Very Rare

I nearly lost my mind trying to get all the crud out of the Romak III. How clean does the gas tube really have to be?

I think it took me an hour to clean that gun. I cannot believe all the crevices and cracks it has. I used to clean guns until I couldn't turn a Q-Tip grey on them. Now I'm happy if it's a fairly light grey. Life is too short.

I popped the K31 open, and I couldn't find even a trace of crud on the bolt. How is that possible? I just wiped it with a paper towel and set it aside. Slathered the bore with Breakfree, Boresnaked it three times, tried to wipe crud out of the inside of the action, and I was pretty much done. How can two guns so similar in caliber and purpose be so different when you clean them?

Oddly, the magazine on the K31 was hard to clean. I suspect that the guy who shot it in the military was not overly keen on wiping it down.

I think I may have failed to clean my .22 the last time I shot it. Back in the Eighties. The first time I Boresnaked it, something resembling black cheese came out. Oops.

Hey, I've been busy.

I like Boresnakes, but I am not convinced they're good choices for semiautomatic rifles on which you can't lock the bolt back. To clean the Nylon 66, I had to hold the bolt open with my finger while I snaked it.

Someone explain to me how the Kalashnikov (which is what a Romak really is) can be so wonderful, when cleaning it is like shoveling the Augean stables? Maybe it's great because it's tactical.

I'm getting a new trigger for the Romak, plus a thing to replace a spring which causes a lot of people trouble. If I can't hit anything with it after that, I'll have to give up. I really think I need a bipod. Or a giant sled that shoots the gun for me.

I've noticed that a lot of Dragunov/Romak owners use bipods that clamp to the barrel. Am I crazy, or is that a really bad idea? How can you rest weight on the barrel without affecting the point of impact? That doesn't seem tactical at all. Seems to me you want something attached to the wood.

Help me with something that is driving me nuts. What's the year of manufacture for a Browning Sweet Sixteen shotgun with a serial number that looks like "S10XXX"? I assumed stuff like this was automatically posted on the web, but unbelievably, it's not there.