Keping it dry is th esecret.
True that but I also think that getting a side lock dry in the first place is harder than for an inline. Even using very hot water and firing some caps, it seemed to me there was some moisture present that should not have been. I don't use a side lock any more but if I did, I would look into maybe using some type of air flow through the system after cleaning. miles
Go to Home Depot and buy a gallon of methanol( alcohol) after cleaning with water or solvent, purge the whole system with methanol.( with the nipple out) The methanol is hydroscopic and will combine with any moisture present and then dries it out.You only have to take a pint or so to hunting camp to do this.
Let it set a few minutes and then fire a cap. Guaranteed ,you won't have any moisture in it.
I learned this years ago when we were building ultra clean stainless steel system. Wo would degrease with acetone or other degreaser in anultra sonic, bath in distilled water to flush off the degreaser and then bath in alcohol in another ultra sonic cleaner. In that method we used Ethanol ( grain alcohol) as it left no residue. A bottle fo 180 Ethanol from aliquor store will work just as good and you can always drink what you don't use of the ethanol.
