Cleaning question

I was taught at a young age to clean my forearm after each time I use it....yet I see guys saying they don't clean for hundreds to possibly thousands of rounds down the barrel.

It's a mental thing for me, I can't not clean a firearm after I shoot it....I try to convince myself but can't seem to get over it.

Is there a quick "patch through" technique you all use to mentally trick yourself into believing you are at least cleaning soot out of the barrel?

Maybe one shot cleaner then a dry patch?

What is the most common point at which to clean so accuracy doesn't suffer?

I clean after every shooting/testing session. Fouling is accumulative and often builds in layers. Baked on carbon that has been sitting in the bore during repeated shooting session is very difficult to remove. I know some guys claim to shoot hundreds of rounds with magnum cartridges and see no ill effect. I just don't buy that. I sure wouldn't want to be the guy who finally cleans those rifles back to a clean bore.

I will say that after a good cleaning it normally takes 3-6 rounds to stabilize my groups again.

I sent a Weatherby Mark V back to Weatherby for accuracy issues. The tech told me on the phone that 95% of the rifles that are returned for accuracy issues had badly fouled bores despite the owners swearing that they clean them. After a thorough cleaning at Weatherby, the rifles accuracy usually returns.

cohunt said:

What is the most common point at which to clean so accuracy doesn't suffer?

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I dont think the science is settled on this but my theory is if you keep a new barrel clean it wont get to a condition it needs to run fouled.

Koda_ said:

I dont think the science is settled on this but my theory is if you keep a new barrel clean it wont get to a condition it needs to run fouled.

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Makes sense if the barrel has the correct internal finish

It's a variable based on case, powder, and unique barrel conditions, etc. It can be different for each rifle. Your barrel will tell you when it needs cleaned. A barrel that needs cleaned will affect things like velocity and point of impact. We cleaned rifles after hundreds of rounds at shooting school once and noticed a remarkable decrease in velocity. Had to adjust our ballistic profiles as a result in order to engage at long range.

Barrels can shoot a high shot count before the copper and carbon build to diminished returns in precision. I clean seasonal shot hunting guns after the season and lay a thick coat of oil, and even better, grease through the bores. They get a tag saying "OIL" on them so I know to clean it out before firing. Years back I didn't do this and found if I didn't shoot a gun for a while, pitting can start. Especially couple inches into the barrel from the muzzle end.

Range guns I shoot often get cleaned every 100-150rnds. Thorroclean seems to be the best cleaner I've used. 20-25 passes per instructed use and the bores are mint. I apply graphite to the bore after cleaning via saturated patch, yes it's messy, but POI of the first round out the clean and graphited bore doesn't change with subsequent shots. The graphite acts like a "fouled" bore. No more wasting 5-6 shots for the group to settle in. If I foresee my range guns are going to sit unfired for more than a month or so, I will clean and oil them too. I won't coat the bore with graphite in these instances.

Moral of the story, a gun that isn't cleaned and allowed to sit long periods can attract rust/pitting.

i use a bore snake after shooting session, then clean when bore scope shows it's needed

I grew up thinking and doing much as you, but changed over the years with gained knowledge …….and a dramatic climate change!

I don't clean as often as I should……but, will never clean until the hunting season is over. While our "hunting rifle's" do not show an appreciable change from fouled to clean……why risk it?

The aforementioned climate…..I relocated from an area of average humidity from mid 80's% to near 100% to an area of single digits to 35/40% humidity. Low humidities can ease the pain from not cleaning.

If you must clean, run a dry patch or similar through a few times….that may help aleviate the mental trauma that you're experiencing! memtb

Chrome moly barrels I'll use a bore snake with Hoppes or Rem Oil or whatever on it. Stainless hasn't ever caused me the problems that old barrels did.

Clean if you want to, there's nothing wrong with it.

Varmint Hunter said:

I clean after every shooting/testing session. Fouling is accumulative and often builds in layers. Baked on carbon that has been sitting in the bore during repeated shooting session is very difficult to remove. I know some guys claim to shoot hundreds of rounds with magnum cartridges and see no ill effect. I just don't buy that. I sure wouldn't want to be the guy who finally cleans those rifles back to a clean bore.

I will say that after a good cleaning it normally takes 3-6 rounds to stabilize my groups again.

I sent a Weatherby Mark V back to Weatherby for accuracy issues. The tech told me on the phone that 95% of the rifles that are returned for accuracy issues had badly fouled bores despite the owners swearing that they clean them. After a thorough cleaning at Weatherby, the rifles accuracy usually returns.

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I shoot a 30 SM in matches, a 2 day match is 100-150 rounds. I've done it with out cleaning, I don't think the accuracy ever fell off, bigger issue I've had is all of a sudden you end up with a carbon ring that increases velocity and pressure that throws your dope off and can cause extraction issues so now I clean between days. 50-75 Rounds.

Koda_ said:

I dont think the science is settled on this but my theory is if you keep a new barrel clean it wont get to a condition it needs to run fouled.

Click to expand...

If you could keep it absolutely clean for every shot maybe but that's not feasible, it has to be able to run at some level of dirty
I've found cleaning can cause a POI shift and definitely has some weird velocity's before it's fouled back in. I usually shoot 5 to foul.

Taylorbok said:

If you could keep it absolutely clean for every shot maybe but that's not feasible, it has to be able to run at some level of dirty

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To clarify I meant keep clean after target shooting or after hunting. Agree they have to run on some level of dirty...

I hardly clean. Except when I first get them. New guns get a quick clean to make sure there are no contaminates in the barrel.

I had not cleaned my personal rifles in over 2 years. And 2 years is a LOT of shooting for me.

300PRC had 140 rounds before the first cleaning.
6CM went about 600 rounds.
I have two 25CMs that went about 400-500 rounds each.
6.5PRC, 280 rounds.
.260AI was 300ish
22GT was about 450.
Etc.

We shoot 2500-3000 rounds per year from some 20 rifles, 35-60 rounds each rifle per session. The high velocity rifles get more attention, especially large powder capacity.

I clean after every shoot using Hoppes foam, dry patch, followed by nylon brushing with 5W20 motor oil (good surfactant ), dry patch, Hoppes Black cleaner, dry patches, then puff of carb cleaner, then 1 dry patch. Line the nice rifles up, barrels down at 5 degrees, cover muzzle with plastic water bottle, then flood barrel with Hoppes foam & let sit overnight.

I think (my opinion), accuracy will noticeably deteriorate over 30 plus rounds if not cleaned. When I was real young I always did a quick barrel clean of my .308W after the 300 yard rapid fire & other that used up 34 rounds including sighters, before moving onto the 600 yard slow fire. I sprayed a nylon brush with WD40, then ran 3 dry patches thru bore, then did 2 sighters at 600. I copied a master class shooter that usually won the entire match.

cohunt said:

I was taught at a young age to clean my forearm after each time I use it....yet I see guys saying they don't clean for hundreds to possibly thousands of rounds down the barrel.

It's a mental thing for me, I can't not clean a firearm after I shoot it....I try to convince myself but can't seem to get over it.

Is there a quick "patch through" technique you all use to mentally trick yourself into believing you are at least cleaning soot out of the barrel?

Maybe one shot cleaner then a dry patch?

What is the most common point at which to clean so accuracy doesn't suffer?

Click to expand...

I pretty much can't go more than 20 rounds without cleaning my rifles, handguns can be 40 to 100 rounds depending on revolver or semi-auto, and shotguns are after a few days of shooting birds or clays. What can I say? I like a clean bore.

Of course after reading @Hugnot post above, I feel like a slacker.