How often do you clean your barrel?

[Lrdchaos]

So when you say you swab the barrel. Is that just a cloth swab with a little oil to get the unburned powder out of the barrel? The to clean the copper out you use the brush? I'm currently having a rifle built and want to get the most longevity and accuracy our of the barrel. Always before I cleaned and bore brushed after every outing.

 

[emn83]

I'll bore snake my barrel after each outing (dry bore snake), and sometimes not even that. My rifle doesn't settle down to shooting max accuracy until it has like 10-20 rounds through it, and I'll shoot it for 100 between cleanings and have no problems thus far with 1100 rounds through the pipe.

 

[doubleaclasper]

I clean when my groups start opening up. I find it unnecessary to clean if it is still shooting straight. This is usually past 100 rounds for me. If the rifle needed to be cleaned after around 20 shots I would sell the gun.

 

[long450]

I clean calibers with 50 or less grains of powder and bare bullets about every 100 rounds. Anything with more powder I clean between 20 and 50 shots. I try to work it out where I can clean and shoot at least 3 fouling shots before I need to hunt with the weapon.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

I clean calibers with 50 or less grains of powder and bare bullets about every 100 rounds. Anything with more powder I clean between 20 and 50 shots. I try to work it out where I can clean and shoot at least 3 fouling shots before I need to hunt with the weapon.

Thats interesting logic. Never looked at it that way.

 

[long450]

I use a borescope and that cleaning sequence works for me. For most of my rifles, there is no need to foul for shooting deer size game out to 300 yards, but if you want to shoot beyond 300 yards it seems to help. I generally do not clean to bare metal but every 300 to 500 rounds. I have only one hunting rifle that has reached that number of rounds,

 

[gohring3006]

I tried not cleaning for 200 - 300 rounds and when I did I could never get it back to bare metal what are you guys using to get all that copper out without scrubbing the rifling away lol.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

I tried not cleaning for 200 - 300 rounds and when I did I could never get it back to bare metal what are you guys using to get all that copper out without scrubbing the rifling away lol.

Shooters choice and barnes cr-10 will cut through copper quickly without a brush.

You will notice most guys state they dont clean ALL the copper out, because if you do it will take more fouling shots before the rifle settles back down.

 

[gohring3006]

yea I noticed they shoot foulers but maybe its just my current rifle but I have cleaned after every range session usually about 20 to 50 rounds never had much change in groups clean or fouled it is a .5 moa rifle it could be from a exstensive barrel break in and the hand lapping but I just don't see letting it get that many rounds thru it and wiping it a few times and saying its clean because its not.

 

[Gerard Schultz]

I clean every time the rifle has been used. Whether I fire one or two shots on a walk and stalk or 60 shots on a cull for meat, the rifle is cleaned of copper and carbon afterwards. I have several rifles at any given time and all have always shot best with a completely clean bore.

Some lose accuracy as carbon/copper builds up and requires cleaning after a number of shots but that goes to the quality of the barrel.

I have used M98 carbon/copper cleaner for more than 15 years and found that I only need to use brushes on a customer's rifle if he has allowed the bore to rust. Then I do not use M98 anyway because it does not move rust.

 

[Barrelnut]

I clean every time the rifle has been used. Whether I fire one or two shots on a walk and stalk or 60 shots on a cull for meat, the rifle is cleaned of copper and carbon afterwards. I have several rifles at any given time and all have always shot best with a completely clean bore.

Some lose accuracy as carbon/copper builds up and requires cleaning after a number of shots but that goes to the quality of the barrel.

I have used M98 carbon/copper cleaner for more than 15 years and found that I only need to use brushes on a customer's rifle if he has allowed the bore to rust. Then I do not use M98 anyway because it does not move rust.

Interesting. Do you shoot the clean bore with a light coat of oil by putting a couple drops of oil on the last patch? Or do you run a dry patch through the bore before going back to the field? Most hunters are really only concerned about that first cold bore shot anyway. I have started to notice that one of my hunting rifles shoots one inch low and one inch right with a clean bore and light oil from a cleaning patch. Wondering if I should investigate this phenomenon more?

 

[Gerard Schultz]

I always shoot the first shot after cleaning with M98. First shot flyers are very common and it is because of the oil/lubricant left in the bore after storage and cleaning. No matter how well you clean out the bore with clean patches, there will always be a microscopic film left in the bore.

If I am putting away the rifle for more than a day or two, after cleaning with M98, I preserve the bore with oil as I do with the rest of the rifle if it is not stainless steel. Before shooting, the oil is removed from the bore and then cleaned with M98. This ensures that there are no first shot flyers. I can shoot a group immediately, no fouling shots are required.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Ive never used m98 but if its safe to leave in the bore and is more consistent for a first shot i might have to give it a try.

 

[Gerard Schultz]

I got an old 8x57JS Mauser in reasonable condition but very dirty with a lot of copper fouling in the bore. I wanted to see where the limits of M98 was so I took the metal out of the wood, coated the bore thoroughly and, for good measure, painted a section of the barrel with M98. I stood it on a folded rag, on the muzzle and looked at it every so often. Three months later I cleaned all the loose muck and the M98 off it. It was as though the M98 was never there except that it was clean. No damage to the bore, no carbon or copper fouling and the blue on the outside of the barrel was unmarked in any way.

If you can find a solvent that will move carbon and copper, and be as safe and economical as M98, I will go buy a hat and eat it.

We run CNC lathes and, every so often the electric motors need brushes replaced. It is dirty work and there is no space at the bottom of two of the motors. Once done, the carbon takes days to get off my hands and from under my nails. Then I started thinking: M98 is a carbon cleaner. Now I clean up with a nail brush and M98 and it is a breeze.