Proper Rifle Chamber Cleaning

[DGY]

I think cleaning the bore and chamber of your rifles once in a while ain’t a bad thing, if you switch from copper/mono bullets to conventional bullets(lead/copper) or from hard cast to conventional bullets or vice versa, you might see a decrease in accuracy if you don’t.
In my case, I clean my rifles when the season is over, like 2 of my 30-06’s won’t be use again this year, I use wipe-out let it sit and then patche the bore and chamber clean, do a pass with a patch of balistol followed by a dry patch and they go in there sock and a the back of the safe!
I keep the one that I might use this winter “unclean” so they are ready to go!
Some say you don’t clean until you see a decrease in accuracy… do you still push an oily patch down the bore? Cause that definitely clean a bit….
Up here it’s really dry, never had a rifle rust in my safe so I’m not too fussy about it!

 

[5five6]

I've heard good things about this, i think it was a recent article by John Barsness recommending it highly. You can leave it in overnight cos there's no acid or ammonia in it to affect the steel. Meaning it has longer to work. Makes sense to me, I have a can now but have yet to try it. Soon. View attachment 1214736

That stuff is fantastic. Depending on the gun I’ll jam blue paper towel in and mush it around after and use compressed air to get it out, spritz some CLP and repeat the air blue towel thing and my last step is to push a jag and patch to be sue a bunch of gunk didn’t park itself in the barrel.

 

[Joel]

That stuff is fantastic. Depending on the gun I’ll jam blue paper towel in and mush it around after and use compressed air to get it out, spritz some CLP and repeat the air blue towel thing and my last step is to push a jag and patch to be sue a bunch of gunk didn’t park itself in the barrel.

Electric blue funky stuff comin out that barrel after haha

I think cleaning the bore and chamber of your rifles once in a while ain’t a bad thing, if you switch from copper/mono bullets to conventional bullets(lead/copper) or from hard cast to conventional bullets or vice versa, you might see a decrease in accuracy if you don’t.
In my case, I clean my rifles when the season is over, like 2 of my 30-06’s won’t be use again this year, I use wipe-out let it sit and then patche the bore and chamber clean, do a pass with a patch of balistol followed by a dry patch and they go in there sock and a the back of the safe!
I keep the one that I might use this winter “unclean” so they are ready to go!
Some say you don’t clean until you see a decrease in accuracy… do you still push an oily patch down the bore? Cause that definitely clean a bit….
Up here it’s really dry, never had a rifle rust in my safe so I’m not too fussy about it!

Isn't counting an oiled patch as cleaning kinda like counting skidmarks as wiping your @ss?

I mean...an oiled patch compared to an actual cleaning procedure is....lol

Guess if it hasn't been fired anyway, the oiled patch got any dust or cobwebs out of the barrel. Or, if you're in Africa, them wasps what make their nests in rifle barrels. Saw an airplane grounded because they did that in the pitot tube once haha

 

[dan belisle]

I've heard good things about this, i think it was a recent article by John Barsness recommending it highly. You can leave it in overnight cos there's no acid or ammonia in it to affect the steel. Meaning it has longer to work. Makes sense to me, I have a can now but have yet to try it. Soon. View attachment 1214736

I've used it on quite a few barrels. It works well. Use less than you think you'll need. It will come foaming out of the chamber end faster than you would believe. - dan

 

[Dmay]

I've heard good things about this, i think it was a recent article by John Barsness recommending it highly. You can leave it in overnight cos there's no acid or ammonia in it to affect the steel. Meaning it has longer to work. Makes sense to me, I have a can now but have yet to try it. Soon. View attachment 1214736

I have found it is easier to work with their "Patch Out" rather than the foam. Can be a hassle getting it down the barrel effectively.
Both work well though, in my experience.

 

[Potashminer]

I've heard good things about this, i think it was a recent article by John Barsness recommending it highly. You can leave it in overnight cos there's no acid or ammonia in it to affect the steel. Meaning it has longer to work. Makes sense to me, I have a can now but have yet to try it. Soon. View attachment 1214736

I bought the Cap/hose thing for it - seals in the chamber - so part of a second and get white foam out muzzle end. I have usually used it on elder very dirty milurp barrels - let "soak" overnight - a couple or three patches in morning, then give it another shot and "soak" all day - repeat until patches come out wet, but still white - no colour from that stuff's interaction with bullet jacket fouling or powder soot (different colours). Advert says (or used to say) "if you think you are clean, try this stuff" - more colour usually came out.

I had read that old time Austrian and Swiss target shooters would use bristle bore brush and plant based grease to coat their chambers and bores for storage - at least one dry patch through before firing it. I see Swiss military now uses "auto-something" grease - not plant based any more - is same as AeroShell 64 grease (molybdenum di-sulphide grease) that was bought/available in Canada.

 

[Potashminer]

Or, if you're in Africa, them wasps what make their nests in rifle barrels. Saw an airplane grounded because they did that in the pitot tube once haha

Do not have to be in Africa - same thing here in Manitoba - on nice days I like having West and East garage doors open - nice breeze. Did not realize that also allowed "Momma Bug" in. Multiple barrels on shelves - read up on "mud wasps" - turns out that bores look a lot like holes in tree - if you are a bug. They would use sand/mud to build a bulkhead in the bore - lay egg(s) and then build second bulkhead - some I found had dead larva inside - others had holes where larva must have "dug out" through the bulkhead - a real PITA to clean that out - especially the "glue" Momma Bug uses to attach the sand or mud to the barrel - perhaps oddly, boiling hot water seemed to clean that out better than various chemical solvents - as in "liters" of boiling water through there - I was checking progress with bore scope - could see what was working and what was not.

