For those who NEVER clean their bore, or almost never

[Tac-O]

There's a few people around who absolutely never clean their bore. There's a member on another forum who apparently works at some ballistics facility that fires hundreds of thousands of rounds annually during testing. They test barrels in some type of mechanical rest and find the true accuracy of barrels through thousands of rounds through those barrels. He says that he stopped cleaning the bores and found that there is no change in accuracy of the barrel through it's life. On his own rifles, he'll have fired upwards of 5,000 rounds through the bore of his Tikka without every having put a patch through it and it still shoots small groups. This all applies to functional field rifles... rifles for hunting or military applications. This is not in reference (I don't think) to benchrest competition barrels where you're trying to put every bullet in the same hole. So of course, there's the issue with pitting, etc. Well, if it still shoots then why worry about it? The whole point of doing this is to have a barrel that is consistent and reliable,, being able to put that first shot in the kill zone without worrying about fouling your bore, not having to put a lot of rounds through the bore to refoul it, etc. You're not worried about maintaining sub half moa groups, you just want the rifle to shoot roughly MOA so you can put the bullet into a 6" zone at 600 yards. I've started to embark on this journey, after having been in the habit of cleaning my bore every 20 rounds. Why? Because my gun is primarily for hunting and the enjoyment of shooting and handloading, and worrying about my bore isn't fun! Sure, if I had my gun shooting 1/4 moa that would be nice. But, I don't plan to shoot at game passed 500 yards, so 1" groups are fine with me. I do still worry about pitting and rust, even though my barrel is stainless.

Is there anyone here that NEVER cleans their bore? If you enjoy the life of neglecting your bore, do you do anything at all to protect the bore between shooting sessions to put your mind at ease? What are your experiences with the consistency of your barrel if you subscribe to this kind of madness?

 

[cohunt]

my 22lr

 

[Stiltsville]

Anything I buy used or new gets cleaned to bare metal. After that everything is stored in a rust blocking case and never cleaned unless accuracy (groups) falls off.

 

[NW Hunter]

I used to be in the camp of not cleaning.
I would always clean my chambers and lube the lugs every shooting, but that was it.

Then I bought a Teslong bore scope......

I found carbon rings at the throat of multiple rifles and what I thought was fire cracking was actually more carbon.
I also found a ton of copper in the rifling for about 4 inches near the crown.

Now I take a look with the Teslong every 50 rounds to learn each rifle's tendencies.
I record these results in my round count log.

 

[Tac-O]

I used to be in the camp of not cleaning.
I would always clean my chambers and lube the lugs every shooting, but that was it.

Then I bought a Teslong bore scope......

I found carbon rings at the throat of multiple rifles and what I thought was fire cracking was actually more carbon.
I also found a ton of copper in the rifling for about 4 inches near the crown.

Now I take a look with the Teslong every 50 rounds to learn each rifle's tendencies.
I record these results in my round count log.

I also clean the chamber after shooting because the neck area usually has a fair bit of soot in it.

Did your rifles still shoot well even though you found they had carbon rings and plenty of copper? I assume I'm probably building up copper and a carbon ring, but if it shoots consisently then why remove it?

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

This makes me shudder. I'd hate to be the guy that would have to clean their carbon ring out.

 

[Stiltsville]

If it still shoots as good as it ever did, leave it alone.

Once owned a 270 WCF Mannilicher carbine built on an 03 action in the 30s'. 3 " of alligator throat. Still shot 5 130 Corelocks in 1.5". Probaly as well as it ever did with a 2.5X Noske.

My code 3 bore M96 6.5x55, that I once cleaned to bare metal, didn't get back to MOA until 40 more 160 Hornady RNSPs went down the bore.

 

[Zen Archery]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[kiwikid]

There is a write-up on page 150 of the Norma manual regarding gun care. They took one of the 7mm "Super Magnums" with a transducer fitted and a clean barrel. The peak pressure of the first 30 rounds was around 435 Mpa or 63000 psi but then pressures started to climb. The transducer broke at just over 300 rounds but they had hit 580 Mpa or 84000 psi which is above Proof Pressure. They state that the barrel never got hot as they only fired a few rounds and then let it cool to room temperature before continuing. At the end of the test they found that the diameter of the bore had reduced by .003" from what it was when clean.

