Regarding 22 lr bore cleaning

ekp

ekp

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Hello,
Just would like to collect opinions about cleaning bore for 22 lr caliber pistol.*
What brush should I use or not use ?*
In bullseyepistol.com they suggesting nylon brushes only for target pistols,
But in different sources people are very sceptical about nylon.*
Any advices appreciated.
 
Is it a revolver, or a pistol that allows cleaning from the breach? Better to clean from the breach than the muzzle. I would be mindful of not damaging the muzzle and crown, which would be very detrimental to accuracy. I would also be minimal in cleaning. Unless there is a problem, cleaning is not needed.
 
I always used bronze -- or some other metal softer than the steel barrel -- brushes. I brushed with solvent until I got a clean swab. I stayed away from the very high velocity .22 cartridges for fear of leading. I also cleaned after every shooting session. I don't like doing it, but I think it has to be done.
 
x nothing on the bore snake. I won't use them because unless I clean the boresnake reasonably frequently I'm simply dragging the old fouling and grunge through the barrel over and over. Frankly despite being very easy to use I think it's a very BAD idea.

I start with a couple of solvent wetted patches then one dry patch on a proper jag and then use a light and my eye to inspect the bore. If the rifling is clean and sharp looking then I'm done. The majority of the time this is all it takes.

If it has some crusty looking deposits then I've got a bit of leading and it's time for a few passes with a bronze bore brush with some cleaning solvent. This is followed by a wet then dry patch and inspection. Repeat the last set of steps as required. But it seldom is.
 
BCRider said:
x nothing on the bore snake. I won't use them because unless I clean the boresnake reasonably frequently I'm simply dragging the old fouling and grunge through the barrel over and over. Frankly despite being very easy to use I think it's a very BAD idea.

I start with a couple of solvent wetted patches then one dry patch on a proper jag and then use a light and my eye to inspect the bore. If the rifling is clean and sharp looking then I'm done. The majority of the time this is all it takes.

If it has some crusty looking deposits then I've got a bit of leading and it's time for a few passes with a bronze bore brush with some cleaning solvent. This is followed by a wet then dry patch and inspection. Repeat the last set of steps as required. But it seldom is.
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Hot soapy water with some agitation and boresnakes come as clean as new. I do that frequently. Very easy and not a BAD idea at all..
 
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I notice only two things happening with my 22 pistols or rifles, and that's a small amount of carbon particles left in the bore, which I presume gets swept out by each following bullet then replaced with an equal amount, and fouling around the chamber. A bronze brush inserted from the breach does a good job of removing the carbon from around the chamber, and if its stubborn, some solvent on a patch. I'm not convinced the carbon in the rifled barrel does anything detrimental to either accuracy or bore longevity.
 
Tend to agree with Griz.

First, I think barrel cleaning is very often overrated and too often does more damage than it prevents. It's probably more useful to run a patch through a barrel BEFORE a shooting session, so as to remove accumulated dust.

Second, if you can satisfactorily clean centerfire benchrest rifles with nothing more than patches (as many prefer to do), you can probably do the same with a 22 pistol. Let solvent do the work, not mechanical scrubbing. For a target pistol, this would be my recommendation.

That said, I'm cheap and lazy. For non-uber accuracy guns (95% of my collection), I most often just use one or two tight patches on a jag, without any solvent. It really doesn't need to be spotless (leading is a different issue, and I don't think that's part of 'cleaning' per se).

If I do use brushes, it's either bronze or VERY stiff nylon.

While they're very popular, I see no advantage to using a boresnake on a barrel that can easily be cleaned from the breech. Plenty of disadvantages, though.
 
BCRider said:
x nothing on the bore snake. I won't use them because unless I clean the boresnake reasonably frequently I'm simply dragging the old fouling and grunge through the barrel over and over. Frankly despite being very easy to use I think it's a very BAD idea.

I start with a couple of solvent wetted patches then one dry patch on a proper jag and then use a light and my eye to inspect the bore. If the rifling is clean and sharp looking then I'm done. The majority of the time this is all it takes.

If it has some crusty looking deposits then I've got a bit of leading and it's time for a few passes with a bronze bore brush with some cleaning solvent. This is followed by a wet then dry patch and inspection. Repeat the last set of steps as required. But it seldom is.
Click to expand...

TAKE NOTE EVERYONE! See, no brushing unless inspection warrents it. Personally, i don't even run a patch unless i'm putting in oil for long term storage. The only time i brush is if i see lead fouling accumulating, and accuracy decreasing. My Hi Standard military model hasn't seen a brush or patch in 2500 rounds, and still will shoot better then an inch at 20 yards, steady diet is Remington target velocity, with the occasional snack of T22 from Winchester.
 
bollox said:
Hot soapy water with some agitation and boresnakes come as clean as new. I do that frequently. Very easy and not a BAD idea at all..
Click to expand...

I suspect you're one of the rare ones that takes the time to do that. It seems like many feel that it's never needed and that somehow the grunge that comes out on it magically goes away.

I should add that I generally only clean the barrel bores at the same time as the action and slides when things get so grungy that the slides get sticky or the insides are simply are too dirty to tolerate. Sometimes this coincides with the gun beginning to act up and other times it's still shooting reliably but it's like a coal mine in the action and I just can't tolerate it like that. Typically the bore is not bad at all. It's mostly the blowback gasses that have puked grunge out into the action and slide. And for the most part that's why the barrel takes little enough to nothing to clean that I simply do it and look down the shiney looking bore.

The rare time the use of some ammo or other results in a little to a lot of leading. But that's very rare.
 
Thanks everyone who contributed to that subject.
Never considered to use jag before. Every day I learn something new here.
 
BCRider said:
... I generally only clean the barrel bores at the same time as the action and slides when things get so grungy that the slides get sticky or the insides are simply are too dirty to tolerate. Sometimes this coincides with the gun beginning to act up and other times it's still shooting reliably but it's like a coal mine in the action and I just can't tolerate it like that. Typically the bore is not bad at all.
Click to expand...

Ditto. I just did a proper cleaning of my Ruger target pistol because the breech had enough unburned powder and lead shavings in it to prevent the bolt from locking up...after about 1000-1500 rounds. The bore is still shiny inside, so I left it alone.

I don't believe modern guns with modern ammo need aggressive cleaning except on rare occasions. Older guns with less rust-resistant steel parts or shooting corrosive ammunition may need frequent thorough cleaning however.
 
Tengoo, your experience matches mine. But I suspect that the tolerance limit for the fouling in the action peaks slightly lower. Maybe more like 800 to 1000 rounds worth.

I find that it's so bad by that time that I can only imagine it by 1500. But then perhaps it is somewhat self limiting since the pressure pulses may well spit out the fuzzy buildup that would otherwise occur so the grunge level is self limiting.... :D
 
BCRider said:
Tengoo, your experience matches mine. But I suspect that the tolerance limit for the fouling in the action peaks slightly lower. Maybe more like 800 to 1000 rounds worth.
Click to expand...

Actually the grunge in my pistol seemed to build up rather suddenly after the last few shooting sessions. I had just fired about 300 rounds of Federal/American Eagle and I'm hoping it's not dirtier than the Winchester '333' stuff [which was quite clean] I was shooting before, since I have a case of the Federal still to go. It functions flawlessly otherwise...

I suppose it wouldn't kill me or do any damage to clean my Ruger more often....:rolleyes:
 
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