Cleaning your barrel - the 5 hour version

Canadian_Eh

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I'm new. This one is for the entertainment of all the veterans on CGN. It might also avoid a 5 hour barrel cleaning for other newbies.

How to clean your barrel for 5 hours:
  • Purchase first rifle ever that day
  • 10:00 pm: Prepare kitchen table for oily mess and toolkit
  • Do all the prep-work you were taught and researched online
  • Thread impressively designed Bore Snake through action and down barrel
  • Marvel at your unparalleled expertise on day 1
  • Field strip your rifle since you're feeling frisky
  • All the while believing you are basically now a gun-smith, oh yeah
  • 10:30 pm: Get to the end, cleaning like a champ and decide you have a genius idea
  • Why not add a cotton patch (your wife's make-up pad) to the end of the Bore Snake?
  • This will clean even better! you say to yourself and start pulling it into barrel
  • 10:31 pm: It's stuck
  • 10:32 pm: No problem, I'm pretty sure I'm still a genius and a gun-smith so I'll just pull harder
  • 10:45 pm: Its really, really stuck now. Add lots of Break Free during panic attack
  • 11:00 pm: The cotton is not going anywhere. Start inevitable slide to total shame
  • Imagine conversation with gun shop or real gun-smith: "Yes, I bought it yesterday"
  • Search toolbox for the tool that makes you less stupid, still nothing
  • Search internet, particularly CGN for other newbies who must have done this - nope, I'm "special"
  • 3:30 am: Finally man-up and get swab out after 5 hours of appropriately humbling pain and suffering
  • Used a 3" wood screw to bore into cotton swab soaked in Break Free. Then pulled screw out with pliers. I'm lucky the swab was not further in.
  • 4:00 am: Decide I need to remember shameful event by making it my first post to CGN in hopes it helps others

p.s. Thanks to all the veterans who make this Forum informative and funny.

JB
 
Had a real good chuckle. Great first post, and welcome to CGN.
My favorite is the tightly patch wrapped 'economy' bore brush that lets go the twisted wire part from its threaded end, whilst halfway down the backstroke.
 
Now that is what i call a learning experience.Remember these words a wise man once told me ( DON`T F#@K WITH IT)
 
"Boresnake vs Cleaning Rod"

Ha!Rule #1 when cleaning a rifle.....DON'T use a boresnake!Get yourself a rod.

Thanks Longshot. I found some "Boresnake vs Cleaning Rod" comments here:
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=435515
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=423902

One post from "guntech" seems to sum up the cleaning wisdom / opposition to the Boresnake. I offer it up to those searching on this topic.

Dragging a dirty snake through the crown rubbing where it may on a regular basis will not be good for accuracy.

Precision barrels should be cleaned from the breech using a quality bore guide helping to protect the throat, and a quality cleaning rod. Brush as little as required using quality bronze or brass brushes or use patches on a proper fitting jag. NEVER use a stainless steel brush. When the rod exits the muzzle, stop pushing... the rod is now laying on the rifling. It does not need to be pushed along anymore.

A snake should be used rarely on more of an emergency field cleaning procedure on your hunting rifle, if you don't have anything better.

Again, that post is from "guntech", not me. I'm not that helpful, except as a cautionary tale.
 
I can't wait to clean my first rifle now that I've thrown away my preemptive purchase of a cheapo gun cleaning kit complete with boresnakes and odd pieces of cotton patches.

Thanks for the post!
 
I had a friend who ran out of patches so he tied a rope to wait for it ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................A Tampon --------- rope broke---------------------tampon swelled half way through barrel, hell of a time to get out!:kickInTheNuts:
 
Still a genius...

As the original poster, I thought my latest episode might help someone:

It's coming up on the four (4) month mark since the barrel incident and the humility is starting to wear off just in time to clean my new handgun:
  1. Disassemble Handgun and follow accumulated cleaning suggestions
  2. Partly finished and I get a great idea (maybe even genius)
  3. Why not put solvent right on the toothbrush?
  4. So now that the solvent is on the bristles I should touch them to see if I soaked them enough...
  5. AHHHHHHHHHH MY EYES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  6. Yup, you guessed it. I was not wearing eye protection and the solvent sprayed my eyes when I ran my fingers across the toothbrush bristles.
WARNING : Wear eye protection while cleaning kids. I was lucky it was easy to wash out and I'm not in serious pain or worse. It then crossed my mind I'm still not a gunsmith or genius. See you again in four months.
 
As the original poster, I thought my latest episode might help someone...

... See you again in four months.

If you live that long:p Seriously, it takes a fair bit of humility to post incidents like this.

You'll no doubt appreciate the sig line of CGN'er "Ganderite", which runs, as best I can remember it, "Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all the mistakes yourself."

I can't wait for the report of your first brown bear hunt.

:) Stuart
 
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