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Posted: 10/27/2013 5:37:53 PM EDT
| Hey, how do you all clean your barrels? I have been using Hoppes .22 patches and it takes me literally 30 minutes just to clean the barrel. I put Hoppes bore solvent on a bore brush, run it through and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then run patches through until they come out completely white (usually 30-40 patches), then run a patch with oil through it, and use a few more dry patches to get the excess oil out. Total time to clean my entire rifle is right at an hour. I have heard that the boresnake is more of a field cleaning tool rather than a complete clean. Is this just how you should clean it or is there an easier way? Thanks. |
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Uhh.. youre wasting patches.
With my match barrel, i just put a few drops of clp in it, run my bore brush once through it, then maybe use 2 patches soaked in oil for a couple runs, and 1 dry patch. Comes out white (which isnt really necessary) by the 4th one. Also, there's nothing wrong with a light coat of oil in the barrel. It sounds like youre going like 1000 rounds between cleanings with dirty commie ammo or something lol. Im not a fan of removing copper from a barrel but if this isnt like a precision rifle then whatever. Just buy some foaming bore cleaner (theyre all the same for the most part), let it sit for 5, use youre bore brush for a few runs (in the direction of the bullet!) and then run a wet patch through, then another, then a dry one. It should be good to go at that point. If not then something is wrong. |
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WAY too many patches.
Depending on the bore solvent (READ THE LABEL FOR SAFE SOAK TIMES), run a wet patch through and let it soak 30 minutes. After the soak, wet a clean patch and run it straight through in one smooth pass and out the muzzle. Check the patch for any blue or green stains, which means there's still copper fouling in the bore. Depending on what the solvent label says, let soak another 30 minutes. When you get a patch out without the blue or green stains, dry the bore with two patches and apply a couple of drops of CLP to a patch and run that through. Allow a minute for the CLP to spread then run a dry patch through to remove most of the CLP, leaving the bore and chamber with a very thin coat of CLP to preserve it. Bore solvents need soak time for the chemical action to take place to remove the copper and carbon fouling. If you use Hoppe's #9, it's not as aggressive and fast as other bore solvents, but you can safely leave it in a bore indefinitely. Some people use to just leave it in permanently. More aggressive copper solvents can't be left in for much more than 30 minutes, but they work much faster. Bottom line, stop running patches through the bore, let the solvent do it's job. |
| Instead of using patches for my AR15, I now use .22/.223 Bore-tips |
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WAY too many patches. Depending on the bore solvent (READ THE LABEL FOR SAFE SOAK TIMES), run a wet patch through and let it soak 30 minutes. After the soak, wet a clean patch and run it straight through in one smooth pass and out the muzzle. Check the patch for any blue or green stains, which means there's still copper fouling in the bore. Depending on what the solvent label says, let soak another 30 minutes. When you get a patch out without the blue or green stains, dry the bore with two patches and apply a couple of drops of CLP to a patch and run that through. Allow a minute for the CLP to spread then run a dry patch through to remove most of the CLP, leaving the bore and chamber with a very thin coat of CLP to preserve it. Bore solvents need soak time for the chemical action to take place to remove the copper and carbon fouling. If you use Hoppe's #9, it's not as aggressive and fast as other bore solvents, but you can safely leave it in a bore indefinitely. Some people use to just leave it in permanently. More aggressive copper solvents can't be left in for much more than 30 minutes, but they work much faster. Bottom line, stop running patches through the bore, let the solvent do it's job. This. Remember, it needs to be functionally clean, not surgically clean, unless you're in a squad-bay somewhere getting ready to stand for inspection. |
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Chrome-lined. Some foaming cleaner and a few runs with the bore snake. Assuming I clean it at all.
