For those who NEVER clean their bore, or almost never

[ButterBean]

The problem with that line of reasoning is that too many people conflate obsessive cleaning with the notion of that you are somehow taking better care of their rifle than someone who doesn't. Every time you put something in the bore that isnt a bullet you run the risk of damaging the crown or causing other issues. Just because someone doesn't put patches down the bore doesn't mean they aren't taking care of their rifle. There's a clear distinction between that and some neanderthal that puts the gun away with carbon/grease/dirt/mud/water all over moving parts, or doesn't periodically oil and inspect critical points on their rifle.

That'd be like saying the guy who takes his car to one of those drive through machine washes every week somehow "cares" more about his car because he cleans it more often than the guy who meticulously washes his car using mild detergent, microfiber towels, two buckets with dirt traps etc etc but he only does it every six months. Never mind the fact that after a year or two the first guy's car is going to look like he strapped a scotchbrite pad to an orbital sander and ran it all over the surface of the car when you take out into bright sunlight. The inside of a lot of people's barrels probably looks the same.

This is only made worse by all the $50 bore scopes that you can now buy right off of Amazon... people are out their scrubbing their bores down to bare metal without even knowing why they are doing it.

I agree 100%, I don't know how we made it before the Bore scope was introduced

 

[Tex_Hunter]

I agree 100%, I don't know how we made it before the Bore scope was introduced

Barrel makers sold a LOT fewer barrels

 

[ButterBean]

Barrel makers sold a LOT fewer barrels

That's true but I've read just about everything JOC has written, I know bore scopes weren't around but he never mention a carbon ring either

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

I'm not an obsessive bore scrubber, do use a bore guide and coated tipton rod. I don't think 100-200 rounds is excessive and and in a year that's what I'll pile on mine. Match barrels foul less and clean a lot easier than factory jobs. I clean every shot for first dozen and every three for a bit when breaking a barrel in, and then go to my normal once a year barrel clean. I also take my bolts apart every year and clean, inspect triggers, and of course tighten the action screws and check barrel float when reinstalling stock. Hunting guns are what get dirty in chambers and under the barrel, cedar and spruce needles and assort. other woods junk.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

That's true but I've read just about everything JOC has written, I know bore scopes weren't around but he never mention a carbon ring either

I don't believe 270's get carbon rings...........

 

[tnek13]

I Hunt, I clean, I check action torque, scope mounts, bolt lube, etc. I know where my cold bore shot goes. I also know the difference between a hand-lapped custom barrel and a factory production barrel and the difference in cleaning processes and frequency that they need to keep them shooting their best since I own both types. Over the years I have helped too many people get their guns (handguns, shotguns, and rifles) functioning properly because they were ridden hard and put away wet. If you shoot till the accuracy falls off you just might miss that Buck of a Lifetime.

 

[Tac-O]

That's true but I've read just about everything JOC has written, I know bore scopes weren't around but he never mention a carbon ring either

Who's JOC?

 

[300grains]

Don't know better so I clean barrels after every shooting session.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I just can't put a dirty rifle back in the safe. If I shoot 20 or more rounds at the bench the bore will get cleaned and a light application of CLP will be applied (inside & out) before the rifle is put away. If I shoot 50+ rounds the bore will be soaked in BTE for awhile and then brushed with a nylon brush. If I shoot monometal bullets I'm inclined to use a good solvent followed by a bronze brush.
Regularly cleaning bores is just a habit, good or bad.

 

[J E Custom]

I shoot a lot of Barnes bullets.....thoughts on cleaning with monolithic bullets? More often? less often? same?

It really depends on the alloy of the bullets. In the beginning Barns bullets were solid copper and were really bad about fouling. There were so many complaints that they came out with a special copper solvent even tough they claimed they were not solid copper. Later they changed their allow and many of the problems went away. Now days, most Mono metal bullets are somewhere near the same composition as the jacketed bullets.

When I bought my first 416, I decided on 400 grain Barnes X bullets (All copper) I also wasn't doing barrel break in as I am doing now and started load development after a few shots. different powders, bullet weights and primers loaded in 5 shot batches (I loaded 50 rounds for testing)
The results were good in one way, and puzzling in another. Accuracy hovered around 1 MOA no matter what I fired in it so I though I had a winner for a dangerous game rifle. when I got home, I decided to clean the rifle and bore and could not believe how bad it was. Before I stopped getting copper out of the barrel, I had spent 4 hours and half a bottle of Sweets. not believing how badly it had fouled, I loaded some Swift A Frames (Jacketed) and tried them. the results were amazing. The rifle went from just over 1 MOA to half that for the first 12 rounds (Two test loads and part of the 3rd) then It went back to the 1 MOA neighborhood. At this point I stopped shooting and after cleaning this time it only took three solvent and brushing procedures to come clean and the next time I shot it it went back to the 1/2 MOA for the first 10 shots and answered my questions about copper bullets and the barrel fouling rate.

A good barrel break in is very important with any bullet, especially certain copper bullets to make them shoot well after cleaning and not having to shoot many rounds before it comes back in like when it was first fired. If you watch velocity and accuracy changes from a clean barrel, the barrel it's self will tell you when it's time to clean.

So Mono metal bullets should not require any more attention than jacketed bullets if they are the correct alloy.

Different barrels and bullets will foul at different rates so if you want the best from your rifle, clean it when you need to, don't wait for accuracy to go away.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Rflshootr]

I'd like to see someone in the armed forces tell the Sgt. that they'll get around to cleaning their weapon after it gets more then 200 rounds through it, and see what happens.

 

[J E Custom]

I'd like to see someone in the armed forces tell the Sgt. that they'll get around to cleaning their weapon after it gets more then 200 rounds through it, and see what happens.

When I was in the service, sometimes our CO required us to sleep with our rifles and would say, "Quote" If you sleep with it and clean it you will get to know it better and learn its shortcomings.

Besides, Who would want to sleep with a dirty rifle.

J E CUSTOM

 

[ButterBean]

Who's JOC?

Jack O'Conner

 

[Coldfinger]

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?

A clean barrel is a happy barrel!