Thread: Barrel cleaning

I know one guy that just uses kerosine

Originally Posted by blip

I know one guy that just uses kerosine

Sounds like a barrel burner

Diesel know what he is doing,?

Few wet hoppys patchs till cleanish,few dry patchs till drynclean.Go hunting.Do this after every box of ammo.

Originally Posted by norsk

Sounds like a barrel burner

Diesel know what he is doing,?

Been shooting 40+ years and doing it so if it works for him who cares. Cant see a problem as long as you patch barrel before shooting as you should anyway. Its probably more accepted than what I do...

White spirits.
(1) Saturate bore with fluffy soaked in white spirits
(2) Scrub bore with nylon or similar soaked in white spirits
(3) Dry bore with cotton cloth wrapped around Parker Hale brass jag (The cotton cloth I use is a from a pair of old winter pyjamas!)
(4) Inspect - Hold receiver end up to bright white LED light (or sunshine)
(5) If the bore is still dirty repeat step 1 - 4 until it GLEAMS!
(6) Apply a thin layer of gun oil to a bronzes bush and do a couple of passes. Apply more for long term storage

*NOTE TO SELF: Run a cloth swab on bronze jag before firing
**NOTES on Economy: 67mls of Gun Cleaner $19. 1000mls of White Spirits $17
***NOTES ON CLEANING SUPPRESSORS: At the end of a shoot, drop your suppressor (whole or disassembled) into a jar of white spirits, by the time you get home the gun powder will have turned to paste and you just wipe it off. Poor mans ultrasonic cleaner. DPT recommend WD40 for cleaning suppressors, but white spirits is cheaper.
NOTES ON CLEANING MAGAZINES: The same as for suppressors. I find the big peanut butter jars fit the number of mags I have and the jar fits under my ute seat. When you get home the bottom of the jar will show signs of grit, especially if you have been hunting in sand dunes. Blow out magazines with compressed air, soak in WD40, blow out again.
Job done!

Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction; A client employed me for a tutorial on rifle cleaning and offered up his kit, Accu something? I said, "No thanks I'm used to my own." At the end, I demonstrated that my 40 year old Parker Hale cleaning rod was made out of spring steel, by curving it in an arc and letting it spring back. He was so impressed he grabbed his own aluminium Accu something rod and bent that in an arc! SNAP! Not a great outcome, but he did say, "Today I learnt something!"

Two piece of plywood in your engineer vice will hold the barrel safely whist cleaning. Point is downhill towards the muzzle so the dirty cleaning fluid flows out the muzzle, not back into your magazine housing. Compressed air for blowing out detritus.

Yea I just get the loose chunks out with a dry patch or two and if it’s sitting for a bit then it gets another patch with some oil or some form of protective coating to protect the bore. Other then that I only use solvent or do a deep clean if something happens where I need to, such as deterioration of accuracy. That’s just my hunting rifles that stretch a bit from time to time.

Actually the last time one of my rifles got the full treatment was after I rechambered it. And here's a horror story for some of you. I use ammonia to get copper out they tell me it will ruin your rifle but I've been using it for 35 years and haven't had a ruined rifle yet, what am I doing wrong? All you have to do is dont leave it in there and clean it out properly which is what your doing when you do a full clean anyway...probably no different to shooting corrosive ammo

I run a bore snake through every now and then and aslong as grouping good dont touch it

Try this for a sensible approach.

https://www.ssaa.org.au/stories/hint...a-firearm.html

Originally Posted by alphaDelta

Hi, I’m asking for what peoples processes are for cleaning their barrels.
Iv been told a lot of different things and getting a bit lost.

Really feeling for AlphaDelta. Probably whole new levels of lost...

The common theme from 3 pages so far seems to be:
1. Remove detritus/moisture after use (whether fired or not)
2. Prevent corrosion when putting away
3. Run a patch through before firing.
Seems pretty straightforward.

Other notes:
A. Push/pull patches one way - chamber to muzzle
B. Doesn't seem to matter a great deal what product you use - ranging from "reassuringly expensive" to dirt cheap.
C. Listen to your rifle over other people - if it's shooting well, why change.

Just thinking about the cost of lots of high-end cleaning products and hours of barrel cleaning in comparison to the cost of a re-barrel?

Interested to know if anyone here has actually ruined a barrel from over or under cleaning?

Originally Posted by yeah_na_missed

Really feeling for AlphaDelta. Probably whole new levels of lost...

Interested to know if anyone here has actually ruined a barrel from over or under cleaning?

It's an interesting question and I don't know if there is a definite answer.
Personally, I do clean my barrels which varies from mostly a basic clean and patching the bore with oil after every use to occasional deeper, more thorough cleaning and copper defouling once or twice a year. Overall I am only shooting about one thousand rounds per year over about six rifles. I am satisfied this system is about right for me and helps retain accuracy ( at least in my mind ).
What confounds me though is, for example, a mate with on old, barely maintained .270W ( can't remember the make ) that's never bore cleaned but has unreal and unfailing accuracy ( he is a good shot anyway ) that makes me wonder, generally, how useful bore cleaning really is. My mate probably shoots less than 50 rounds annually.
But on another level of shooting I was told some years ago by a hunting guide who, in a team of guys, culled goats for DOC for several years, mainly using .223 cal ( I think, IIRC ). It was his view observation / view that rifles shot well up to around 4 - 5 thousand rounds anyway but if cleaned ( frequency ? ) were good for another 2 - 3 thousand rounds before becoming shot out.

What I've found with latest rifle I'm playing with (s/h) is got it home gave it a deep scrub out and the thing wouldn't shoot for shit. Try a hand load no good clean it and try another load. In the end thought fuk this and stopped cleaning it the loads are tightening up the more I shoot it without cleaning it. The target will tell you if you need to clean or not. To me yea your barrel may last longer but a long lasting inaccurate barrel is useless to me mind you it would last forever as if its inaccurate ill stop using it......

Originally Posted by blip

What I've found with latest rifle I'm playing with (s/h) is got it home gave it a deep scrub out and the thing wouldn't shoot for shit. Try a hand load no good clean it and try another load. In the end thought fuk this and stopped cleaning it the loads are tightening up the more I shoot it without cleaning it. The target will tell you if you need to clean or not. To me yea your barrel may last longer but a long lasting inaccurate barrel is useless to me mind you it would last forever as if its inaccurate ill stop using it......

Deep clean ,shoot till grouping, bore snake, keep shooting till doesn't group wit bore snake between outings as its the residue that attracts moisture and rust.
I spray a bit of rem lube on my bore snake for a tad of safe protection.
This is from owning nearly every product
On the market and 45 yrs in cleaning my fire arms.
My 2C

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

I use inox or atf

Originally Posted by alphaDelta

Hi, I’m asking for what peoples processes are for cleaning their barrels.
Iv been told a lot of different things and getting a bit lost.
I have Bore Tech Cu+ copper and Eliminator.
After barrel break in should I not be using a brush? just patches? what Chem?

Thanks
Hardy & Truflight barrels. used for 500yrd plus culling on goats and targets.

A major ingredient in good wet cleaners is kerosine. Can save yourself lotsa money and grief by using it but dry cleaned with a rag afterwards.