Chrome-Moly. Foaming bore cleaner then a few patches until the patches come semi-clean. I hate using rod and patch on that barrel so I keep that to a minimum. My chrome-moly spendy barrel rarely gets really dirty because it's a low round count barrel. |
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OP, while I admire your tenacity I think you're over doing it a bit. I've been cleaning guns for more years than I care to admit, and I long ago gave up on that "clean patch" thing. You're cleaning routine is good, but accept the fact that it will never be perfectly clean, and it really doesn't need to be. My opinion. |
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I wonder how many do as your do and turn the patch over and run it through again! I know I do. Two-fers Quoted:
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Put wet patch on jag, push through Brl. Turn patch over, put back on jag, push through brl. Throw away patch, Brl is done. I wonder how many do as your do and turn the patch over and run it through again! I know I do. Two-fers 
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Put wet patch on jag, push through Brl. Turn patch over, put back on jag, push through brl. Throw away patch, Brl is done. I wonder how many do as your do and turn the patch over and run it through again! I know I do. Two-fers Not me, no double dips in this house. |
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Fill barrel with Foaming bore cleaner in all the guns I shot that range trip, Let them sit for about 15 mins at an angle that allows it to drip out. After 15-20 min's...usually long enough for me to put ammo or targets away, shower if I shot outdoors (its FL...always hot and sweaty)
Spray the cleaning portion of a bore snake with CLP and run it through like 4-5 times. If I choose to run a patch afterwards it is nearly perfectly white. Takes all of about 3 mins of actual "hands on" time. I have an old fashion rod but I hate it on AR's. Always seem like I can feel it just scratching the S%^! out of the barrel. |
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The foaming cleansers are not the greatest and the barrels are still dirty after...but it does remove some AND seems to soften and loosen up whats hardened up since shooting it and makes it easier to clean VS going straight for the Bore Snake. I have the Vipers or cobras or whatever and they work great.
I also bought a 12Ga Caterpillar or something on Ebayfor like $6. Its cheap and wont last as long but it did a good job of cleaning my shotgun. I have the Otis clenaing kit, but the boresnakes do a better job in my opinion. |
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Chrome lined barrels:
Once a YEAR I remove copper. Insert bore guide, use coated one-piece rod. Saturate a patch with Butches bore shine. Push it though. Repeat once more. Wait 15 minutes. Install bronze brush, brush the bore about 30 times. Saturate a patch with Butches bore shine. Push it though. Repeat 4 times. Push through 5 dry patches. Saturate patch with CLP. Push it through Push through 5 dry patches. Done. Stainless match barrels: I clean these typically every range trip or before each competition. Insert bore guide, use coated one-piece rod. Saturate a patch with Butches bore shine. Push it though. Repeat once more. Wait 15 minutes. Saturate a patch with Butches bore shine. Scrube through area back and forth. Push it though. Repeat 2 times. Push through 5 dry patches. Done. |
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I usually clean barrels with Hoppes followed by Kroil. If I think it's really fouled, after I clean with Hoppes I'll use Sweets. Clean that out with Kroil.
