Gun Cleaning

[Short On Cache]

Im sure this has been discussed but I searched it and don't see a thread. My question is, how often do you clean your gun? Barrel specifically. Whats your process? Do you just dry brush after every outing and do a deep clean after ___ shots? Im interested in everyone elses PPG.

 

[TheDerkster]

Im sure this has been discussed but I searched it and don't see a thread. My question is, how often do you clean your gun? Barrel specifically. Whats your process? Do you just dry brush after every outing and do a deep clean after ___ shots? Im interested in everyone elses PPG.

It's discussed a lot. Like, overly to much a lot. LRH isn't the only site on the internet. Do a good search and you will find 99% of the questions you ever have.

But to answer your question, keep brushing to a minimum. Especially with SS loop style brushes. Brass brushes aren't as hard, but would you run that brush across your car door? Probably not. I honestly worry about my crown more than anything else.

Clean every 80-100 shots. Sometimes you can get by with several hundred before accuracy degradation. Many depends on copper fouling which can be a function of velocity, bullet selection and rate of fire. Use a good copper remover and a good cleaning rod. I use hoppes and CP for pretty much everything. A good carbon one piece rod serves well for cleaning my 28 inch barrel. Try to make sure you run the rod from the chamber end so you dont chance damage to the crown. The rod I have from bass pro is long enough to go all the way through the action and 28 inches of barrel so your good there.

Multi piece rod you can just add another section. I like using shop towels to mop the barrel with solvents and then patches to finish.

Don't clean too often, but if you do, clean between every two or 3 shots. It takes time for a barrel to "break in" after you clean it. Microgrooves in the rifling get filled over time. Ive found I pick up velocity and accuracy after a few rounds. Then it goes back down hill after enough rounds.

Take a look at BR techniques. They pay a lot of attention to this stuff. One thing I did over time was keep track of my accuracy in correlation with my shot count since last cleaning on a 308. There was a bit of a bell curve to the graph.

I also found sometimes running one or two dry patches or maybe one wet and one dry could keep me close to the best potential for a particular barrel since it didn't strip all the fouling out. Some fouling is good in some cases. So there's not a perfect way to clean. Every rifle is a little different or a lot different. My buddies 10/22 he built custom was laying 1 inch groups at 100 with Eley match. After a few hundred rounds, he cleaned it because of the incredible amount of deposits in the action and bolt. The next time he took it out, it wouldn't group under 3 inches hardly until we worked through a 50 rd box.

Maybe there is other factors at work here. Im just trying to speak from my very short life experience database

 

[Short On Cache]

That is excellent information. Thank you very much for taking the time to type that up. I will certainly check out some of the other sources on the internet and try to develop a plan that works for my gun and take notes to determine what works best.

 

[johnnyk]

I usually clean after 15-30 shots in both my rifles. Both are factory barrel Savage 112's; one in 6.5-284 Norma and the other is .300WinMag.
I use a Dewey one piece coated rod and the Tipton nylon brush kit. It has most of the calibers than a shooter could need.
My technique is one that I have developed over the years and I'm still learning. First I use a nylon brush that is two (2) sizes smaller than the caliber I'm cleaning. So for .308 (300WinMag) I use a .28 caliber brush. I wrap a cotton patch around the brush and I saturate it with Hoppes No 9 Bore Solvent. I use multiple pipette's and syringe's so as not to contaminate the individual jars of cleaning products. These also let me thouroughly saturate the patch.
I run 1-2 wet patches of Hoppes through one way, chamber to crown, and then dry patch out. This usually gets most of the powder fouling out but if I feel like or sense that it's still dirty I'll run another wet patch through, but this time I'll go back and forth, chamber to crown, about 10-20 strokes. Dry patch out till clean.

I used to do the same process again but with a copper remover and would be done. I have used the ammonia based cleaners, like Montana Extreme and Barnes CR10 for years with good results. Some say ammonia hurts barrels but I haven't determined that. I have even used plain ammonia from the grocery store and it works fine too. I never leave it in the barrel for a long time though.

Recently I added another chemical agent to my repertoire in between Hoppes and Copper remover. SeaFoam from the automotive section at the auto parts store or WalMart. Last year my 6.5-284 developed a carbon ring and it greatly affected its LR performance. I had briefly heard of this over the years but had no first hand experience. Members here on LRH helped diagnose my problem and after a couple days of cleaning I cleared up the ring. My rifles stellar LR performance returned afterwards.

Now I include 2-3 wet and dry patches for insurance now. After the SeaFoam I go to the Copper remover. Again, 2-3 wet patches, each followed by a dry. This process usually gets my barrels ready for their next outting. JohnnyK.

 

[Dosh]

Short, when accuracy wanders I clean. This forum is overloaded with which solvent/cleaner to use, but the use of a good bore guide is seldom mentioned. I read a quote of a famous gunsmith "if you don't use a bore guide, don't bother cleaning. More barrels are damaged by cleaning than shooting". Google Mike Lucas bore guides, they protect your barrel.

 

[Short On Cache]

I usually clean after 15-30 shots in both my rifles. Both are factory barrel Savage 112's; one in 6.5-284 Norma and the other is .300WinMag.
I use a Dewey one piece coated rod and the Tipton nylon brush kit. It has most of the calibers than a shooter could need.
My technique is one that I have developed over the years and I'm still learning. First I use a nylon brush that is two (2) sizes smaller than the caliber I'm cleaning. So for .308 (300WinMag) I use a .28 caliber brush. I wrap a cotton patch around the brush and I saturate it with Hoppes No 9 Bore Solvent. I use multiple pipette's and syringe's so as not to contaminate the individual jars of cleaning products. These also let me thouroughly saturate the patch.
I run 1-2 wet patches of Hoppes through one way, chamber to crown, and then dry patch out. This usually gets most of the powder fouling out but if I feel like or sense that it's still dirty I'll run another wet patch through, but this time I'll go back and forth, chamber to crown, about 10-20 strokes. Dry patch out till clean.

I used to do the same process again but with a copper remover and would be done. I have used the ammonia based cleaners, like Montana Extreme and Barnes CR10 for years with good results. Some say ammonia hurts barrels but I haven't determined that. I have even used plain ammonia from the grocery store and it works fine too. I never leave it in the barrel for a long time though.

Recently I added another chemical agent to my repertoire in between Hoppes and Copper remover. SeaFoam from the automotive section at the auto parts store or WalMart. Last year my 6.5-284 developed a carbon ring and it greatly affected its LR performance. I had briefly heard of this over the years but had no first hand experience. Members here on LRH helped diagnose my problem and after a couple days of cleaning I cleared up the ring. My rifles stellar LR performance returned afterwards.

Now I include 2-3 wet and dry patches for insurance now. After the SeaFoam I go to the Copper remover. Again, 2-3 wet patches, each followed by a dry. This process usually gets my barrels ready for their next outting. JohnnyK.

Jonny, Are you using the sea Foam gas additive or the Deep Creep penetrator? What do you find that it is removing over the powder and copper solvents?