Cleaning frequency?

[Lonewolf74]

Just something I've been thinking about after reading some post and doing a lil searching.

How often will you clean your barrel?
I've read a lot that say 10-20 shots some say after 250 shots.
Had my gunsmith say he doesn't clean at all during load development. Also have seen a lot of smith's and barrel makers say they see way more barrels damaged by cleaning than shooting them out.

I was always kind of anal in getting my barrel squeaky clean after I shot regardless of how many rounds fired.
Now I'm trying a "light" clean after shooting consisting of 6-8 wet and dry patches run through then a thorough cleaning every few wks or about 150 rounds, whichever comes first. Of course I want to avoid damage but I also want to avoid deposits that may become very difficult to remove over time.

So what do you all think?

 

[Stoneke]

My sense is that it essentially is dependent on the nature of the bore and caliber of the rifle. I have had rifles that would take over a hundred rounds (maybe more) without any loss of accuracy. I presently have a Winchester 7 mm RM that shoots 1/2 to 9/16 five shot 100 yd groups for the first 10 to 15 rounds and then the groups open up. When cleaning this bore, there is significant powder fouling forward of the chamber for about 10 to 12 inches. After this is removed, via careful cleaning, the accuracy returns. I have always followed range sessions (30 to 50 rounds) with this rifle with a Wipe Out treatment to thoroughly remove powder and copper fouling. This is the nature of this rifle that I live with. Since it is a hunting piece, I can live with its accuracy profile. I have yet to fire 15 rounds during a hunting trip!!

 

[Waynzee]

With my hunting rifles I always clean to get all the powder and copper fouling out that I can, this may take alot or a little amount of patches and solvent. It sort of depends on how much shooting I've been doing at the range. But what I like to do is about after every 3rd shot just do a general cleaning with ballistol. Once my rifle is zeroed I'll clean it good and shoot from a cold clean bore to make sure of zero then clean it good and store it until ready to use. Hope this helps it's what works best for me.

 

[Rich Coyle]

When testing different bullets I clean after every group and then fire two foulers. If using a hunting rifle or varmint rifle I run them till the accuracy falls off.

 

[coop2564]

My rifles I clean about every 150 shots unless I see accuracy falling off before that. OR I always clean if I get caught hunting in very wet weather. I never hunt with a newly cleaned bore without firing some foulers.

 

[gohring3006]

I use hex boron nitride and I clean after 300-400 rounds depending on cartridge.
I coat the bullets with Hex and coat the barrel with a slurry of hex and alcohol. The hex is also fights corrosion some say better than oil. So I run a undersized bore snake thru after a range trip and put it in the safe.

 

[Lonewolf74]

Thanks all for the reply's and I think now I was going a lil overboard with cleaning before. I'm gonna stick with the light cleaning and occasional thorough cleaning till I see reason not too. Might even go to just running a bore snake through once or twice in between thorough cleanings.

 

[Mikecr]

I think you should stick with what you have been doing, for the same reasons.

 

[Lonewolf74]

When testing different bullets I clean after every group and then fire two foulers. If using a hunting rifle or varmint rifle I run them till the accuracy falls off.

Wildcater are you saying that you clean between each group till totally clean or like a wet patch and 2 dry patches or something to that effect?

 

[Rich Coyle]

When I am testing bullets it's cleaned as clean as I can get it. That's why I fire two foulers. Everything is consistent despite not being as good as it can be. It takes days and days to do those types of test.

 

[WildRose]

Just something I've been thinking about after reading some post and doing a lil searching.

How often will you clean your barrel?
I've read a lot that say 10-20 shots some say after 250 shots.
Had my gunsmith say he doesn't clean at all during load development. Also have seen a lot of smith's and barrel makers say they see way more barrels damaged by cleaning than shooting them out.

I was always kind of anal in getting my barrel squeaky clean after I shot regardless of how many rounds fired.
Now I'm trying a "light" clean after shooting consisting of 6-8 wet and dry patches run through then a thorough cleaning every few wks or about 150 rounds, whichever comes first. Of course I want to avoid damage but I also want to avoid deposits that may become very difficult to remove over time.

So what do you all think?

Depends on the gun but most of them won't get more than a once a year cleaning including my truck guns that get shot a lot and stay perpetually filty.

I've got a couple that prefer to be cleaned every 25-50 rounds and for those I use the foaming bore cleaners almost exclusively. I try to avoid the use of a rod at all and when I do have to use one I use only epoxy coated rods.

I definitely believe we do more damage to our rifles by over cleaning them than running them dirty.

Even when I clean one the first thing I'll do is fire a couple or three foulers to get them back to a happy balance.

 

[DartonJager]

I use to be a barrel cleaning nut then I finally did an accuracy test of my most accurate rifle with a 100% clean bore VS 30 shots and I saw zero real difference in accuracy. Now unless I experience a drop in accuracy I don't clean all that often. I definitely go hunting with a fouled bore.

My two newest rifles two circa late 90's JM stamped Marlin lever action 336C in 35 Remington utterly blew me away in that they both are lagit MOA rifles with my reloads and I've gone as much as 50 rounds between cleanings and not experienced a decrease in accuracy.

I guess it's up to what your barrel tells you it likes.

 

[Gene]

I clean after each hunting season, no matter how many have gone down the tube. I don't want an animal to smell any solvent. In addition, if you bang away before season, it will coat the bore with fouling, so that you should be right on at whatever distance. . Clean the bore before hunting, and your first shot - or sometimes a few shots - might be not where it was on target.

 

[Mikecr]

Not mentioned is that you can keep a barrel clean while pre-fouled.
When I put a gun away, it's cleaner than new, but fully ready for use.
I do this with an alcohol wash to white metal(after cleaning). Then a dry burnishing of Tungsten Disulfide (WS2), and back to the safe.
1st cold shot tomorrow, or 5yrs from now, will be as good as any to follow.

I would not ever let carbon build in a bore, or let primer fired byproducts eat away at it. Nor would I leave solvents to drain down into the action/bedding, and/or screw up the first handful of cold shots.
I also would not store a gun or it's ammo where big temperature shifts cause condensation.