Thread: Barrels ruined by cleaning

Over cleaning or wrong cleaning technique has led to the early demise of many barrel. Cleaning from the muzzle with aluminium or plastic coated rods can cause muzzle wear due to fine abrasive dust trapped on the surface of the rod. Bronze brushes should always be pushed completely through the bore before pulling them back, on the few occasions that you need them. The correct cleaning technique is to push a wool mop that has a liberal amount of good quality bore solvent on it, right through the barrel from the breech end. Blued rifles need to have the surplus solvent wiped off the outside of the firearm with a dry cloth, then leave the gun for about 30 minutes or so before wiping out with a dry patch, followed by a lightly oiled patch. Job done! Push a dry patch through the bore before firing.