Posted: 8/7/2016 8:03:49 PM EDT
| I am shooting two CZ-FS, one in 6.5x55 and the other in .308. I'm shooting my own hand loads with good results. I hear that barrels can be ruined with improper cleaning or cleaning too often. When is the right time to clean your barrel? When copper fowling is visible, or wait until accuracy drops off? Or just clean after every range session? When I leave the range, my rifles are shooting moa or less, does that mean that I can be confident that if left un-cleaned, I will pick up where I left off at the next range trip? |
|
It's largely down to personal preference, unless you're noticing a drop in accuracy, or there's been moisture exposure, or corrosive ammo. The vast majority of damaged bores that I've seen were caused by corrosive ammunition or moisture, both preventable with cleaning.
You can cause damage with incorrect cleaning processes or incorrect equipment. Use a well fitted bore guide, good quality brushes, and use a cleaning rod that has a clean, even, smooth surface. I avoid cleaning from the muzzle when possible, I also only pass the patch or brush forward through the bore, never backwards. If you don't have a recessed crown on your firearm, it's also worth checking that the jag isn't getting caught on the crown as it passes back through the barrel. If you're cleaning with a pull through, sometimes necessary with some firearms, the main thing to avoid is dragging it along the crown. Make sure the coating is intact on the pull through and that the surface isn't building up coarse debris. Try to keep it centered in the bore as you use it, also try to pull it through in one smooth motion. The crown is usually the portion of the barrel most vulnerable to damage from cleaning. |
|
Quoted: It's largely down to personal preference, unless you're noticing a drop in accuracy, or there's been moisture exposure, or corrosive ammo. The vast majority of damaged bores that I've seen were caused by corrosive ammunition or moisture, both preventable with cleaning. You can cause damage with incorrect cleaning processes or incorrect equipment. Use a well fitted bore guide, good quality brushes, and use a cleaning rod that has a clean, even, smooth surface. I avoid cleaning from the muzzle when possible, I also only pass the patch or brush forward through the bore, never backwards. If you don't have a recessed crown on your firearm, it's also worth checking that the jag isn't getting caught on the crown as it passes back through the barrel. If you're cleaning with a pull through, sometimes necessary with some firearms, the main thing to avoid is dragging it along the crown. Make sure the coating is intact on the pull through and that the surface isn't building up coarse debris. Try to keep it centered in the bore as you use it, also try to pull it through in one smooth motion. The crown is usually the portion of the barrel most vulnerable to damage from cleaning. All of this, except I will pull a brush back through the bore. I just go really easy over the crown. I clean every 50 rounds, or after a range trip if I shoot more than that. I'm not about to drag my cleaning stuff out to the range. I'd rather do that than clean out 200+ rounds of fouling. That's my personal preference. Most people here will say I'm cleaning way too often, and that's fine. As far as cleaning supplies go take a look at Bore-Tech. Their solvents are hands down the best I've used (no strong ammonia smell either) and the rest of their stuff like rods, jags, and brushes are top notch. If you don't have a bronze tip on your brush, bronze jag, or bronze brush you can actually see when you get all of the copper fouling out.  |
|
All brass or coated tools...carbon fiber rod maybe.
Bore guide...always. drape cloth or similar on stock to catch spills/drips. Cover optics. For bolt gun- Soak bore wet with Hoppes 9. Let sit for a few hours. Brush wet with bronze brush...not too much, depends on fouling. Patch again with wet patch...let sit overnight wet...patch in the AM before work, let sit...patch wet when I get home...brush a few strokes, patch dry. Inspect. I like Hoppes # 9. It ain't sexy and doesn't do much for copper but it also can't cause any harm. It is mostly kerosene. It can function as a rust preventative...something I need. With enough soak time, it gets the barrel very clean. That, combined with the fact that it can't harm steel is great for me. If I had limited time to clean, I would just swab it out and patch dry. Depending on how soon I intend to use the rifle, I may coat with rust preventative. |
| I dont clean any of my rifles tell accuracy starts dropping and that means thousands of rounds. When I do clean I dont wire brush or take the copper out. If ya feel like taking the copper out plan on shooting 20 rounds or so tell the barrels coppered up and accuracy returns to normal. |
|
Agree. This is something Ive learned in an older topic at this forum. I also was overcleaning my barrels.
Now I just use a snake bore cleaner with hoppes 9 and take care of the crown of the barrel. This practice has somehow improved presition and accuracy at medium and long range. |
|
Do yourself a favor and buy some of this: LINK and never push or pull a brush through your bore again. I've tested it against more than a handful of other cleaning products and its beat them all. My .308 has 6k-7k rounds through it and has seen a brush one time, a nylon brush, I tried it out of curiosity and it didn't pull anything more out of the bore.