 

[270WSMXBolt]

Do not have to be in Africa - same thing here in Manitoba - on nice days I like having West and East garage doors open - nice breeze. Did not realize that also allowed "Momma Bug" in. Multiple barrels on shelves - read up on "mud wasps" - turns out that bores look a lot like holes in tree - if you are a bug. They would use sand/mud to build a bulkhead in the bore - lay egg(s) and then build second bulkhead - some I found had dead larva inside - others had holes where larva must have "dug out" through the bulkhead - a real PITA to clean that out - especially the "glue" Momma Bug uses to attach the sand or mud to the barrel - perhaps oddly, boiling hot water seemed to clean that out better than various chemical solvents - as in "liters" of boiling water through there - I was checking progress with bore scope - could see what was working and what was not.

Oh my god. my previous comment about the mud wasp nest was tongue in cheek... LoL

 

[Potashminer]

"mud Wasp nest" comment - taken in the spirit it was written - from what I have seen here, they do not make "nest" like paper wasp ball or live in horde in ground - so far I have only found them in rifle barrels and seen a couple go into worm holes in lumber on my deck. Never been bit/stung by one, but have been bit/stung by the other kinds.

 

[270WSMXBolt]

In my neck of the woods at the mouth of the muddy Fraser river... the clay in the soil is perfect for them and I have had some horrifying experiences. zero to a hundo when the foot sinks... Not huge amounts but so freaking aggressive.. god help you if they go up your pantleg....

 

[pathfinder76]

If you never shoot you never need to clean. I see some have figured that trick out.

 

[conor_90]

Wipeout works well for copper fouling and similar, but only using it with dirty non corrosive ammo for thousands of rounds resulted in carbon that was basically impossible to remove from a cz 527 I had using mechanical and chemical methods of every variety.

I wish i had known that you did not have to clean guns at the time.

The amount of people in this thread who do not understand that different areas have different ambient humidity is shocking

 

[Joel]

Had a couple thousand through a couple rifles here and accuracy hadn't fallen off, so what does "not shooting" look like exactly? lol

One of those things like "cold bore shot goes somewhere else" and "groups open up after 2 shots" thats either from a poorly made gun or poor shooting.


BTW, check out the 6.5 CM barrel that the MDT guys put 1000 rounds through as fast as they could....and it wasn't cooked lol. Still sub MOA. Although that one DID get better after cleaning, it was still accurate as plenty of hunting rifles haha

 

[pathfinder76]

Had a couple thousand through a couple rifles here and accuracy hadn't fallen off, so what does "not shooting" look like exactly? lol

One of those things like "cold bore shot goes somewhere else" and "groups open up after 2 shots" thats either from a poorly made gun or poor shooting.


BTW, check out the 6.5 CM barrel that the MDT guys put 1000 rounds through as fast as they could....and it wasn't cooked lol. Still sub MOA. Although that one DID get better after cleaning, it was still accurate as plenty of hunting rifles haha

You are a hoot.

 

[Joel]

You are a hoot.

Thanks, I'm glad you think so

And not needing to clean means more time to work up loads, shoot, etc. I really wonder when the accuracy of the 223 here is gonna fall off. And its kinda funny when they say the barrel life of a 6.5 CM is like 2500 rounds when the MDT guys shot 1000 like it was the battle of the Somme, and it was still a 1" gun lol

Either way, I'll report on the guns here when "shooting them" begins, since it apparently coincides with the need to clean haha

 

[dan belisle]

Oh my god. my previous comment about the mud wasp nest was tongue in cheek... LoL

It's MB. Every nasty bug in existence lives there. In abundance. - dan

 

[Buck1950]

As for the cleaning, I use C4 for the chambers of my rimfires, followed by 99% Alc to 'rinse', then Mobil1 to protect - just 1-2 drops on a patch. After the Alc-patch comes out clean the Mobil1 patch always comes out dirty. Auto oil has cleaning additives, too.
For 'other rifles' I clean every 40+ rounds with Nitro then a Copper solvent to get 'most of it'. I don't subscribe to the Copper Equilibrium 'theory but I don't get anal about Cu either. Again, I 'rinse' with 99% Alc and finish with Mobil1 same as with 22s.
Either type of gun gets dry patches b4 next firing day.

 

[SHELL SHUCKER]

I have found it is easier to work with their "Patch Out" rather than the foam. Can be a hassle getting it down the barrel effectively.
Both work well though, in my experience.

Likewise fer me. I use their No-Lead product a bunch as well. I still use the foam for cleaning bores & chambers on any new to me firearm.
The stuff works well fer sure.

 

[270WSMXBolt]

I employ multiple methods depending on condition and barrel material. The No-Lead/Wipeout stuff is great and I've never had an issue with it... But I have read numerous threads detailing damaged barrels. I have followed the instructions when using it though and many of my rifles are stainless. I also swear by the Kroil and JB methods or just a basic clean with Kroil. Cheers