Barrel Cleaning

[jwv2023]

I was thinking of a discussion we could have regarding the cleaning of a centerfire rifle. I'm leaving out blackpowder and 22 LR because they might present a different set of circumstances. However, now that I'm thinking maybe including them will add a different dimension to the conversation.
How do you know when it's time to clean your barrel? I know some who clean every trip to the range. Their feeling is "I shot it, so now it's time to clean it".
When you finally do clean your rifle, what is your procedure? Is it the same every time? Is there some certain thing you are trying to accomplish?
Let me know how you go about it. Maybe we mIght all learn something new.

[CPJ 2.0]

I may, or, may not clean my deer rifle before season. I’ll of course shoot it to foul it.
The clean because you shot it is from days gone by. Modern ammo isn’t going to hurt a thing. More rifle barrels messed up from cleaning as opposed to letting it sit dirty.

[Bigslug]

A major goal of the much-discussed, much debated barrel break-in process is to create a smooth surface - especially in the throat - that ensures a tight seal of the bullet, eliminating most or all of the gas blow-by that plasma-torches lead or copper off your bullet and plates it onto your barrel. I consider it work up front, but work reduced going forward.

Most of my practice is with cast. I typically pull a bore snake with CLP once or twice at the end of the session & call it done. I'll scrub if it's leading for some reason, but I've mostly got that aspect under control by now and it's not an issue.

The deer rifles get a shift from cast to Barnes pre-season. That's a full scrub with CLP, dry out with alcohol, fouling shot, and then confirm zero from stone cold. When the season's done, it goes back to cast and bore snakes.

The AR's at work are about all the copper jacketed I shoot in volume anymore, and those are chromed. Those get a brisk bronze bore, brush, chamber brush, and usually finish with a bore snake just because that's easier than patching both bore and chamber.

Don't really use copper solvents much at all any more, preferring brush, CLP, and elbow grease.

[jwv2023]

Question, Bigslug. What is the reason you clean the AR's? Routine maintenance? With my AR, I usually focus on breaking down the bolt, cleaning it, and keeping it lubed. Not so much on douching the barrel.

[Jay]

I clean bores when they tell me they need to be cleaned. For hunting, I always confirm zero before taking it. If it doesn’t shoot the way it should, I’ll cleaning and take it back out to foul and zero, if needed. Depending on how much I shoot a gun, that might be once a year. Might be several years between bore cleaning. Bolts get cleaned and lubed as needed between bore cleanings.

With a suppressor, gotta clean more often. Some guns are shot more than others. So cleaning is dependent on the gun.

I have some guns that haven’t had the bore cleaned in a decade.. I have some that get cleaned a couple times a year.

For cleaning, I have a set of Tipton carbon fiber rods. 3 rifle, 1 shotgun and 2 pistol rods. A set of bronze brushes, patch jags and felt pellet jags and pellets for 20, 22, 6mm, and 30 cal.

I use Shooter’s Choice for general solvent. Montana Extreme for copper fouling. For lead fouling, Shooters Choice on a bore brush wrapped with strips of pure copper Chore Boy pads. For cleaning and lapping a brand new bore, Remington 40X and felt pellets (learned that trick from a guy I know..) Lube, three things depending on use. Regular automatic transmission fluid for gas gun lube, Lucas Extreme Duty gun oil, and Hoppes Black gun grease. Everything on a firearm can be lubed properly with those three lubricants…

That’s 30+ years of trying most every gun cleaning product there is. Good cleaning rods, good brushes, jags and pellets, and appropriate solvents and lubes. My mind is open to change. But that’s what I’ve come down to.

[Bigslug]

Question, Bigslug. What is the reason you clean the AR's? Routine maintenance? With my AR, I usually focus on breaking down the bolt, cleaning it, and keeping it lubed. Not so much on douching the barrel.

Mostly concerned with keeping the chamber and throat for reliable in and out of cartridges and empties than any kind of accuracy voodoo related to fouling or lack thereof, since 2 MOA is a about all that ammo (M193)will deliver out of the best gun in the world. In addition to an unsuitable powder, the early Vietnam failures were mostly down to what was really pretty minor pitting of the unchromed chambers combined with the early, wimpy extractor springs. Even if those three issues are fixed, I still treat it as a point of mild paranoia, as a dirty chamber and bad spec ammo could amount to a tolerance stack that might lock up a case or give a pressure spike that might pop out a primer. I want to get the neck area of the chamber clean - pretty hard to do that without punching the bore.

[shotgunshooter3]

I just tie my rifles to the roof rack of my trash wagon and drive through a car wash every few years.

(In all reality I deep clean if I suspect accuracy has degraded, aside from that a bore snake or some patches with Hoppers here and there do the trick)

[GrapeApe]

I have some rifles that "throw" the clean cold bore shot(cbs), but not a fouled cbs.

For hunting rifles, I start with a clean bore, confirm zero and then do not clean until the end of the season.