Don't over think it. Push some patches down the bore soaked in your favorite solvent, brush it a few times (I like fiber brushes), then a few more patches and you are done. |
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you can never truly get a patch to come out completely white. That's absolutely not true. When you have removed all the carbon and copper, it is quite easy. A little sweets, followed by butches, and 20 or so patches and I can get any broken in match barrel to come out squeaky clean. It is a little harder on new barrels or match barrels that are not lapped. I have a Lothar Walther barrel that comes out spotless VERY quickly. On the other hand, I had a Remington 700 factory barrel that you had to work a lot more because it was so rough. That said, there is rarely a reason to remove 100% of all fouling. Breaking in a match barrel per the manufacturers instructions is usually the only time I do it. |
| Keep in mind all you bore snake guys.... those are great to remove carbon fouling and give a light coat of oil for your bore. They also accumulate with carbon and will become somewhat abrasive over time. For 99% of the guns shot here, you don't even need to clean the bore unless you are putting them up for long term storage. For match barrels, I wont use a bore snake. |
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Keep in mind all you bore snake guys.... those are great to remove carbon fouling and give a light coat of oil for your bore. They also accumulate with carbon and will become somewhat abrasive over time. For 99% of the guns shot here, you don't even need to clean the bore unless you are putting them up for long term storage. For match barrels, I wont use a bore snake. Far as my shotgun goes, I have never gotten a clean patch out of it and I use a rod and brush on that. Also I reload my own rounds, hand cast the lead bullets too. So cleaning after I shoot is crucial because you want to clean the lead fouling out before it builds up to much. I guess it's just one of those cases that mileage will vary, but cleaning a gun till you get white patches is over kill IMO. |
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Fill barrel with Foaming bore cleaner in all the guns I shot that range trip, Let them sit for about 15 mins at an angle that allows it to drip out. After 15-20 min's...usually long enough for me to put ammo or targets away, shower if I shot outdoors (its FL...always hot and sweaty) Spray the cleaning portion of a bore snake with CLP and run it through like 4-5 times. If I choose to run a patch afterwards it is nearly perfectly white. Takes all of about 3 mins of actual "hands on" time. I have an old fashion rod but I hate it on AR's. Always seem like I can feel it just scratching the S%^! out of the barrel. I get the same feeling. I cleaned my .22 one time with a rod and decided that shit wasn't going to fly. I am looking for a rod right now that doesn't have the stupid .21 diameter knurled metal piece for the brush to thread into. I have a bore snake now. I just hope it never breaks off in the bore. |
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Here's my basic cleaning routine.
Field strip AR, fully strip the bolt group. Spray the bolt group, the bolt the carrier, the extractor, buffer and spring with MPro-7. Then use some Breakfree Foaming Bore Cleaer in the bore. Go get a soda and turn on the TV or a movie or video (that actually is the only real reason I take so long cleaning, I get distracted watching a show). Clean bolt group, and lower. Maybe 15-20 minutes, I don't go fast because I'm still letting the solvent in the bore and the parts I'm not actively cleaning work. Clean the upper receiver then chamber. Run a patch down the bore, followed by brushing for a few strokes. Then some dry patches to get the rest of the gunk and the bore cleaner out. It usually take around 4 to get it totally dry. Usually pretty clean by then. If I've fired a case of ammo that day, there still might be a lot of carbon in there so in extreme cases another application and soak of foaming bore cleaner. I've only ever had to do this once though. Quick wipe of upper where anything from the bore got loose. Couple drops of oil on a patch and run through bore. Lube everything and reassemble. Now if it was pretty dirty and I didn't have a lot of time, I sometimes will use a CLP, in the bore and a day or two later run a couple more patches down the bore to get more residual crap out, then relube. But that's just me being overly concerned about nothing. Much of the time I take is just me fiddlefucking around. Some is because i have bad habits from the Army where I wipe off every speck of carbon I can find, some is just letting the parts soak instead of me doing the work, I let the chemicals I'm paying for do the work. And there's something about cleaning that is calming... I can do a good enough combat cleaning in five minutes, a good enough in under ten and a pretty good in 20 if I need to, but I'm not in any hurry. |
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Hey, how do you all clean your barrels? I have been using Hoppes .22 patches and it takes me literally 30 minutes just to clean the barrel. I put Hoppes bore solvent on a bore brush, run it through and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then run patches through until they come out completely white (usually 30-40 patches), then run a patch with oil through it, and use a few more dry patches to get the excess oil out. Total time to clean my entire rifle is right at an hour. I have heard that the boresnake is more of a field cleaning tool rather than a complete clean. Is this just how you should clean it or is there an easier way? Thanks. ford302ize, Hoppe's is a good solvent that's been used for years but I personally like to use Birchwood Casey's bore solvent cuz it has a preserative inside the formula to prevent rust afterwards. IF your boe is chrome lined then using a typical bore solvent isn't necessary. For my chrome lined bores I just use a spray solvent like Birchwood Casey's Gun Scrubber and spray/wash the entire rifle clean including the bore. It's fast and easy and one can will easily handle one rifle. Impala |
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