How often do you clean your rifle?

Flyboy said:
Does it ruin the barrel if u run a bore snake through it every 50 rounds or so
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No its safe. The snake is not overly abrasive, and just gives it a quick scrub to clear any powder residue etc that can come off easily. I don't put any cleaners on it, just the snake, like running a brush quickly through the bore.
 
arent you running the same dirt you originally removed throught the barrel over and over again when using a bore snake?

I am wondering , this doesnt seem like a good idea?
 
Well you can clean a bore snake. Most makers suggest a trip through a washing machine, or to just rinse it out. That said, I haven't cleaned mine yet, as I don't feel it to be all that dirty, at the moment. After some additional use I will likely clean it with an aerosol bore cleaner, then rinse it.
 
There are guys that will shoot bare bullets and don't clean for a long time, maybe 300 to 500 rounds. Most of these are custom barrels that are hand lapped.
Years ago when the DCRA used issued IVI ammo, daily cleaning was the norm, with chrome moly barrel and dirty ammo. Now with handloaded ammo and stainless barrels, some guys are giving up on the daily cleaning ritual.
Of course there are some that still clean every day, no matter what.
 
I was not going to jump in on this but I think a lot of shooters are missing a point. Copper is not the problem, copper fouling is not the problem. The problem is "CARBON" fouling. We, in the short range precision shooting, went through the moly stuff 25 years ago and it faded out very quickly. The wheel came back around about 5 years ago and again it has faded out. The idea of moly and that other stuff Danzac or whatever was to prevent copper fouling. How does copper fouling start, Think Galling! What is galling? two like metals rubbing together. All barrels have cracks, roughness, whatever. The first bullets go down the barrel and some of this roughness picks up copper off of the bullet jacket the next bullet goes down the barrel now you have a like metal, under pressure rubbing aganist it's selve, galling, which translates into copper fouling. The main difference between barrels is the amount of roughness. Now the more you shoot the barrel the more roughness you will get because of the extremely high temperatures of the burning powder which causes the metal to deterioate and crack. Look through a borescope after a 1000 rounds and it will scare you. Now what happens is that the metal where the heat is, normally from the case month to about 12" up, depending if you have a thunder boomer or a .222 actually cracks inward, this is has been proven with air gauges. Now what do the cracks do? pick up copper, what does the copper do? picks up more copper through galling. Therefore under normal circumstances the older the barrel the more it will foul. Now moly is suppose to help that situation by slowing down the amount of galling because in fact it is a lubricate. But the problem now is what about the carbon fouling? Everytime you burn powder or most things it leaves a residue. In the case of powder it leaves carbon in that first 12". carbon is hard and it will build up to the point of actually swaging the bullet as it enters the barrel after firing. Example, and I will use extreme numbers here to illustrate only. You have a barrel that measures .308 and you go shooting, after a 1000 rounds without cleaning the carbon out now the first 12" of that barrel now measure .300 when you fire the next bullet that bullet is swaged down to .300 then goes through the rest of that .308 barrel, get the point, this is not a good thing. What I do is to get a solvent such as TM Solution which is a proven carbon remover, run two very wet patches down the barrel, short stroking the second patch in that 12", let sit for 5 minuets and patch out. If you want to use a solvent after that thats your call. Does it take out moly, don't know, I do not use moly or anything else for that matter, although I have tried them. Now I know that a bunch of you people are going to jump in with science and grammar in the above deal so have at it.
Bill
 
TM Solution... Tom Meridith cleaning solution.

Terry Perkins said:
Hey Bill,

What is TM Solution?

Terry Perkins
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It is Tom Meridith proprietary cleaning solution. Tom is a BR shooter and stockmaker/inletter/painter/gunsmith out of Indiana.
Sinclair's sells his stuff.

NormB
 
OK sorry to be a newb here but, I just had to ask.

Now, I'm a hunter, and everytime I shoot, at targets or game, I clean my gun.
I thought that if you didn't clean your guns everytime you shot, that it would end up all rusted up and things.

My question is, how do you keep your gun from rusting and pitting between the times you go shoot? Do you just pass a dry patch in the barrel or something? Someone please explain... :D

Thanks!
 
I wonder if the guys who don't clean frequently, shoot frequently? My guns often go 3 months or more without being fired. When they sit around, they don't sit around dirty.
 
I wonder if the guys who don't clean frequently, shoot frequently?
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About 1200-1500 rounds a year through this rifle.
After I cleaned it last year about 400, then about 500 this year before I did clean it. Why I cleaned it I don't know. The weekend before I cleaned it, I shot a 422.48V out of a possible 425. 85V at ranges from 300 -600 yards :D
 
HKMark23 said:
I wonder if the guys who don't clean frequently, shoot frequently? My guns often go 3 months or more without being fired. When they sit around, they don't sit around dirty.
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I also have a high round count per year from my rifles, and only clean when I see accurcay go out the window.......

Cat
 
I also have a high round count per year from my rifles, and only clean when I see accurcay go out the window.......

Cat
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+1 only when groups start to open up. at the range.

Now, I'm a hunter, and everytime I shoot, at targets or game, I clean my gun.
I thought that if you didn't clean your guns everytime you shot, that it would end up all rusted up and things.
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If in the field hunting I give my rifle a good cleaning to remove dust and dirt and especialy moisture due to condensation from temp variation (outside- to inside) or rain/snow, after i get home. For the amount of ammunition discharged over a hunt I dont think you have to worry about any fouling, but I will run a patch down the bore a couple of times.

just an opinion
 
Come back to life, that's an order!! I saw my groupings opening after a good cleaning and then coming back to normal after a couple shots. Since the prs community has increased since 2005 this thread will give us food for thought.
 
I used to believe if it shoots good leave it... Until I got carbon fouling bad enough to show pressure on factory rounds and blow a few primers.
Weird thing was it shot great the whole time

Now I keep on top of it
 
For centerfire I shoot copper jacketed bullets only.

Factory barrels (both stainless and regular steel) - after every session:
~ 1 wet patch Butch's Bore Shine followed by 4-5 dry patches followed by 1 patch with oil (both stainless and regular steel barrels); before next session: 4 dry patches to remove the oil (also remove oil from chamber with bronze brush covered with 4x2 patch).
~ Every 150-200 rounds I do the above followed by 1 wet patch KG Carbon Remover + 6-8 strokes with nylon brush followed by 4-6 dry patches followed by an oil patch.

All centerfire barrels:
~ Once a year or every 1000 rounds or so I add 5 strokes of KG Bore Shine using a mop followed by 6-8 wet patches of Butch's followed by 6-8 dry patches followed by an oil patch

Match barrels - After every session:
~ 1 wet Butch's followed by 4 dry; likewise for the chamber followed by 1 oil patch
 
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