Cleaning question

[Beluebow]

There is no downside to keeping your rifle clean. Best easy way to get one clean quick is do it while they are hot.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

The crud definitely breaks loose easier for Me, with some heat.

At least the top layer or 5!

 

[Muddyboots]

The wild card is always powder and bullet used. Either one can influence barrel cleaning frequency. Copper reducing powders, mono's versus cup core along with round count can be significantly different for specific rifles. Barrel bores can be the major contributor to frequency. We all have that one barrel that just "muddies" up faster.

I have a Teslong and went down that one barrel and put it away. Rifle shoots despite what the Teslong shows.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

I've only tried 2 Brux barrels so far, both were put into service the last 6 months.
They clean up easily, have from the the first rounds fired. Another is my 7Mega wearing a Krieger. It's great also. I know some of that has to do with machining but the difference in these versus the others I'm "used to" is daylight and dark.

Question: why are so many top barrel companies in Wisconsin? Packer fans?

 

[Taylorbok]

Question: why are so many top barrel companies in Wisconsin? Packer fans?

I think it's because Boots Obermeyer who was a high end barrel maker was in WI and trained several people to build barrels. Pretty sure Kreiger came from Obermeyer and I think Bartlein came from Kreiger.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

I've moved into the don't clean camp. It hasn't failed me yet.

I'm still curious about the copper on top of cup/core fouling cleaning theory Spomer came up with. Supposedly, it's a thing. I can't confirm as I don't switch loads in a gun when it's shooting well.

 

[memtb]

I've moved into the don't clean camp. It hasn't failed me yet.

I'm still curious about the copper on top of cup/core fouling cleaning theory Spomer came up with. Supposedly, it's a thing. I can't confirm as I don't switch loads in a gun when it's shooting well.

I know that in the early days of the Barnes mono bullets…..it was a big mistake (at least with most rifles) to shoot their monos behind conventional cup & core without a thorough cleaning!

My "match grade" barrel seemed to be far less affected than did my wife's rifle and those of several friends! My wife's rifle would go from a 1" rifle to a 3" rifle, if it was not very thoroughly cleaned ! memtb

 

[memtb]

FireFlyFishing, I failed to mention that…….when Barnes started "grooving" their bullets the fouling issues seemed to be substantially reduced.

While history has indicated that the negatives of shooting the monos behind the cup & cores are greatly reduced…..I ain't taking any chances. There are many things in this world that shouldn't be mixed….I consider this, one of those things! memtb

 

[FireFlyFishing]

Agreed. All the mono folks since have followed Barnes with this design in one way or another.

 

[Rick Richard]

I might be a lucky one, but I have not had any negative effects on several rifles when swapping back and forth from Hammer and Bergers…no cleaning between. Like I said" lucky" or no truth to having to clean between switching from one to another. Hmmmm.

 

[memtb]

I might be a lucky one, but I have not had any negative effects on several rifles when swapping back and forth from Hammer and Bergers…no cleaning between. Like I said" lucky" or no truth to having to clean between switching from one to another. Hmmmm.

Maybe you have a better grade of barrel than your "run of the mill" factory barrels! memtb

 

[Rick Richard]

Maybe you have a better grade of barrel than your "run of the mill" factory barrels! memtb

True. They are all custom barrels. Maybe I should have mentioned that.

 

[Old Rooster]

I would agree with that wholeheartedly.

But, if I spend two hours cleaning a rifle once every 2+ years (500 rounds), and you spend 15 minutes every 50 rounds, how does that time work out? Plus, you have to shoot 30-50 foulers (3-5 after each cleaning) over that duration and I have to shoot 5.

Most of my rifles get shot every month or two minimum. Some get shot every week or two. Very few sit in the safe without getting shot with the exception of my 7RM and 28 Nosler (unless someone in the family has an elk tag).

For me it includes my sanity. If I know there is a dirty gun in the safe I become a worry wort and can't sleep until I clean that rifle or rifles.

 

[Rotten]

I usually just remove the carbon in the barrel but leave the copper fouling. If I sight in before hunting I won't clean the barrel until after the hunt is over with. I haven't seen a huge impact shift when switching between Barnes and conventional bullets in my 270 win. But that's only a sample of one rifle with only 100 rds of Mono/Barnes ttsx bullets down the bore. Usually 1 fouling shot is sufficient to get my rifles back to point of aim.
If I just remove the carbon.
I'm not a competition shooter
But I do shoot about 300-500 rds a year through my hunting rifles and more in my non hunting rifles m14 and Ar's.
That's just how I do things.