For non hunting rifles, I let the barrel tell me. I have a decent idea what most of them are capable of with ammo they like. When the groups start to get larger than expected, and I'm feeling good that it's not operator error, they get cleaned.

Suppressed semi-autos get cleaned more often due to all the added fouling.
Before getting my first suppressor, I'd never had an AR get dirty enough to cause reliability issues. I have now

[Orchidman]

.22's get cleaned about once every 10-15 years.....if that.
Shotguns, after every outing as most of my duck shooting is over salt water. Learnt a lesson many years ago when doing culls on salt. Your hands will always have salt residue on them....this will then get on shotgun shells and then be deposited on the chamber walls. If you dont clean it out after every shoot, the chamber will rust, the shell will stick and not eject...either locking the breech up or breaking the extractor.

Rifles. I follow a routine. After hunting, I run an oil rag through the barrel once, followed by a dry patch. When I go hunting/culling next, I run a dry patch through the barrel when I take it out of the safe then go. Dont know if it has any effect, but the first cold bore shot will hit the same POI for the first shot. But it does give me confidence that the first shot will be on the money.
.
With calibers like the 17HMR, 204 that copper up badly I will deep clean them every trip depending on number of shots fired...( 17HMR gets deep cleaned after 50 rounds approx, 204 the same. Other calbers like the 243/7mm08 get deep cleaned when accuracy starts to suffer. ( I have containers on my bench that I put the empties into from the 17hmr/204 and a glance at how full they are indicates time for a good clean)
If I do clean the the bigger cals I will put 2 or three rounds through them to foul them before hunting/culling again to verify zero.

I work on the basis that mental confidence of the rifle to do the business makes a huge difference to my own shooting abilities.
Sunday I made a quick trip with the 243 to get a meat animal for a non hunting friend. Came across 4 red hinds shortly after I arrived.......Picked out the biggest and dropped it with a top of the neck shot at 145m.....Confidence....it works!

[jwv2023]

......Picked out the biggest and dropped it with a top of the neck shot at 145m.....Confidence....it works!

That's the way I learned to do it. Practice, confidence, aim small. I watch these guys on television. Sitting in a blind over a pile of corn, less than 100 yds. and shoot the deer in the ribs. Doesn't make sense.

[Gene L]

Put me down to the seldom clean category. When I do clean, a bore snake does the job. I'm not talking about a highly used gun like an AR15. Or Wolf ammo....if you don't clean an AR or a Mini 14 immediately after shooting it, it's so nasty it will lock up your gun.

[Varmintmist]

If I shoot it, and I'm not going to shoot it again for a while, in general, I clean it. Carbon draws damp and it only takes a min.

AR is cleaned after every match if possible. So after 50, 69, or 88 rounds. Could they go longer? Sure, but I dont want to be in the position of being at the next days 600 yard line when it decides that it is to dirty. BCG comes apart, carbon removed https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/10147 ... =Catch+All , relubed, while the bore sits with clp in it. Brush the chamber, wipe with q tips Brush the bore 10 times, wet patch 3, dry patch until minimal crap comes out. Hose out the trigger with brake cleaner, relube. (nothing worse than having a chunk of whatever lock you up 1/2 way through a rapid. Happened ONCE wont happen again) Wipe the charging handle and lube. Monthly I shoot a little white lithium grease on the recoil spring. End of season it gets a copper treatment.

Hunting rifles quick brush and swab pre season, cleaned pretty hard and oiled post season. Not so much worried about fouling as rust from weather so might as well.

When I shoot the old wood guns in competition, I clean them after. Brush clp, patch. A couple of the bores are a bit rough, so they get a copper treatment before they go hide in the safe.

Flintlocks are after its shot. Period. On the good side there is no voodoo that is needed. To stop the corrosive properties of BP, get it wet with water. Takes 5 seconds with a bore sized mop if you are slow. 6 if you are using a patch. Then brush, and patch until dry and coat with oil. No magic, no special chemicals, no 56 step process. Wet, dry, oil.

[jwv2023]

I pretty much have the same viewpoint as everyone in regard to cleaning the barrel of my rifles. I would focus in on my rifle shooting against conditions. Powder fouling was the main culprit. The cure was easy. Use different powder. I used to shoot with guys from Western Powders. They got me started on the spherical powders. The extent of the fouling decreased. Then I got turned on to Vihta Vouri powders. N133 & N135 specifically. I shot 133 in my 223AI & 135 in my 6BR. Accuracy stayed the same, but the cleaning went to practically zero. The game I played required time between shots. I was always concerned with cold shots. These powders fit the bill.

Both Bigslug and Varmintmist gave me a different spin on how I was treating my AR. One thing I always noted with the AR was how filthy the brass was. In my rifles, the brass looked pretty much as clean as it was before I fired it. Now I'm probably going to spend more time on chamber. I definitely don't shoot my AR as much as they do, but I now know what I didn't know.

I appreciate that some of you have a procedure of using alcohol to finish the cleaning process. The barrel has to be clean and DRY when you're done. No oil or solvents. They will cause pressure spikes.