Cleaning frequency?

[Lonewolf74]

Not mentioned is that you can keep a barrel clean while pre-fouled.
When I put a gun away, it's cleaner than new, but fully ready for use.
I do this with an alcohol wash to white metal(after cleaning). Then a dry burnishing of Tungsten Disulfide (WS2), and back to the safe.
1st cold shot tomorrow, or 5yrs from now, will be as good as any to follow.

I would not ever let carbon build in a bore, or let primer fired byproducts eat away at it. Nor would I leave solvents to drain down into the action/bedding, and/or screw up the first handful of cold shots.
I also would not store a gun or it's ammo where big temperature shifts cause condensation.

Yea letting any deposits build up or fouling possibly eat away at my rifle is what I kind of worry about with not fully cleaning after every time I shoot.

Mike can you explain the alcohol wash and dry burnishing of Tungsten Disulfide to me more? This is something I'm totally unfamiliar with

 

[Mikecr]

Soon as I return from the range, or remote hunting trip, I clean the bore completely. Then I soak a bore mop with the best evaporating alcohol I can get my hands on, and wash out any trace of petroleum/cleaning products. I use a blow dryer to heat the barrel a bit and dry out the bore, and verify totally clean with a borescope.

I keep a bore mop in a jag tube with WS2 coated BBs and a pinch now & then of more WS2. I can squeeze the tube to hold the mop (without getting WS2 all over the place) while screwing my cleaning rod onto it. Then I insert a bore guide dedicated for prefouling into the action, and short stroke the mop through to burnish in the dry WS2. Then I push a single patch through to remove any loose.

That's dry, clean, and prefouled. So far it has matched prefouling of any powder I've used, which is amazing because typical powder prefouling does not match other powders..
Since the bore is stored dry in this case, You need to keep it dry. Take care of your guns.
You can use WS2 to coat bullets, as you might with moly. Where you do, it does not affect velocity over uncoated bullets(unlike moly).

 

[J E Custom]

There will be lots of replies and opinions on cleaning so you will have to decide which is best for you.

I am anal about the cleanliness of my barrels/fire arms, so my take will be different than many. I have personally found that clean barrels last longer than barrels that are not cleaned often or not at all.

1 = A lightly fouled barrel cleans up with very little effort and without the use of harsh solvents or abrasives and very little brushing.

2 = A badly fouled barrel requires harsh solvents or lots of scrubbing to get them clean. Copper is not as much a problem as the carbon fouling left in the barrel. Carbon is much harder than the barrel and embeds in the bullet each time it is fired causing erosion.

When I can, I like to sweep the carbon from the bore each time it is fired with a patch or a bore snake so it is as clean as possible without a solvent cleaning and brushing.

Sometimes this is not possible and I have to wait until I can do a thorough cleaning. On stainless barrels I have let them go as long as several weeks when out of state or away from my cleaning equipment.

When shooting matches I have shot close to 100 rounds without cleaning but cleaned the bore as soon as possible.

When load testing, I clean after each group to get the most consistent results. and once I find the best load I find that it is the most accurate in a clean barrel. When a barrel shoots better with a fouled barrel It means that the barrel fouling has altered the load to the point of it shooting its best and if you clean the barrel, it wont shoot as well until it is fouled again. So if you like to shoot a fouled barrel, work up your loads with a fouled barrel and they will be more consistent.

This cleaning regiment is my experience with shooting and cleaning for over 50 years and works best for me.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Lonewolf74]

Thanks for all the reply's and opinions guy's. I know I'm more on the anal side with keeping my gun's clean but I don't wanna ruin them with over cleaning so that's why I ask this question.

Don't get me wrong I would never store my gun dirty and I don't think I could handle not sending at least a couple patches down after I've shot. But to let it go with just a light clean over a few weeks while I'm using seems to be a happy medium and hopefully turns out to be a good practice.

Last few questions I had is when using a cleaning rod do you prefer coated or uncoated?
Do you take the jag, brush or whatever attachment off to pull it back through the barrel?
What bore guide? I can't seem to find Lucus bore guides anymore

 

[ctw]

I am on the same page with J E

 

[J E Custom]

Thanks for all the reply's and opinions guy's. I know I'm more on the anal side with keeping my gun's clean but I don't wanna ruin them with over cleaning so that's why I ask this question.

Don't get me wrong I would never store my gun dirty and I don't think I could handle not sending at least a couple patches down after I've shot. But to let it go with just a light clean over a few weeks while I'm using seems to be a happy medium and hopefully turns out to be a good practice.

Last few questions I had is when using a cleaning rod do you prefer coated or uncoated?
Do you take the jag, brush or whatever attachment off to pull it back through the barrel?
What bore guide? I can't seem to find Lucus bore guides anymore

I prefer a one piece rod that is a large diameter (.270 for 7mm an up) for all calibers larger so the rod doesn't snake down the bore like smaller diameter rods. also I prefer Non Coated because the coatings can/will catch and hold abrasives that can wear the bore. for normal cleaning, I use a swab
and solvent only(No brush) to also protect the bore. with this procedure, I can stroke the bore in both directions. If the bore does not come clean, I will use a bronze or nylon brush sparingly and only push it through and remove it at the muzzle for rod removal to minimize crown wear.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...caliber-25-stainless-steel-8-x-32-male-thread

I also highly recommend the use of a bore guide/Throat saver.
https://www.midwayusa.com/s?userSearchQuery=bore+guide&userItemsPerPage=48

Again, just the way I like to clean my barrels to get the longest life from them.

J E CUSTOM

 

[gohring3006]

I use a carbon fiber rod with a bore guide.