Unless my rifle has gotten wet from condensation, rain or snow I clean it once the accuracy begins to degrade or once a year whichever comes first. Mine will usually go 500-600 rounds before accuracy begins to falter. |
|
Use a Parker-Hale style jag. By wrapping the soaked patch around this style jag you get greater and more consistent surface contact as well as the ability to scrub the barrel in both directions. Push the patch from the chamber just to the muzzle without exiting, then pull back towards chamber (without entering chamber) for a complete stroke. Stroke the barrel like this with a couple soaked patches of Hoppes 9 or KG-1 (what I prefer) and you'll be surprised how much carbon fouling comes out.
You need to clean the carbon first, then attack the copper. Use KG-12 or something similar that doesn't have ammonia in it. If you use something with ammonia, be sure to not leave it in bore too long or you can damage the bore. If you want to use brushes, that is fine. We do in our shop and have never damaged anything. Push a bronze brush from chamber towards muzzle and exit the muzzle before pulling back. NEVER change direction with brush inside bore. Remember carbon fouling attracts and holds moisture. Store your firearms in a proper safe with a dehumidifier. I like the firearm to tell me when it needs to be cleaned. When it is time, my routine is.... Wet patch of KG-1; stroke 5 times Wet patch of KG-1; stroke 5 times Brush 5 strokes Dry patch pushed through Wet patch of KG-1; stroke 5 times Evaluate If still carbon fouled, stroke 5 times another wet patch of KG-1 Dry patch and evaluate If copper present, wet patch of KG-12, stroke 5 times and let stand 5 minutes Dry patch Push wet patch of KG-1 and evaluate Each barrel is different. You'll get a feel for HOW your rifle wants to be cleaned/maintained. You'll get a feel for how copper affects performance. On a bolt rifle I then apply a thin amount of lube on the bottom of the lugs that ride the raceways. Lube lightly around front of cocking piece and bolt handle (point of cam). Mark |
|
Soak bore with mop saturate with Hoppes #9
Let soak for a few hours to overnight. 3 dry patches Done. No brushes You are not (NOT) trying to get the bore absolutely clean, you are just trying to keep the crud from getting out of hand. If you leave Hoppes #9 in the bore for about a week, you will also be removing much of the copper as it allows the O2 from the air to reach and oxidize the copper fouling. |
| Alright here we go. There is a lot of controversy on how to clean a barrel, everyone does it different. The only thing I would like to know is that why most benchrest shooters clean every 10 shots but then precision rifle guys say the bore needs to foul out a little to get best accuracy. I have found that I get best accuracy after a few groups in. Lets start with equipment. I use a Dewey coated rod. A lot of people like the Tipton carbon fiber rods but they look like they break a little too easy. A lot of guys choose to use a stainless rod because they say a coated one will pick up debris and scratch the barrel. To me, the coating is way too hard to pick up any debris and you are far more likely to have a stainless rod flex and his the sides of the barrel. that can do some damage.For jags, the parker hale jag is very good. I still have problems wrapping a patch tight around it but when I do it works well. The pierce jags are not bad either, just stay away from loop tip jags. When i'm doing a deeper cleaning I like to use Hoppes #9. I do that every few times. in between that, I use CLP. I clean after every range session. The only way you will hurt a rifle barrel by cleaning is cleaning improperly. I run a brush through the bore soaked in Hoppes, the brush helps the solvent get into the fouling better. Spray the brush with carb cleaner after so the solvent doesn't harm it anymore. No need to let it sit any longer than 10 min. After that I run a few more patches through with Hoppes. I do that until the patches look fairly clean. Usually is doesn't take anymore than 5. Then, I run a few dry patches through. After the dry patches, I run a patch through with either CLP or Hoppes oil. If you are leaving the rifle for awhile, your done, just make sure to run a dry patch through before you shoot it. If you are not leaving it for a while, then run a dry patch through. I feel this helps with rust prevention. That very light coat of oil will penetrate into the metal and give you some rust protection. As far as pulling the rod back through, I do. I push it through from the breach then once it's out the barrel, make sure its aligned with the barrel pull out back through slowly until it's all the way past the crown.I wipe the rod off after every complete pass. I use bronze bore brushes because they clean better than nylon and are still softer than barrel steel. As far as cleaning the action goes, wipe it out good then re oil it. Thats all it really needs. brushes help in hard to get spots. I have a Dewey chamber cleaning kit but I dont feel that its really necessary. I use mostly Dewey products, even patches. This is just my method, they are all a little different. 8541 Tactical has an excellent video on how to clean a precision rifle. |
|
Quoted:
I dont clean any of my rifles tell accuracy starts dropping and that means thousands of rounds. When I do clean I dont wire brush or take the copper out. If ya feel like taking the copper out plan on shooting 20 rounds or so tell the barrels coppered up and accuracy returns to normal. |
|
Regarding why benchresters clean the barrel.
One thing is to pass a towel through the bore, an other is to make a nice cleaning with brushes, detergents, solvents and so on. Benchresters, or at least me as non pro benchrester, need to have a barrel free of powder residues, but an ammout of cooper should stay in the barrel. This has a name: a little bit of fouling. |