Thread: cleaning a 22lr my thoughts

Three passes with a bore snake style pull through, last run with a bit of oil on the tale end of the pull through. that's it for me.

Bore snaked my norinco once in 40yrs.Deadly little shooter with its 14in barrel.

I use those VFG felt things, work real good on any .22 dia rifle be it centre fire or rim. It really huks the crud out.

Does anyone remove the brush from their bore snake?

Originally Posted by johnd

I use those VFG felt things, work real good on any .22 dia rifle be it centre fire or rim. It really huks the crud out.

Likewise. Been using them for several years.
If I decide to not do a full wet solvent dung out, a clean with VFG felt cleaners or even the VFG Super Intensive felts is the way to go.
If testing between brands I'll give the barrel a going over with VFG felts.
The Super Intensive ones can keep on top of carbon ring build up.

I see AHG Anschutz now market them.

Yes, also used them in CF.

Still have the last of a very old supply of similar felts in 177 cal that are fired thru an air rifle to clean the barrel.

I can’t remember the last time I cleaned my Sako 22, probably well overdue for a clean and some Breakfree.

Still shoots fairly well - if I do my bit.

@rambo-6mmrem

Am thinking my T1x is overdue a clean as i'm starting to get significant fliers with match ammo.

Can a 22lr handle centrefire cleaners?

I only have boretek eliminator on hand...

Otherwise I'll track down some more mild cleaners. I think I have a good deal of carbon and lead to remove

Originally Posted by kiwi303

@rambo-6mmrem

Am thinking my T1x is overdue a clean as i'm starting to get significant fliers with match ammo.

Can a 22lr handle centrefire cleaners?

I only have boretek eliminator on hand...

Otherwise I'll track down some more mild cleaners. I think I have a good deal of carbon and lead to remove

@kiwi303 Id just buy some hopes number 9 mate
Just about anywhere that sells rifles will sell it and it’s cheap
Bore tech Eliminator is probably ok though
They say on the bottle you can leave it in long term
Although I wouldn’t i would remove it and use proper oil for long term storage

Will Hoppes 9 remove carbon rings? I've heard of using brake cleaner. The idea of scrubbing worries me about doing damage.

If things get too dirty I chuck some carbin killer through it. Im a bit of a clean freak when it comes to my riffles so clean everything well after every shoot.

Originally Posted by Rush

Will Hoppes 9 remove carbon rings? I've heard of using brake cleaner. The idea of scrubbing worries me about doing damage.

Just use #9 for what it's good for, a dab on each wrist and maybe behind the ears and sniff away for hours. Whilst I love #9 and flood my rifle bores with it before storing it struggles to remove obstinate leading and carbon rings and Cu in CFs. The point to remember is carbon is insoluable so most of the snake oil claims about disolving carbon are no true.
The only way to remove bad carbon rings is by mechanical methods using a bore paste like Iosso. I only short stroke the chamber and then just enough to remove the carbon. And then stop once the carbon is removed. I check with a bore scope. If you continue scrubbing you will get black forever. This is parent metal, microscopic, but never the less, metal. It is important to not let the carbon ring get to the stage be it CF or RF that you need to wail into it to remove it.

For general cleaning of my RFs I use Boretech Rimfire Blend. It is supposed to remove lead and carbon (there's that claim again). I find it OK.

Most of the black that comes out with whatever cleaning product is loose carbon muck and is not the nasty harder to eliminate ring.

I still like good old Hoppes #9 for storage. There are better products out there for storage though.

I like Brakleen using it mostly in my CFs for flushing between different types of solvents. I buy a carton at a time which lasts me ages, not just for rifle cleaning.

Over the years I have tried all the various carbon "solvents" plus a few other like Mercury Outboard Top Engine cleaner, Subaru Top Engine cleaner. I have yet to try CLR. I am hesitant about putting an acid in my bores.

I did find Slip 1000 quite an effective cleaner.

i find if you get the barrel wet with hopes like wet and leave it or an hour hopes will loosen most things
bore tech rimfire is awesome but its bloody expensive as all bore tech products are good but pricy

if its really stubborn a few passes with a wet nylon brush be very careful!!!

have herd of people using warm soapy water and a nylon brush apparently that works well never tried it although i use exactly that on my black powder rifles which at the end of the day is just carbon so don't see why it wouldn't work on a 22 as long as you make dam well sure you get the water out

You're right about the Rimfire Blend being expensive. I made the mistake of buying it from a H & F shop. I plain needed it at the time. First and last time I shopped in H & F.

But I guess expensive is relative. If you've spent a small fortune on a rifle why not care for your investment with a maybe expensive bottle of something that's effective and will last ages.

Loose carbon/burnt powder is relatively easy to remove. Carbon rings as in CF however is actually a build up of several layers virtually fused to the metal. I have only one rifle that gives me shit with carbon rings and it's a CF not a RF. It is really bad with the WW760 I use. I didn't even understand the existence of carbon rings until one developed in that rifle. It took ages to remove.