worn out barrel?

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triple tap

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hey, i have a savage arms mk2 f and at the range a few nights ago i noticed that my target groupings where getting farther apart than normal... could this be my barrel is starting to wear out? it has about 1500 ish rounds fired so far... (plenty more to come lol....)
 
triple tap said:
hey, i have a savage arms mk2 f and at the range a few nights ago i noticed that my target groupings where getting farther apart than normal... could this be my barrel is starting to wear out? it has about 1500 ish rounds fired so far... (plenty more to come lol....)
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Worn out barrel with 1500 rounds? Not a chance. Not even after 150,000 rounds.

Try a good cleaning, use a bore guide.
 
No way it's worn out. Many say you can't wear out a barrel with the average persons shooting. Like mentioned, give it a good cleaning or check your sights. Did you switch ammo brand?
 
No chance of it being wore out. Pull a boresnake through it, make sure your scope bases/rings are tight, and figure out which ammo it shoots best with. I know I've been guilty of not snugging my rings tightly enough in the dovetail grooves, and had the whole shebang walk itself in the grooves.
 
nah im a freak about keeping it clean... i clean it every time i go out and shoot...

i havnt switched ammo, but i am getting a few more "weak" rounds than the last brick that i got... one was so bad that i could JUST hear it go off and it dropped 10 inches in 20 yards... i was bench resting it and was dead on the target, and it allmost hit the target below it lol... after that i checked the barrel for anything that may have been stuck in it (found nothing) and then fired some more.... maybe its just some bad ammo that i got...

what do you guys buy in bulk that dosnt cost alot and shoots good? right now im using winchester super X 40grain and its allright... (well the first box was lol...) im in love with the cci stinger ammo, but its alot of money for just blasting away...

one more thing... one day i lent my friend my .22 and he went shooting with it, no problems... and being a nice guy he cleaned it for me before he gave it back :) but i allways clean it pulling the brush thru the barrel from the action, and from doing so many times like that i have bent the brush bristles back... when he did it he pushed the brush from the action down the barrel, and he said that he had to push hard to get it down... any idea if that could have messed something up? i dont think so, but you never know...
 
triple tap said:
nah im a freak about keeping it clean... i clean it every time i go out and shoot...

i havnt switched ammo, but i am getting a few more "weak" rounds than the last brick that i got... one was so bad that i could JUST hear it go off and it dropped 10 inches in 20 yards... i was bench resting it and was dead on the target, and it allmost hit the target below it lol... after that i checked the barrel for anything that may have been stuck in it (found nothing) and then fired some more.... maybe its just some bad ammo that i got...

what do you guys buy in bulk that dosnt cost alot and shoots good? right now im using winchester super X 40grain and its allright... (well the first box was lol...) im in love with the cci stinger ammo, but its alot of money for just blasting away...

one more thing... one day i lent my friend my .22 and he went shooting with it, no problems... and being a nice guy he cleaned it for me before he gave it back :) but i allways clean it pulling the brush thru the barrel from the action, and from doing so many times like that i have bent the brush bristles back... when he did it he pushed the brush from the action down the barrel, and he said that he had to push hard to get it down... any idea if that could have messed something up? i dont think so, but you never know...
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I have been buying Winchester 555 from Walmart. It seems to work flawlessly in all of my rifles and a $19.99 a box...

No, changing the direction of the bristles of a bronze brush will not hurt a steel barrel. However, be careful when cleaning from the muzzle end, you can damage the muzzle. I also think you should slow down a bit on the cleaning. You are probably causing more wear by cleaning it than by shooting it. Lead is softer than bronze. I pull a boresnake through my .22 barrels after every brick. However, I wipe and oil the rifles after each use and strip and clean the actions often.
 
rookie wildcat said:
I have been buying Winchester 555 from Walmart. It seems to work flawlessly in all of my rifles and a $19.99 a box...

