistant surface means you never have to worry about chemical spills. You'll also find about 100 other uses for this high-quality mat. Concerning cleaning chemicals, you don't need to get carried away. Whether I'm cleaning a rifle I've shot for years or a new gun that I'm sighting in and getting ready for the season, my process is always the same.

I'm a bolt-action rifle guy, and after removing the bolt and placing the bolt on my Smart Mat, I add Real Avid's caliber-specific bronze brush (bronze is a must) to the end of my cleaning rod. The Bore-Max Speed Brushes have nickel-plated phosphor bronze bristles that resist chemical breakdown and extend the life of the brush, allowing the brush to do its job and remove more copper fouling.

I add a little bit of Real Avid Bore-Max Bore Solvent to the brush. This solvent helps break up the buildup. The more you shoot your rifle, the more carbon and copper fouling that builds up.

Using a bore guide or just paying close attention to the rod with the brush, I push the brush through the barrel out the muzzle. Then, I pull the brush back through. If you keep your rifles clean, you don't need to run the brush through the bore more than once, and once back through. Sometimes, you will need to run the brush through a few times to break up all the fouling. Go slow with the brush. Don't go back and forth like a madman. Slow, steady, and easy is the right approach.

Next, I add a gun patch, soak that patch in Real Avid's Bore-Max Bore Solvent, and run the patch through the bore and barrel. Real Avid offers Bore-Max (caliber-specific) Speed Jags. Don't run the dirty patch back through the barrel and bore. Use as many new patches as necessary until you're getting no (or minimal) black buildup on your patches.

If I'm not going to shoot the rifle for a while, I run one more patch through the bore. This patch is soaked in Real Avid's Gun-Max Gun Oil. However, if you add gun oil or anytime you clean your rifle, you will need to foul the barrel before taking a shot at an animal. Fouling the barrel means shooting the rifle. Typically, I shoot my rifle twice after cleaning to foul the barrel and confirm zero. Once the barrel is properly fouled, you're ready for a cold-bore shot on an animal.

Scope Mounting & Leveling

If you purchased a new rifle and a scope or a new scope to go on your existing rifle, there is no need to take your rifle/scope to a gunsmith and have them mount your new optic. The process is simple. Again, you just need the right tools for the job. If you do your research and purchase the correctly sized rings, bases, rails, etc., you're good to go. The critical thing with scope mounting is that the scope is level, the forward bell of the scope doesn't touch the barrel, and the rear of the scope doesn't interfere with your rifle's bolt.

To mount your scope, use the Master Gun Workstation and Real Avid's Master Grade Scope Mounting & Bore Sighting Kit. This kit is $220, and it's worth every penny. Before putting your scope in the Workstation and after locking the optic down, confirm eye relief. Eye relief in a scope is the distance between your eye and the eyepiece lens. You want a clear, full field of view before you lock your scope down.

Now, with the rifle set in your Workstation and the scope mounted with the rings loose enough to allow in/out and left/right tube movement, put the Level-Right Pro on the barrel in front of the scope. Magnets will hold the Level-Right in place. Next, slide the Scope Saddle down to the scope and ensure that both angled surfaces of the slide engage the scope's bell.

Now set up the included tripod with adjustable level and Precision Alignment card. Mount the card, adjust the tripod legs as necessary, and place the tripod with the mounted card behind the rifle's butt-stock. Then turn on the light Projector and adjust the scope's magnification to ensure you get a clear and crisp reticle projection on the Precision Alignment Grid.

It helps if you darken the room and be sure to take advantage of the Projector. This way, you can cycle through brightness settings until you obtain the clearest view of the reticle on the grid. If you're using a large scope, typically one with a high-power magnification range, the entire reticle will not be visible. If this is the case, use the Light Projector focus. The Light Projector will alter the angle of the light, and you can push, pull, and rotate the black housing of the Projector to adjust.

Rotate the scope to match the reticle lines with the graph lines of the placard so they are 100 percent parallel. While doing this, pay attention to the Level-Right Pro bubble to ensure the gun remains level. Once bore-sighted and level, use the Smart-Torq driver set to the correct settings (check with scope and ring manufacturers) to lock the scope down.

Scope Bore Sighting

For too long, I would use the remove the bolt and look down the barrel method to bore sight my scopes. The process works and can be done but lining up the bore with the target and then walking your crosshairs in is a pain.

With the Master Grade Scope Mounting & Bore Sighting Kit, all you need to do is add a pair of AA batteries to the VIZ-MAX unit. Check the unit for power; a center laser will be visible. Before mounting the VIZ-MAX to the muzzle carefully, double-check the chamber and remove the magazine. You will also need to mount the included reflective target at 25 yards.

After the laser bore sighter is centered, turn on the laser and adjust the reticle turrets to align the scope's crosshairs over the Viz-Max green dot. That's it. You're now bore-sighted and ready to go. Real Avid recommends shooting at least one round at 25 yards to confirm the rifle is bore-sighted, but for the sake of testing and proving how effective the Viz-Max is, I went straight to 100 yards.

The first time I used the Master Grade Scope Mounting & Bore Sighting Kit was with Browning's X-Bolt 2 Hunter Composite and Leupold's all-new VX-5HD Gen 2 scope. After leveling and bore-sighting, my first round from 100 yards hit two inches high and one inch left of the bullseye. Two shots later, I put three 175-grain Browning 6.8 Western Long Range Pro Hunter Sierra Tipped Gameking bullets into a 1-inch diameter bullseye. This kit will save you time and money.

Final Thoughts

Cleaning, mounting, and bore-sighting aren't projects that require a gunsmith. They are, however, projects that require the right tools. Skimping on the proper tools to do the job will lead to accuracy issues and, in some cases, barrel damage. Real Avid provides an arsenal of tools; everything you need for cleaning, optic mounting, bore-sighting, and more. Many gunsmiths trust Real Avid, and you should, too. Their products are priced right, durable, and perform as advertised.