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Posted: 1/3/2012 3:55:23 PM EDT
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Can someone please explain to me what would constitute the 'overcleaning' of a barrel? I have heard that this would be numerous and repeated uses of a bore brush, perhaps when it's not really necessary.....if so, how does a bore brush cause damage when a bullet launching and engaging the rifling not?
Sometimes, I have to scrub the s*** out of my bore, due to large amounts of copper and lead fouling. Wanted to make sure I'm not overdoing it. |
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Do you have a chrome-lined barrel, or is it non-chrome-lined, stainless steel, or something else?
For a typical "GI" chrome-lined barrel, some CLP and a jag with some patches are really all that's needed. I rarely if ever use a bore brush at all, just a CLP-soaked patch followed by 4 or 5 dry patches. My barrel shines like a mirror inside after this. Maybe every 1,000 rounds or after I've shot a lot of .22LR, I may give it 2 or 3 passes with a bore brush. The bottom line is that these barrels don't need to be perfectly "clean" to shoot well. My 16" carbines in my hands aren't gonna shoot any better with the barrels any cleaner. Now for a match SS or non-chrome-lined barrel, someone else will have to chime in. Some benchrest/match shooters have some pretty detailed cleaning regimens. If you insist on scrubbing your bore with a baore brush, maybe try a stiff nylon bristle model like that made by Iosso. That way you don't have to worry about harming the barrel. |
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No standard bronze or synthetic bore brush can harm a barrel unless mis-used somehow.
In most barrels, 10 to 15 passes, if that, with a brush is all that's needed. The heavy lifting of removing copper deposits is done by soaking the bore with a bore solvent and giving it time to work. Read the label for safe soak times. |
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It's just a chrome lined barrel.
I normally just boresnake it after use and give it a real good scrubbing quarterly. For some reason, after my last shoot there was a more than average amount of copper fouling (even had the greenish ring around the back of the bolt). I could see a large buidup of fouling in the grooves of the barrel. I scruubed and scrubbed, and scrubbed. Got alot of it out, but some is still visible...especially in the first inch or so of the bore from the chamber. It got to the point where I quit trying to get all of it out. I ran M-Pro7, Hoppes Nitro, Boretech, and Hoppes Copper Solvent. Wore out a frigging bore brush on it..... I ultimately ran the Hoppes Copper, wet patch/dry patch method and then let it soak overnight. Dry patches this morning didn't reveal the color, but still see some buildup an inch in from the chamber. |
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