After hunting season is over, I take all the rifles I hunted with, and disassemble the bolts, pull the trigger assembly off, drop the parts into a parts can of mineral spirits and let them soak overnight or two. Wipe and GENTLY blow them out with air and reassemble. Mineral spirits/paint thinner is a lubricant. It's a very, very light lubricant but it will serve to lube and protect to some degree.
It's become a bit of a tradition for my son and I to finish up the fall big game hunting with a late season antelope hunt out on the eastern plains in sandy azz soil where LONG crawls through wheat and corn stubble is the norm. Those rifles become more gritty than any other hunting I've been involved with. I tell my son do NOT touch the lens on the optics, let them be dirty till I get home and clean them.
