visual inspection of the bore and of the wiping patches,
repeat as described above.

(f) After properly cleaning with either the swabbing solution
or the standard solution, as has just been described, the bore
should be clean and safe to oil and put away, but as a measure
of safety a patch should always be run through the bore on the
next day and the bore and wiping patch examined to insure that
cleaning has been properly accomplished. The bore should then
be oiled, as described above.

(g) If the swabbing solution or the standard metal-fouling solution
is not available, the barrel should be scrubbed, as already
described, with the soda solution, dried, and oiled with a light
oil. At the end of 24 hours it should again be cleaned, when it
will usually be found to have "sweated"; that is, rust having
formed under the smear of metal fouling where powder fouling was
present, the surface is puffed up. Usually a second cleaning is
sufficient, but to insure safety it should be again examined at
the end of a few days, before final oiling. The swabbing solution
should always be used, if available, for it must be remembered
that each puff when the bore "sweats" is an incipient rust pit.

(h) A clean dry surface having been obtained, to prevent rust
it is necessary to coat every portion of this surface with a
film of neutral oil. If the protection required is but temporary
and the arm is to be cleaned or fired in a few days, sperm oil
may be used. This is easily applied and easily removed, but has
not sufficient body to hold its surface for more than a few days.
If rifles are to be prepared for storage or shipment, a heavier
oil, such as cosmic, must be used.

(i) In preparing arms for storage or shipment they should be
cleaned with particular care, using the metal-fouling solution
as described above. Care should be taken, insured by careful
inspection on succeeding day or days, that the cleaning is properly
done and all traces of ammonia solution removed. The bore is then
ready to be coated with cosmic. At ordinary temperatures cosmic
is not fluid. In order, therefore, to insure that every part of
the surface is coated with a film of oil the cosmic should be
warmed. Apply the cosmic first with a brush; then, with the breech
plugged, fill the barrel to the muzzle, pour out the surplus,
remove the breechblock, and allow to drain. It is believed that
more rifles are ruined by improper preparation for storage than
from any ot