 

[Tac-O]

There is a write-up on page 150 of the Norma manual regarding gun care. They took one of the 7mm "Super Magnums" with a transducer fitted and a clean barrel. The peak pressure of the first 30 rounds was around 435 Mpa or 63000 psi but then pressures started to climb. The transducer broke at just over 300 rounds but they had hit 580 Mpa or 84000 psi which is above Proof Pressure. They state that the barrel never got hot as they only fired a few rounds and then let it cool to room temperature before continuing. At the end of the test they found that the diameter of the bore had reduced by .003" from what it was when clean.

I guess it's always possible things can go wrong. But that's why I always check all of my brass after shooting to check for signs of pressure

 

[Euler]

There's a few people around who absolutely never clean their bore. There's a member on another forum who apparently works at some ballistics facility that fires hundreds of thousands of rounds annually during testing. They test barrels in some type of mechanical rest and find the true accuracy of barrels through thousands of rounds through those barrels. He says that he stopped cleaning the bores and found that there is no change in accuracy of the barrel through it's life. On his own rifles, he'll have fired upwards of 5,000 rounds through the bore of his Tikka without every having put a patch through it and it still shoots small groups. This all applies to functional field rifles... rifles for hunting or military applications. This is not in reference (I don't think) to benchrest competition barrels where you're trying to put every bullet in the same hole. So of course, there's the issue with pitting, etc. Well, if it still shoots then why worry about it? The whole point of doing this is to have a barrel that is consistent and reliable,, being able to put that first shot in the kill zone without worrying about fouling your bore, not having to put a lot of rounds through the bore to refoul it, etc. You're not worried about maintaining sub half moa groups, you just want the rifle to shoot roughly MOA so you can put the bullet into a 6" zone at 600 yards. I've started to embark on this journey, after having been in the habit of cleaning my bore every 20 rounds. Why? Because my gun is primarily for hunting and the enjoyment of shooting and handloading, and worrying about my bore isn't fun! Sure, if I had my gun shooting 1/4 moa that would be nice. But, I don't plan to shoot at game passed 500 yards, so 1" groups are fine with me. I do still worry about pitting and rust, even though my barrel is stainless.

Is there anyone here that NEVER cleans their bore? If you enjoy the life of neglecting your bore, do you do anything at all to protect the bore between shooting sessions to put your mind at ease? What are your experiences with the consistency of your barrel if you subscribe to this kind of madness?

I am in the "less is more" camp, but I still clean. I'd say on average I clean my bolt guns every +/- 200 - 300 rounds, and those rifles usually hover just around 1/2 MOA for 5-shot groups using factory ammo.

 

[Tac-O]

To your actual question: I am in the "less is more" camp, but I still clean. I'd say on average I clean my bolt guns every +/- 200 - 300 rounds, and those rifles usually hover just around 1/2 MOA for 5-shot groups using factory ammo.

Haha hey 406. yeah I've thought about that. I figure maybe I can make it through to several hundred before I break down and clean it. I just can't wrap my head around not having an eventual build up of carbon or soot or something in the throat and chamber causing problems.

I'm probably due for a cleaning now after shooting a couple pounds of staball, but I just don't want to have to refoul!!

 

[NW Hunter]

I also clean the chamber after shooting because the neck area usually has a fair bit of soot in it.

Did your rifles still shoot well even though you found they had carbon rings and plenty of copper? I assume I'm probably building up copper and a carbon ring, but if it shoots consisently then why remove it?

I started to get flyers that I didn't normally have.
The carbon ring was giving me a false CBTO measurement. Once I cleaned the carbon ring out, I found that my true CBTO measurement showed me that I had lost .025" of my lands.
Once I readjusted to my original .024" off the lands, the flyers went away and started shooting tight groups again.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

Lol