Rifle Cleaning

[clownbuster]

Never used a bore scope

 

[sodakota]

Sort a depends on the rifle.

 

[Danny Butler]

I'm from a Benchrest old school... I seldom push my rifles past 30 rds before cleaning. Match grade bbls cost to much to abuse. I use Shooters Choice bore cleaner. I also use Barnes CR10 copper solvent during the break in process and never again unless I have an accuracy issue.

 

[Old Rooster]

A local gunsmith put on a seminar a few years back about gun cleaning and offered for folks to bring a rifle or two and learn how a gunsmith that used to compete cleans his rifles.He said something someone already said here that some people ruin a bore more often than wear the barrel out by cleaning improperly.
He took a Hawkeye borescope and looked at different rifles bores and what he found with a guy that said his rifle was cleaned and ready for a new session at the range but the Hawkeye said differently.Carbon was killing his accuracy and he was a good student and took his rifle back home and really cleaned it and next evening it was inspected and was good to go.Mine was worse.He said you used a slotted patch holder and it has caused marks on your chamber.Not deep but marks none the less.He suggested for me to let him polish the marks out and I did and the carbon I had was not as bad as some but bad enough to cause a barrel to not shoot to it's potential.
When you force something down the barrel it causes carbon to build up enough that it can be next to impossible to remove so I make sure I clean after every range session no matter how long or how many rounds I fire.
I used to shoot way more than I do now.Several rifles different calibers lined up for a range session but health problems has stopped that.
Now I clean every time I shoot not just to remove copper but that hard to clean carbon.
Just my 2 cents
Old Rooster

 

[clownbuster]

1. Wet Patch (Sweets 7.62)
2. Wet Nylon Brush (Butches Bore Shine)
3. 4 Strokes
4. Wet Patch (Butches Bore Shine)
5. Dry Patches X3

 

[30BR]

I'm going to pseudo experiment with my 6.5-284 (Lothar Walther barrel) and .300WinMag (PacNor barrel) to see how they do. I have a .270AM (Lilja barrel) but I'm gonna just keep it clean and in "smack down" mode for deer season. I know what she likes!

My 6.5-284's like to be clean to shoot at their best. At IBS matches that means cleaning after the first two targets (10 rounds total plus sighters) and again after the last two before they go in the safe.
My 30BR could care less about being clean. Its like the 4x4 of rifles...
But I also keep in mind John Krieger's comment, "Why would you clean a barrel so thoroughly that it needed to be fouled again before it would shoot well?"

 

[IPSC]

Just a reminder..... don't gloss over the pros/cons of all the various methods described in the linked video I show in response # 39. Pretty much sums up the "Always clean" vs "sweet-zone" of SOME fouling methods...and all the reasons why. I know in today's sound-bite world we often can't stomach 30 min videos.....but this is really a nice summary as well as offering more information in oher vids he has.

 

[T Michael]

Have heard so many different ideals on bore cleaning and when it should be done. Was wanting to see what some of you guys do that shoot a great deal on when you decide to full bore clean. I have always done my reloading in 100 rnd batches and for years once I hit that 100 rounds fired I would reload a new 100 and do full bore clean. This has worked great but I recently started just shooting a rifle until groups opened up and then clean. I have also heard of PRS guys never cleaning a bore at all. Just wondering what some of you guys intervals are. Thanks fellows.

I was at a gun show that Mr. Krieger was answering questions and of course barrel cleaning was the main topic. His reply was to clean it when the accuracy starts to deteriorate. I also had the privilege of touring the Bartlein barrel factory as they were making my barrel. Their factory shooters told me the same thing, swag the chamber out after shooting but clean the barrel only when your accuracy fades. One would assume that these people know what they are talking about.

 

[PNWdude67]

You sure you just didn't reverse that target on the right then shoot it
Pretty much a re a carbon copy in reverse!

I am a clean the rifle after every use person, doesn't matter the use.

To me as JE pointed out, they are so much harder to clean when you allow a build up of both carbon OR copper.

Apart from that my other reason for cleaning the rifle after each firing is that summers here where I live are quite humid, I would rather not have anything in the bore that could attract moisture & promote rust & I also leave a light film or gun oil in the bore which I mop before use.

