Should you clean the barrel of a 22?

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I clean mine, but I don't use brushes very often. Typically, just patches and solvents. Usually doesn't take but a few pushes and everything is clean.

As to the idea that a copper brush is going to wear down a steel barrel...well, I laugh a good bit.
 
I use a "Patchworm" (20-20.8m.com/patchworm.html). It's essentially a filament wire with a thickened end to hold a patch. During bullseye matches, I use a boresnake.

On my 22's (Benelli MP95E, Marvel Conversions and Sig Trailside), I work harder to take out all the crud .22lr's leave everywhere else.
 
I spray mine with CLP, then run a clean patch through, followed by a bore snake. I do it every time I empty a bulk box (550 rounds) of ammo, or when I start to have problems like empties sticking in the cylinder of my Model 17 or when My Ruger MkIII starts to not go fully into battery. I realize that cleaning the barrel won't help the sticking empties, but I use that as a cue that it's time for a cleaning.
 
After I shoot them, I clean them. Same as with of my other guns.
Click to expand...

Ditto. If it goes to the range, it gets a bath (well, not a literal bath, but a cleaning). Even the .22s. I may not go for as thorough a cleaning as my self defense guns get, but I make sure the chamber and bore are clean, and the nasty junk is cleaned out of the action.
 
rchernandez, thanks for that link. I had not seen that before. I wonder how the patchworm compares to similar devices like the Otis kits?
 
I bought my 10/22 in 1983. I put 2-3000 rounds through it a year. One of these days I will clean it. It is still as reliable, and accurate as when I bought it. It is a plinker so why bother.
My .22 conversion kit for my PO1 gets cleaned after 200 rounds.
 
Every 500-1000 rounds I will put hoppes patch followed by a clean patch. I NEVER scrub my barrel with a brush.

I will however, on occasion, scrub the chamber with a brush.

The only reason to clean a .22 is to keep the gun functioning. It should not lose group size due to a dirty barrel.
 
I use a length of string trimmer line. I apply a flame to one end to form a blob, then I poke a small hole in the center of a patch and string the patch onto the line via the un-blobed end. Just pull the line through with patches moistened with solvent/CLP/etc. until I'm satisfied, then a dry patch, and I'm done.
 
I think .22 rimfires are ideal candidates for cleaning with a "boresnake". Minimal scrubbing, and the soft residues from the lead bullet rimfire cartridge makes fouling removal easy.
 
I clean them a lot less than I use to after reading similar threads.
I don't believe for a minute that a bronze brush will hurt barrel steel.

However, a cleaning rod catching the barrel crown will. Now I only clean the barrel if the chamber is getting sticky.
 
I've often wondered what made the barrel of a .22 so special, so fragile. I clean mine, with a brush, too. Still quite competetive. I don't buy all the voodoo. Maybe SOME barrels are delicate, gladly mine aren't.
Josh
 
Henry repeater here. I've pushed everything down the barrel of mine short of the "kitchen sink" - wire brushes, nylon brushes, metal rods (forced against the crown too), used Hoppes, 3 in 1, even WD 40. One time while at the range, I spilled Mountain Dew on the open breech, shook out the liquid inside, loaded the tube, and continued shooting. I took the gun home, put it away for approximately 2 or 3 weeks before getting around to cleaning.

The rifle has been used and abused, but today is as accurate at 100 yards as it was the day it was pulled out of the box. It's the most used gun in my collection at somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 rounds. Here's to another 10,000. :)
 
I clean mine. I don't scrub them to death, but I use patches and a brush.

It hasn't hurt my Marlin Mountie that I can tell over the past 43 years or so.

John
 
I have problems cleaning my .22s too

I go out and shoot a lot, say 300 rounds. you all talk about just a few passes with a soaked patch followed by a dry patch, repeat just a few times and she is clean.

I pass a soaked patch down, then a dry patch, then another dry patch. Then a soaked pach, and a dry, I look at this dry one hoping it is clean, it never is. Add brushing to the mix and it gets even worse.

What gives, why does cleaning the barrel take an hour and even then I usually abandon it with the belief that a brushing followed by a wet then dry would still result in a dirty patch.

Am I getting false positives off of my aluminum rod or something? I know you can get a greenish patch just after you push a bronze brush through, but if it is just a little bit of greenish and no grey/black it is just from the bronze brush not bullet jacket material, so I am not talking about that green throwing me off, but medium grey gunk.

Plus I hear stories of smiths and gun savvy folk who take a look at a 22 that 'had it's barrel shot out' and it jsut needs a real good cleaning, which seems to indicate that yea maybe after 300 rounds it will take a few hours to get the barrel clean.


What's up? Am I wasting my time? am I getting a false positive?

and yes, I pull the bolt out and push forward so the dirty patch popps out the muzzle end.
 
akodo, let the solvent do the work. Saturate your patch with a copious amount of solvent and let it sit in there. I usually let the solvent stay in the barrel for a half an hour. Then I scrub and run dry patches until no more fouling. Works for me. :)
 
Two Views

Hi all,

I hang around with a very active group of RF shooters, a mix of plinkers and target bubbas. They seem to fall into two groups.

1. Cast Iron Mentality. These are the guys that believe that the lightest cleaning possible through the bore is the answer. They assert that there's an analogy between a small bore barrel and a fine cast iron pan, that both are seasoned (broken in) and one doesn't want to scrub too hard or you'll take the magic off.

They pass one or two patches through, maybe a boresnake and they're done.

2. Dirt B Dirt. These bubbas believe that if you shoot, you clean and clean well. Maybe this is a carry-over from center fire shooting, but each and every time they finish shooting they are cleaning and cleaning hard.

Patches, brushes, and you name it are on the list.

I'm slightly right of center towards the cast iron mentality. When I'm done with a heavy day of RF, my gun gets a boresnake or if the bolt action, a run through with a really wet patch followed by dry patches. I've never used anything other than Hoppes. The chamber's scrubbed as is the boltface. Any surface showing wear gets a dab (ALDWDY) of TWB25.

In short, RF is easy and fun, the cleaning should be too.

John
 
One of my .22s is a remake of a Winchester Low-Wall “Special Sporting Rifle” with a 30” Douglas “Air-Gauged” barrel and match chamber. When I spoke with the manufacturer (a hard-core schuetzen shooter) he told me that he cleans after every 500-1000 rounds using a .17 cal rod and patches. So this is pretty much my method now, I clean after every brick of Eley.

I don’t notice any serious degradation of accuracy prior to approaching the 500 rounds, but I do notice some degradation and flyers right after cleaning till the barrel is “seasoned” again.

Chuck
 
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