How often do you clean your barrel?

[Bullet bumper]

What about Dura-Coat, Ultra Coat, Molly coated, or other coated barrels? How often are ya'll cleaning them?

DocB

Home moly coated , custom process , no wax . 223 Howa . Clean about ever 300 to 400 odd rounds.
I don't know how much further I could go maybe many more but I stop around that because that's where I stopped during original testing .
I have 400 loaded rounds at a time and when they are gone I clean but if I only fire a few hundred and want to put the gun away I clean then also.
It's not just about accuracy maintenance , it's also about convenience and if you have finished with the gun , travel time home , storage time , corrosion control , etc. It generally takes more shots with Moly to foul the bore again to settle group accuracy so you don't want to solvent clean too often .
Just because I don't scrub with bore solvent as often , does not mean you don't lubricate the bore to protect the steel each day after use or at least when you put it away for a few days or weeks .
Cleaning for accuracy maintenance and corrosion protection is two separate issues .

Uncoated bullets , I clean as accuracy drops off or at convenient intervals that I know from experience with the barrel is about right to keep things kosher .
It varies in each barrel . Usually only takes one or two fouling shots to settle .

 

[jsthntn247]

Clean target rifles after each match and hunting rifles at the end of the season.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

After the end of the season.

 

[DocB]

Home moly coated , custom process , no wax . 223 Howa . Clean about ever 300 to 400 odd rounds.
I don't know how much further I could go maybe many more but I stop around that because that's where I stopped during original testing .
I have 400 loaded rounds at a time and when they are gone I clean but if I only fire a few hundred and want to put the gun away I clean then also.
It's not just about accuracy maintenance , it's also about convenience and if you have finished with the gun , travel time home , storage time , corrosion control , etc. It generally takes more shots with Moly to foul the bore again to settle group accuracy so you don't want to solvent clean too often .
Just because I don't scrub with bore solvent as often , does not mean you don't lubricate the bore to protect the steel each day after use or at least when you put it away for a few days or weeks .
Cleaning for accuracy maintenance and corrosion protection is two separate issues .

Uncoated bullets , I clean as accuracy drops off or at convenient intervals that I know from experience with the barrel is about right to keep things kosher .
It varies in each barrel . Usually only takes one or two fouling shots to settle .

Thanks for the good info, but actually I was asking about coated bores and chambers. How often and when do they need cleaning in anyone's experience?

Thanks

DocB

 

[Bullet bumper]

Thanks for the good info, but actually I was asking about coated bores and chambers. How often and when do they need cleaning in anyone's experience?

Thanks

DocB

? , If you shoot moly coated bullets you end up with a moly coated bore .
Coating a chamber with any kind of friction modifying layer is generally not a good idea for normal loads.

 

[kdumph]

Alright so what does this all mean for breaking in a barrel? Seems Iv seen a number of things that have you cleaning after each shot? Is it better to get it dirty and leave it so?

 

[Bullet bumper]

Alright so what does this all mean for breaking in a barrel? Seems Iv seen a number of things that have you cleaning after each shot? Is it better to get it dirty and leave it so?

The discussion was about how often you clean not so much about barrel break in.
How much good you get out of doing a break in process depends on how smooth the barrel is inside to start with.
As most shooters don't know for sure how smooth the barrel is it can't hurt to do a barrel break-in .
It is not good to leave a barrel dirty as in badly fouled . Dirty dry barrels left for long periods will rust and pit quicker not to mention accuracy may suffer .
There is a World of difference between what you do while shooting and using a gun to what you should do after the shooting is finished and the gun is put away.
Bores can be ruined during storage and no use if not cared for properly.
If you are not using any coatings on your bullets then you will be cleaning as and when accuracy starts to go off . Now that is different for different people some might see a group blow out to .4 and think it needs cleaning and others may be happy to get a 1 inch group and don't see a need to clean until it's a 3 inch group they can't ignore anymore .
Most BR shooters clean more often , most hunters clean far less and or when it's convenient .
If you run MoS2 moly coated bullets , coated properly , you can clean even less often than the above . However you still lubricate the bore well before you put it away and if storage is long , say end of season then do a thorough solvent clean to get out as much moly as possible and then light oil and loose patch out then grease the bore well with loose patch's so a good layer of grease stays inside the chamber and bore but the light oil under penertrates into the moly layer excluding oxygen before the grease goes on .

 

[markb317]

I clean bore completly out when the group starts to open up to about 3/4", until then its just runnig a bore snake through around every 400 - 500 rounds.

 

[Rbreb13]

When they need it. All my rifles are different.
Hunting rigs, when the season is over.
And anytime they are going to be stored for awhile.

 

[gohring3006]

I clean mine after every range session wether it needs it or not I scrub it clean maybe I'm just paranoid but I get all the copper out its not that difficult with 5r rifling but always shoots the first group to the same as the last.sub moa

 

[Canadian Bushman]

For anyone who's read through this thread it really is amazing how many different takes on cleaning there are.

What surprised me most was that some people rarely clean at all. I really didnt expect anyone to go past a few hundred without cleaning.

 

[Bullet bumper]

For anyone who's read through this thread it really is amazing how many different takes on cleaning there are.

What surprised me most was that some people rarely clean at all. I really didnt expect anyone to go past a few hundred without cleaning.

I have seen barrels so badly copper fouled that they were causing high chamber pressures and horrible accuracy , it took numerous applications of Ferric chloride PC board etchant to disolve the copper and powder layers as bore solvent was too slow .
Some people just shoot their gun for years without proper cleaning until the accuracy goes way off and then sell the gun because they think the barrel is worn out . What happens is the copper builds up until you get one high recoil shot and some gets stripped out and it settles again for a while .

 

[Canadian Bushman]

I have seen barrels so badly copper fouled that they were causing high chamber pressures and horrible accuracy , it took numerous applications of Ferric chloride PC board etchant to disolve the copper and powder layers as bore solvent was too slow .
Some people just shoot their gun for years without proper cleaning until the accuracy goes way off and then sell the gun because they think the barrel is worn out . What happens is the copper builds up until you get one high recoil shot and some gets stripped out and it settles again for a while .

All the more reason its so amazing guys can get away without cleaning for so long.

 

[4bycamper]

All the more reason its so amazing guys can get away without cleaning for so long.

I agree totally.

If I can see fowling in the barrel, the bore snake will take care of that.

When I can't remember the last time I cleaned the copper out, then it's probably about time.