Good point...with my match barrels they are getting shot so much and frequently they don't sit idle very long. A two day match is approx 250 rounds and I usually clean after a match, but this year shot a couple weekends in a row without cleaning. Accuracy was still great that second weekend rounds 250-500. Some guys go 1200 rounds then just spin the barrel off and replace it (I don't get free barrels so)
To your point, if the barrel is going to sit idle for more than a week I prefer to clean it and run a lightly oiled patch through it.

 

[Buzzsaw]

OLD ROOSTER !!! B I N G O

Carbon is our worst enemy AND the hardest to get rid of. My gunsmith is testing a common household chemical to quickly remove stubborn carbon left by relatively few shots.

He has a section of SS, Match grade, barrel, been soaking in it for three weeks to see if there are any NEGATIVE lasting effects. I dont want to post the name yet.
we have tried it on muzzle threads and crowns, it like a miracle cleaner. need alcohol after to completely remove, then, anti-seize applied to threads.

 

[Remmy700]

So this is pretty much what I figured. Two main schools of thought across the board. Thank all of u for your experience and information.

 

[Pointman]

Clean is clean, fouled is fouled. Some like clean some like fouled and others don't bother with cleaning at all or until accuracy falls off.

In my opinion, waiting until accuracy drops off is a waste in components and possibly wounded game.

When I clean, I always go back to bright metal. the frequency depends on the use. for my hunting rifles I clean after 5 to 10 rounds.

When I first started doing gun work I started working on friends rifles trying to make them shoot better than they did when new. Without exception the ones that once shot good for hunting and had gone bad, simply needed a good bore and chamber cleaning Stock contact was another issue but it was solvable.

Some of these rifles took several days of soaking and cleaning before they came clean.

There are many different opinions and you will hear them, so I will join
Joseph and pop some corn and sit back and watch.

J E CUSTOM

I totally agree. I clean after every range session, regardless of homany rounds expended. May be a carry over from my Nam days, the M-16 was finicky. I recently started shooting my first custom rifle, a M700 Rem in 25-06. I had it rebarreled in he 70's for a long range varmint rifle. I shot it and cleaned as normal then put it away for 20 years. After the cleaning session using the newer solvents, I noticed the "blue" patches. Evidently I did a poor job getting the copper out. Now it shoots just like it did when built, 5 under a dime at 100 meters. Cleanliness is indeed next to Godliness.

 

[Susquatch]

Have heard so many different ideals on bore cleaning and when it should be done. Was wanting to see what some of you guys do that shoot a great deal on when you decide to full bore clean. I have always done my reloading in 100 rnd batches and for years once I hit that 100 rounds fired I would reload a new 100 and do full bore clean. This has worked great but I recently started just shooting a rifle until groups opened up and then clean. I have also heard of PRS guys never cleaning a bore at all. Just wondering what some of you guys intervals are. Thanks fellows.

Lots of opinions on this one. I figure it's worth a vote.

I am a precision Smith but most of the work I do is for myself, my family, and my friends. The cost of a new barrel isn't the end of the world for me so I don't worry about wearing barrels out.

I prefer a clean barrel which is known factor in my shooting vs what effect does a dirty barrel have. I also think that cleaning is much easier when everything is fresh.

Therefore my practice is to clean after every time I use a rifle. It doesn't matter to me if that is one shot or 50. Although I bring along a cleaning kit just in case, and may occasionally swipe a bore if I got caught in the, rain or snow, I don't deep clean until a hunting trip is over. Basically, I consider deep cleaning to be a part of the process of properly putting a rifle away.

I've heard it said that more damage to a bore is done by cleaning than by shooting. And one barrel maker even says that he would rather shoot than clean. Perhaps that is true for some. But I am meticulous and fussy about how I clean to avoid damaging my bore, crown, and throat and I enjoy it. I've never seen any evidence to suggest that this saying applies to me. And like someone else said, the biggest factors that I have found to cause a rifle to shoot poorly are a loose trigger nut (the shooter), barrel fouling, and poor bedding - in that order.

 

[freddiej]

Remmy 700, I shoot as much as possible with my limited schedule, working, test firing, and cleaning up afterwards. my personal guns get cleaned every time out at the range, no matter what they do not get put up in the safe without getting a thorough cleaning.