How to clean a rifle

[snake river rufus]

There are many ways and most of them are good or at least OK.
The easy way is to use one of the foam type cleaners. Just remove the bolt, and fill the bore from the muzzle down to the chamber. Set the rifle in a corner, on some newspapers, overnight. The foam will dissolve, carring the fouling out with it. The next day push a dry patch or two through the bore. No oiling is needed afterwards for most foams but be sure to read the instructions for the product that you have.
The only thing about foam type cleaners is the expense. One can will clean several smallish bores but if you are shooting .375s or up, it won't last too long.
My personal favorite method is Sweet's 7.62 on a patch. I don't bother using a brush too much unless cast bullets were used. Always use a bore guide and clean from the action if at all possible. Wet a fairly loose patch with sweet's and push through the bore. Let it sit 10 to 15 minutes followed by a tighter fitting dry patch. Repeat twice. Then run a second dry patch and look for blue streaks on the patch. If it's clean you are done and if there are blue streaks repeat the wet patch- dry patch operation.Do not leave any solvent that contains ammonia in the bore overnight. It will etch the bore. Further you will need a light coat of oil, carried on a patch, to neutralize the ammonia.
A guy should use a quality 1 piece rod and proper sized jags. A twenty dollar rod is a small investment for a quality firearm.
I really have not made up my mind as to which still of jag is better, a wrap around or a spear type. Both seem to do a good job.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

When I use Sweet's, I always overdo it on the dry patches because I am paranoid about leaving any trace of the stuff in the bore. Then I run a patch of Hoppe's #9 through, just to make sure. A few more dry patches and then a good oil. I would spend a long time and use up a lot of patches...

I now just use Wipeout foam. I still use a gun oil or some Kroil afterwards for rust prevention.

 

[snake river rufus]

Wipeout is good stuff. The last time that I used it I had been to the range with 3 .45-70s, 2 .450 Marlins, 2 .45 colt leverguns, 2 .44 leverguns and a .416 rigby. The wipeout ran out before the cleaning was done

 

[Bambistew]

SRR how many times did you shoot the bore with the wipe out?

I guess I've been lucky or got a 'real' full can. I dont' know how many times I've cleaned rifles with the same can, but most of mine are small bores so that probably has soemthing to do with the can not running out yet... like you said, but I know that I've cleaned my 375 probably 8-10 times, and my other 'deer' rifles easily that many. I'm guessing 40-50 cleaning sessions on the same can. As a mater of fact I just cleaned my wife's new 325wsm, and my 35 Brown Whelen two nights ago and the can was still half full. I remember it because I was surprised that it has lasted that long.

Either way... I use the wipe out now and thats pretty much it. I do however leave the rifle sitting in a horizontal position with the muzzle slightly pointed down to keep the stuff from running into the action. If you stick it in the corner do you put it muzzle down so the crud doesn't run into the action? I think the directions say to leave it laying horizontal when the foam is in.

IMO wipe out is the way to go if you're not in a hurry. I squirt it in after a range session and clean it out in the morning. For the most part one shot is all I need. With my 375, some times I have to do it twice to get all the 'blue' out.

 

[snake river rufus]

I have only needed to repeat wipe out on an old Turkish mauser. The bore was black to start with. And yes I should have said to put the rifle muzzle down as it says in the instructions.
On a P dog shoot, wipe out saves the day. I couldn't clean several rifles with sweet's in the motel room.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Snake River Rufus, good point about letting the Sweet's 7.62 sit for at least 10 to 15 minutes and letting the stuff work. I found out about the "let 'er soak" trick by accident when the phone rang while I was removing copper from my bore. I wasn't waiting long enough to let it work. Same with Hoppe's. I'm too impatient sometimes and will use an oversized stainless steel bore brush to speed things up instead of patches.
I've often suggested to other hunters how they should go about getting their bores clean, but very few take "our" advice on how to go about doing so. After about 30 or 40 rounds when their accuracy goes south, they want to blame the trigger and/or the scope and never suspect a copper-fouled bore. Thanks for your insight into a subject that is much more important than many realise. DAVE

 

[snake river rufus]

I'm too impatient to use Hoppes for copper removal although the newer benchrest formula will cut a bit of copper.

 

[kphunter]

Question for you Wipe-Out users. I have a can of it, but haven't used it yet. What threw me was the part about "not using oil" after the cleaning. How can this be? Does Wipe-Out leave oil behind when you remove it. What are the consequences (if any) of using oil after Wipe-Out?

KP

 

[snake river rufus]

It does seem to leave a trace amount of oil.
I can't see how there could be a down side to oiling after cleaning but would defer to their instructions, which IIRC says there is no need to oil. Not that you should not use oil.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

SnakeRR, I usually use Hoppe's for general cleaning only and when the patches come out fairly clean, I swap over to the Sweet's 7.62. If I only used Hope's, I'd still be there trying to get the copper fouling out! lol

 

[Curtis]

I usually clean with Sweets. I run a wet patch thru and then follow after about 15 minutes with a plastic brush or mop.Then run some clean patches thru and reapply the Sweets. Let it sit for another 10 minutes and then whipe it until clean with several patches. Then I will run Sweets in there one more time and let it sit for 10 minutes and run more patches thru the barrel until clean. Three cleanings with the Sweets usually works great for me and when I'm done there is no copper trace at all. When at the range I do this after about 12-15 shots.