No, changing the direction of the bristles of a bronze brush will not hurt a steel barrel. However, be careful when cleaning from the muzzle end, you can damage the muzzle. I also think you should slow down a bit on the cleaning. You are probably causing more wear by cleaning it than by shooting it. Lead is softer than bronze. I pull a boresnake through my .22 barrels after every brick. However, I wipe and oil the rifles after each use and strip and clean the actions often.
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We use the Winchester 555 aswell, they're just super X in a bulk box. Fabulous ammo and $19.99/555 is awesome.

I never use brushes on my rimfire. Bore snake only. Super clean and no way to hurt the rifling.
 
ok so should i just leave it and clean it once a month or what? (i shoot about 50~200 rounds a week...)

any good info on cleaning? or vids? i love watching vids lol...
 
Do yourself a favour and just shoot/enjoy your .22lr until you notice a loss of accuracy (1000 rounds?) or you're bringing the rifle into a warm house from outside in the cold- condensation = rust.
You'll never "wear out" that rifle by shooting alone, but unless you're using a bore-guide and quality cleaning rod, all bets are off.
Most cheap cleaning rods sold are three piece aluminum which hold grit, or one piece and flex horribly rubbing inside the bore when using a tight patch. Not good.
 
1shot said:
Most cheap cleaning rods sold are three piece aluminum which hold grit, or one piece and flex horribly rubbing inside the bore when using a tight patch. Not good.
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Should you not always pull the patch out from the chamber to the bore anyway? So it should not bend and flex like you say when you are pulling on a clean patch in the barrel.

I avoid the brass brushes as much as possible, usually once every 500 in my rifles and handguns, even then, I sometimes skip it when everything looks good when I clean and inspect the bore.

I always pull a few patches with solvent and then oil when i'm done shooting however. I'm a little anal about this and like to see a clean patch come out when i'm done.
 
ok i just got back from shooting again... tonight it was a bit better (i must have had a bad day last time...) and i was getting better groups :D and just for fun i tried my "ultra super dooper sniper rounds" and my group size got cut in half :D so its just the cheap ammo thats making it a biger group...
 
triple tap said:
ok so should i just leave it and clean it once a month or what? (i shoot about 50~200 rounds a week...)

any good info on cleaning? or vids? i love watching vids lol...
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Yes, you can clean it once a month, or once a year - it's up to you.
I haven't cleaned my rifle since I got it last October (have put ~1000 shots), and it works great - got 99/100 last week (this is prone indoor on 50m Olympic target, scaled down to 20 yards).

About cleaning - some people recommend, and I've tried and really like this stuff: http://cgi.ebay.com/VFG-Pocket-size-Cleaning-Kit-Pistol-Rifle-177-22-/370491786025?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&var=&hash=item95038f9b9f
http://cgi.ebay.com/VFG-Cleaning-Rod-Regular-Felts-cal-22-Bag-500s-/330528289315?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item4cf5057223
You do not need a rod or bore guide - just pass the wire (it is plastic covered) through barrel to the breach, then attach felt (dry/with solvant/oil) and pull it back.
 
nah im a freak about keeping it clean... i clean it every time i go out and shoot...
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And that is likely your problem. More rimfire barrels have been wrecked by overcleaning or cleaning badly than have ever been "shot out".

Rimfire ammo is dirty and gritty. Running a rod up and down the bore is what can cause the damage. NEVER EVER use an segmented aluminum rod. Get yourself a decent one piece plastic coated rod and as someone mentioned above, a bore guide.

Cleaning excessively also never allows the bore to become seasoned or stabilize as lead and fouling is constantly being deposited and then removed so it changes all the time.

Stop cleaning the thing so much. Only clean it when rounds start to get sticky in the chamber and then realistically you should only use wet patches and not a brush.

If you just have to, give the thing a good cleaning once a year before putting it away for the season.
 
1500 rounds total wearing a barrel out? LOL! :p

I put 700 rounds through my 10/22 today alone.

9/10 chance you just have to tighten all of your rings and screws for your scope.
 
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