is it clean yet??

[scotch handler]

hey guys (and girls),
i had previously started a post about how often should i clean my guns. well i was out to the range the other day and when i came home i cleaned the guns i took with me. here is my question. how do i know when the thing is completely clean?? i just got the otis kit and this was my 1st time using that. i ran the wet patch through the barrel (gun was disassembled), dry patches, brush, wet patch again, dry patch.....etc. i did this a couple times and there was always something on the dry patch. i held the barrel up to the light to look through it and i could see that it was still a little dirty. i tried my best to get it completely clean. am i expecting to much when cleaning my guns?? are they ever completely clean??
thanks in advance
-Scotch

 

[CNYCacher]

Diminishing returns

Clean until the annoyance of cleaning is greater than the desire to get them perfectly clean.

One thing that may make it easier is for you to run a wet patch (wet with some type of gun cleaner) and then let the cleaner sit in the bore for a few minutes before running dry patches.

The time it would take to get the thing perfectly clean is not worth it, IMHO. Remember, the next time you go to the range the bore is going to be 100 times dirtier after the first shot than it was after the most rudimentary cleaning. Getting the very last bits of dirtiness out is just not worth it.

Add an extra step with a water flush if you are shooting corrosive ammo, otherwise just get the heavy stuff out and finish with an oiled patch. Adjust per your level of OCBCD (obsessive-compulsive barrel-cleaning disorder).

 

[dfariswheel]

Bore solvents need TIME to work.
The best method is to use a good bore solvent and a GOOD brush to brush the bore about 15 to 20 passes, then run one or two wet patches through and let the bore soak for an hour.

After an hour, wet a clean patch and run it straight through and out the end.
If the patch has green or blue stains, there's still copper fouling in the bore, so let soak another hour.
Continue this until the patches show no green or blue stains.
On a really fouled bore that hasn't been properly cleaned, this can take 24 hours.

Note that "pumping" a patch up and down the bore does no good.
If you pump a patch in a bore, the patch will get steel stains from the friction, and these may look like fouling.

Another technique is to brush the bore, then use a chamber plug to plug the chamber end and fill the bore with solvent.
Let soak over night, and the bore will be really clean.