How clean is clean enough?

[noharleyyet]

I must be doing it wrong coz I swab clean (after break in) about every other range session and bore-snake occasionally.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I clean the action & barrel after every session unless it's a .22. Hunting guns get disassembled and thoroughly scrubbed after the season to remove dirt & gunk in every nook & cranny.

 

[Ben Long]

Dang. Who would have thought there was such a variety of responses?! Thanks. My old man was an Air Force officer and keeps ALL his stuff shiny clean and super organized. I am the opposite. I hunt in wet conditions, so I keep the outside of my rifles dry and lightly oiled during season. I think rust on a gun is some kind of sin...I clean the bore of my 22 rimfire every 100-200 rounds. My hunting rifle every 20 rounds or so. Plus I like the smell of Hoppe's No. 9. I actually don't use the stuff -- I just open the jar for ambiance.

 

[Ben Lamb]

If you're not pulling the barreled action out of the stock, how do you know it's not rusting?

Also, wipe out is good stuff, but I've found I only need it once a year. I use the jags & a 1 piece rod. I'll use copper brushes to scrub if I've been shooting a lot of lead, but for the most part, the patches w/ a jag will get it just as clean and be less abrasive.

 

[RobG]

Yea, I used to hear that you wanted to clean your gun frequently and now I hear you should rarely do it. I may have messed up my old '06 by cleaning it too much as it doesn't seem to group as well as it used to.

Does shooting with copper bullets change anything?

 

[Ben Lamb]

The mono-metals have a reputation of leaving more copper fouling than traditional jacketed bullets.

Wipe-Out or another foaming bore cleaner will help reduce that fouling easier than scrubbing. It's also important to not clean from the muzzle. Ammo certainly effects accuracy. You might be shooting ammo your rifle doesn't like.

 

[Jwill]

Cleaning is optional for stainless guns, right?

 

[WapitiBob]

I run a brass brush down my barrel every few cleaning sessions. You can get a spot where some jacket mtl will weld to the bore and you won't feel it with a patch but you will with a carbon rod and brush.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

That's why long range shooters talk about "cold shots". The most difficult shot to make at distance, with any rifle or any load is the "cold shot". Fouled barrels will also affect chamber pressure. If you've been using a load for years and suddenly it starts blowing primers, you probably need to clean the barrel really well. The first shot from a cold, clean barrel should be high and right or left depending on the rifling twist in the barrel.

Cold shots generally have less to do with fouling and more to do with barrel temp. Based on what I have seen from the tactical field, is that they will never have their cold bore shot taken from a clean bore, rather a fouling shot is taken and logged following the bore cleaning.

You are correct though, the cold bore shot is a challenge, but that is where the shot log comes in. I think most LR shooters have a good idea where that cold bore shot will go.

In any case, the key is consistancy.

 

[Southwind]

I use "Wipe out" and mostly "patch out" which is their non foaming cleaner you use traditionally with a patch and rod. I use a lot of barnes bullets so those rifles generally get a good once a year cleaning with a bore guide through the receiver.

I run a patch of breakfree clp after cleaning and a dry patch after that.

When I was shooting Hp cross course I would clean about every 5-600 rounds but knew those that wouldn't clean but every 1000 or so. That was with AR's and light jacketed match bullets. I would clean my bolt after every match but leave the barrel alone.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

I clean up and lightly oil my hunting rifles after the season or after a hunt. I like doing it and I can hide from the wife for an hour.

I like to shoot a fouler or 2 before hunting as some of my rifles shoot slightly different when they are clean.

 

[Carl]

Cold shots generally have less to do with fouling and more to do with barrel temp. Based on what I have seen from the tactical field, is that they will never have their cold bore shot taken from a clean bore, rather a fouling shot is taken and logged following the bore cleaning.

You are correct though, the cold bore shot is a challenge, but that is where the shot log comes in. I think most LR shooters have a good idea where that cold bore shot will go.

In any case, the key is consistancy.

