Rifle barrel cleaning

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I have been told that if I clean too much I lose accuracy I started reloading a couple years ago so I use my rifles for reload development in the past they have only been shot four or five times a year
 
Target rifles go until I start to see some kind of degradation in accuracy. Usually +100 rds. Hunting rifles I'll clean right before the season when I'm done practicing with them. I'll then foul the bore checking zero before heading out and not clean again till after the season. ARs, might get cleaned after a couple hundred rounds or so.

I've gone to using Butches Bore Shine to remove the powder residue, dry the bore, then Sweats 7.62 to remove the copper. I don't usually use a brush unless the copper fouling is really bad.
 
Some forums will scold me if I don't clean after every use. Lazy I have been called. With rifles I clean after every shooting session because I don't shoot rifles that much. They get shot and maybe won't get shot again for several months.

Pistols are different. I do a lot of pistol practice every year for EDC carry. If I am on vacation for a week and shoot a pistol every day for that week, (500-600 rounds), I may only clean it once at the end of that vacation week. As far as loosing accuracy on your rifle a couple of suggestions. Always insert the cleaning rod from the breech rather than the muzzle. When using the harsher bore cleaning chemicals (Sweet's 7.62 solvent comes to mind) follow the directions to the letter.

I have used Sweets 7.2 and it works very well when it is needed. Not something I would use for cleaning every time though.
 
Oh Boy!

A lot of cleaning behaviors are advertising induced. You see ads all the time screaming "matches are won on the cleaning bench!!" I thought matches were won by shooting the highest score, but, evidentially not.

This topic has can create a lot of discussion with competitive shooters. Most of them are obsessive compulsive in having clean barrels. But being an outstanding nut case does not mean your nut case world view is necessarily true. It could be true, but humans also see patterns where none exist. I know one multiple category F Class champion who claims that a cleaned barrel takes time to settle down, so she does not clean her barrels between 1000 yard matches. However, Hubby is a OCD clean barrel type, and that causes discord when Hubby cleans her barrel!

Several very good Smallbore Prone shooters I know only clean their barrels "when your barrel tells you". I basically clean every two days out of a four day match, mainly so ejection is good and the bolt cocking cam is greased. I see others who immediately clean right after the match, at the end of every day. These guys regularly outshoot me, but not all the time, and when I outshoot them, it is with a dirty barrel. So go figure.

Frank at Compass Lake told me that barrels do need cleaning and the discussion was about centerfire barrels. And the cleaning advice was not about chemical cleaners, but the need to clean with an abrasive. According to Frank, occasional cleaning with JB Bore paste will remove impacted material in the barrel throat. He has had barrels in the shop that the owner claimed shot poorly, Frank looked down the barrel with an bore scope, saw crud in the throat that chemical cleaners would not remove. However a JB bore past treatment did remove the crud and the barrel was shooting back to match standards.

But, use JB Bore paste sparingly and maybe every 500 rounds or so. It is an abrasive. I can tell you, JB bore paste a high mileage barrel and you will see the thing settle in. I used to see it in my M1a barrels as they were at the end of their lifetime. Start out standing slow fire with a JB bore pasted barrel and I was changing elevation till the barrel settled down around shot two to five.

I have a J.C. Higgins M50 in 30-06 and the thing has a chromed barrel. That barrel would visibly jacket foul within 20 rounds and the point of impact would change each shot. I paid a gunsmith to lap the barrel, and that helped keep the fouling down, but still, it fouled. Of all the things, greased bullets positively prevented jacket fouling. I think the last I took it down to CMP Talladega, I fired at least 60 rounds, heavily greased. Such as:

0kUSURg.jpg

When I got back home and pushed a solvent drenched patch through the barrel, there was absolutely no jacket fouling. If I had a bore scope I could test whether blowing a lubricant down the barrel prevents jacket deposition in the barrel. I think it does.

Maybe the Swiss were on to something:

nvm0dMv.jpg

I clean hunting rifles each time before they are put up to avoid rust. Smokeless propellants leave carbon residues that attract moisture. I don't like rust, in fact, I am rather OCD about rust. So I will use a powder solvent and get that stuff out, and then oil the barrel. I will run a bristle brush down the barrel, I do feel a resistance change, but I don't know if that is because the brush is removing crud, or is wearing out! I do feel better after bristle brushing.

Other than removing rust causing material from your barrel, you should just clean the barrel to your psychological level of happiness.

Don't forget to clean the chamber, and to grease and oil the other parts of the mechanism, especially the bolt cocking cams on a bolt gun.
 
