Clean the barrel… yes or not

[taliv]

I’ll take that bet and wager it’s more shooters baffled as to why their rifle quits shooting because their ineffective cleaning methods leave their barrels fouled with layers of hard carbon and copper.

Personally don’t buy into the “over cleaning ruins barrels” myth

prob a lot of nuance and assumptions there

cleaning in a way that damages the crown? yeah prob a lot of that.
cleaning with super harsh solvents and leaving them in the barrel for hours? could easily damage barrels
reasonable, careful cleaning? shouldn't be any damage
friggin bore snakes? ugh

 

[Varminterror]

Was it an MDT or Cortina video a few months ago, or maybe someone else entirely, in which they spun a wire brush in a bore with a power drill and looked at the lands, then shot groups, and they couldn’t tell any difference between before and after. The bore WAS shiny like a mirror, however.

 

[Nature Boy]

@taliv

I agree with you. We could make a long list of all the wrong ways to clean a barrel. That’s not what I was responding to.

@jmr40 stated that over cleaning is responsible for ruining barrels, as if there’s some systemic problem with exuberant gun owners out there wearing their barrels smooth like they were churning butter.

I don’t agree with that.

I think it’s more likely the average gun owner stops short, thinking their barrels are clean when they aren’t. Secondarily, there are those that don’t clean very often because they don’t think it’s necessary.

So where in there would we enumerate the barrels that are trashed due to being over cleaned? Something close to none.

I shoot a lot. I clean a lot. I use a bore scope to let me know when it’s clean, then I stop. I can assure you my barrels will be worn out by the round count well before the stroke count of my cleaning rod.

 

[jmr40]

I'd wager that more barrels have been ruined by over cleaning, than lack of cleaning. I guess improper cleaning would be more accurate.

If you're going to quote me, quote enough to get the full meaning.

There is nothing we disagree about with the full quote.

 

[Nature Boy]

Sorry @jmr40 , I did miss that part

 

[jmr40]

No offense taken. It happens.

But to hopefully clarify my original post. Excessive cleaning, done right, probably won't damage anything, but isn't helping either. But done improperly it will damage a barrel. And it is my experience that those who are most likely to do it wrong, are the ones who clean excessively. When you combine excessive barrel cleaning with doing it improperly, you will do more damage than good.

 

[Beck]

I clean the entire firearm, including the barrel after every range session no matter how many rounds I shoot per range visit. That is IMHO best practices. It certainly has never hurt anything with any firearm I own, some I've had most of my life. The bulk of the firearms I own now are 30+ years old. They only get better with age. Sure it takes a lot of time, but it works for me.

By the way, I was taught to keep my weapons clean by my late father who was a WWII and Korean War era veteran. He also taught me how to do it right. Many years later in my life when I spent several years as an LEO my department directed us to do the same thing... clean after each range trip. Basically keep that thing clean because your life may depend on it.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Depends on the gun for me too.
MLs, after every outing of course. That's a no brainer.
Hunting rifles get a good cleaning at the end of season, so once a year. Between sighting in and hunting, it probably only has 20 rounds down the pipe per season. But being strapped to my back while riding four wheelers down gravel roads, getting rained on and such, they get a thorough cleaning, so while I'm doing it I'll run some Hoppe's down the barrel to clean out any dirt.
Rimfires. Hell, I can't remember the last time I've cleaned those barrels. I've had my Marlin 60 for nearly 20 years and I can count on one hand the number of times the barrel has been cleaned.

 

[gwpercle]

I clean after every shooting session .
It doesn't matter if two or two-hundred shots are fired .
Two reasons ...that was how my daddy taught us ... Guns and gear cleaned and put away before you ate supper or went to sleep .

My Momma always told us that ... "Cleanliness was next to Godliness " .

Now a gun fired two-hundred times gets more cleaning than one fired twice ,,, but I know my Momma would be proud to know I still keep things clean .

Also clean guns don't malfunction as often as dirty and neglected guns .

I also wash and wax my car because I like it to look good.
Gary

 

[MI2600]

I do not hunt or engage in competition. I collect...a lot. After I shoot, I never know exactly when I will ever shoot them again. So, I clean each handgun, shotgun or rifle thoroughly and put them back in storage..

 

[lysanderxiii]

I’ll take that bet and wager it’s more shooters baffled as to why their rifle quits shooting because their ineffective cleaning methods leave their barrels fouled with layers of hard carbon and copper.

Personally don’t buy into the “over cleaning ruins barrels” myth

The Army once did a test to see which would damage a barrel faster, a pull-through chain (like the Germans used) or a steel cleaning rod. The conclusion was - It took so long to damage a barrel, it was a moot point.

 

[tominboise]

I've had my Marlin 60 for nearly 20 years and I can count on one hand the number of times the barrel has been cleaned.

I bought a used Remington bolt action 22 from a gun store, because it was the same model as the one I had as a kid. Anyway, apparently the previous owner had the same philosophy, as the barrel was completely leaded from one end to the other. Actually a matrix of lead, copper and carbon, layer upon layer. The rifle wouldn't group at all when I got it, so I put it in the safe and left it. I eventually got a borescope and learned what was going on. It's been a slow process of kroil, brush, kroil, brush, etc to get some of it out. I am still working on it.