Cold bore shots better go where all the rest go. If mine consistently didn't, I'd replace the barrel. Cold-clean is a different story, though I've had good luck with my cleaning method. I'd still not choose to go hunting or start a competition with a freshly cleaned barrel.

A five shot group, with a cold-clean bore shot somewhere in there:

 

[Carl]

As an addendum, the worse a barrel fouls the more often cleaning will be needed. The quality of the barrel, the intensity of the chambering, the round count, and the specific components will all play a role.

As an extreme example, a top custom barrel in 223 shooting tac powder might benefit from a light cleaning every 500-1000 rounds. A Savage 300 Win Mag barrel might benefit from cleaning every 30. My setups lean heavily towards the maintenance free side of the spectrum - grin.

 

[SunRiverMan]

Big game animals know the smell of a clean bore. Just saying. Especially Hoppe's #9

 

[Formidilosus]

My 308 match rifle is nearing 3,000 rounds without a single patch.


Can't see cleaning them until they stop shooting.

 

[cowboy]

Can't see cleaning them until they stop shooting.

AMEN

I will add a couple of things that you might consider. If you are a copper, nylon or SS brush fanatic - you are scrubbing with a dirty brush that is probably laidened with carbon after getting into the barrel by only a few inches - which is abrasive by nature. Dirty brushes have ruined more barrels than bullets have.

I probably light as many primers a year as any 3 people on this forum and don't clean my barrels until they tell me too - or Mother Nature is unkind to my weapon.

The exception to this is, I never ever shoot a different powder or bullet than I had been using unless I thoroughly clean the barrel first. I can't tell you how many times I've seen Joe Sixpack come to the range with 3-4 different type ammo to test his best accuracy with his new flame thrower. He shoots 5 of this brand, five from brand B etc., because that is what he has either read or been told to do. After a while none of them shoot worth a chit and if one brand shoots minute of elk he better quit because he couldn't repeat it.

Different bullets and different powders stacked on top of one another will cause all kinds of unique chit if you run a bore scope down your barrel. If you have done this I will bet that you ain't going to get that barrel clean with one dose of anything.

Everyone has their own method of cleaning and the products they prefer. Mine is to run one patch of wipe-out accelerator through a dirty barrel to remove the top layer which is more than likely carbon, run another patch through soaked with wipe-out patch out and let it set. Next morning or whenever I run clean patches until they come out clean - time for another X number of rounds or so.

I will say that my factory barrels tell me a lot quicker that they want to be cleaned than my custom barrels..

The very last thing IMO is that a barrel should never have a rod inserted into it unless you use a bore guide - custom bore quides are worth every penny. Cheap over the counter bore guides are still 100 times better than nothing.

 

[Wapiti Warrior]

i was raised to clean your gun after every use. So I run a patch with solvent on it then a few dry patches then one with oil on it. Plus wipe a light coat of oil over the whole gun.
Now I am wondering if I shouldn't do this?

John

 

[cowboy]

i was raised to clean your gun after every use. So I run a patch with solvent on it then a few dry patches then one with oil on it. Plus wipe a light coat of oil over the whole gun.
Now I am wondering if I shouldn't do this?

John

All I can say is test your method on your own and let us keyboard commadoes on the internet pound away with our opinions.

Use your method and test your accuracy at the fartest distance you feel comfortable with - usually 100 yd bench shooting doesn't reveal accuracy as good as farther distances, Don't clean your barrel for a couple of times and then repeat your accuracy test sometime later. Your rifle will tell you what it wants, it's just tough for some of us to listen to it.

I can't tell by your above post what you are using when you say "i run a patch with solvent and then dry patch". There is a lot of differences in solvents and as Ben Long stated above - The only good thing Hoppe's No 9 is good for is the ambience.

I now have 2 rifles in my gun room from friends that asked if I could help them out with varying things to see if we could get a little more accuracy out of them. One barrel which was cleaned every time he used it was as copper fouled as anything I have ever seen. It is now cleaned but it has also been bedded, trigger worked on and the crown recut. If this rifle now shoots significantly better than it previously did it would be very easy to blame his cleaning methods where in all reality they are a lot of other things that come in to play.