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Most of them are obsessive compulsive in having clean barrels
We would clean the barrels on our Benchrest gun after every group. Not squeaky clean, but clean. Yep, I was following the pack. After all, some of them usually kicked my butt. But you know what? The ones I routinely beat cleaned after every group as well. Consistency of the condition of the barrel was likely the key.
 
Muzzleloader? After each shot, normally. The rest of them? BEFORE every range session. A "range session" with a hunting rifle consists of a zero confirmation- 3 to 6 rounds. If I am hunting in damp/wet weather, the exterior gets a coat of oil and the bore gets 1 dry patch. After season= full cleaning.
 
For a hunting gun I clean after season and when I say clean its clean! I use Boretech Eliminator and do a few wet patches, brush with Eliminator, wet patches to get what the brush loosened up and then dry patches until they come out clean/dry. I then put some oil on a bore mop and run down the bore, oil the action and wipe the entire metal surface of the gun with oil and put in the safe until next season's sight in session. Once the gun is shot/sighted in it stays dirty all season except some light oil for rust issues.
 
Through the years I rarely shot all that many rounds at any one session at my bench rest. Most of the time I just sprayed WD40 on a patch and ran it through; then followed by spraying RemOil on a patch and running it through.

In my '06, after maybe 3,000 rounds, I had degradation in group size. Copper cleaner solved that problem. Last time I shot it, I had three shots in 0.4 MOA. :)
 
I haven't hunted in some time, but I habitually clean every firearm after every session. Bolt action and single shot rifles usually just get a single pass with a bronze brush and several passes with solvent (typically Hoppes because I like the smell) and dry patches until the majority of residue is gone, plus a little Q-tip work with solvent around the locking recesses and bolt face. I finish with a light oil (Mobile One, usually) and a thorough wipe-down so I don't end up with oil-saturated stocks or a puddle of lube at the bottom of the gunsafe. The non-stainless rifles go into Sackups for storage between uses.

I'm quite fanatical about cleaning bullet and powder residue from revolver cylinder faces, but that's another forum.
 
Hunting rifles and shotguns, at the end of season they get a good cleaning, including the bore.
Range toys get cleaned after every 4-5 range sessions.
I can't remember the last time I cleaned a .22 lr barrel. I've sprayed the action of my Marlin model 60 out with Gunscrubber a few times. The bore has been cleaned maybe 2-3 times in the 15 years I've owned it.


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Forgot to answer the entire question.
I generally just use Hoppes #9, then dry patch, then light oil.
For BP stuff I use Ballistol. I have used it on smokeless as well, and it works fine for that too.
 
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I clean mine after every shooting session. Letting hard carbon build up in the first few inches of the barrel only makes it harder to get out later, particularly in the grooves.

Too many methods out there to say one is the best. I will say this though. Get a bore scope if you're serious about rifle maintenance. You don't know if it's clean just by looking at the patches.

https://www.amazon.com/Lyman-Produc...m&qid=1560180573&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1
 
I've always sighted in hunting rifles before the season to check everything out and play with some reloads, I will wipe it down each time I use it with an oily rag then do a full clean at the end of the season. I believe the fouling in the barrel promotes consistent accuracy compared to shooting with a clean barrel and then a fouled barrel.
 
I clean after every trip. Just fill the bore with foaming bore cleaner. Wait 20mins, soak brush in close, brush bore a few times, then patch out.

If I don't get powder fouling out, the bore on even a stainless rifle will rust in days.
 
You should of course know where your clean/cold bore shots go. I've honestly never had a gun that shot significantly different clean or lightly fouled, but that first shot can sometimes be an inch or so out from the rest.
 
I clean my Deer rifle (rifles) at the end of the season unless I get them wet or dusty. After the season it comes out of the stock, everything gets wiped off with an oily rag, the bore gets cleaned, the bolt gets taken apart and cleaned and the trigger gets washed out with lighter fluid and low pressure compressed air. I may clean my Varmint rifle a few times a day if we get into the Prairie Dogs hot and heavy. At the end of a hunt it gets the full treatment. I clean my match rifles after every match or practice session.

I use a coated cleaning rod, a bore guide, tight fitting bore brushes and patches with Shooters Choice Solvent. I'll leave a light film of oil in the bore after its clean. I buy bore brushes by the dozen, solvent by the quart and patches in bags of 500 or 1000.
 
I like to keep my firearms as pristine as possible so I clean after every firing session. I would say that it is not necessary for the gun and just personal preference for me. The practical truth for maintaining a firearm’s reasonable condition is probably between “after any shooting session” and “never”.
 
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