Barrel fouling cleaning...

[Koda]

follow up. I gave it a round 2 tonight.
I broke out my old brass brush this time and some elbow grease with Hopps 9 and kept at it until it came out clean with a patch. Then I followed up with a patch with a light coating of CLP to oil and lube the barrel.

I think the difference was my nylon brush is either not tight enough (significantly looser fitting than the brass brush) or nylon is just ineffective and stubborn fouling.

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

My suggestion is to try different products; I have several on the bench. I use foam, Sweets 7.62, Hoppes #9, CLP, another liquid copper cutter, carb cleaner. Nylon brushes, and patches.

The Sweets 7.62 requires ventilation and PPE big time, but it really brightens stainless steel better than anything I've used.

I too believe in a 3 session cleaning, but only once a year. A one day is usually enough; carbon on the bolt is the biggest enemy of an AR.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Doesn't look bad in the first few inches Keeping the rod rotating is good, otherwise you skip over the land/grooves transition rather than following it along the edges.

I also find that once it's loosened with a decent cleaner, that the dry patch matters - more that if i use a patch puller, it's crap, doesn't clean the aforementioned transitions well either. I had already moved from pullers to placing a patch over my brush; i've since discovered that jags are where it's at - totally worth it.

 

[coop44]

Try this index

You guys work way too hard

 

[Greenbug]

I have found lots of ways to get a rifle barrel good and clean, none of them include Hoppes #9 or a Boresnake...

Boresnakes are convenient and I use them in rimfires (where I would like to leave a little fouling) and smoothbore shotgun barrels, but they don't follow the rifling twist to get a good cleaning.

Hoppes #9 is now more of an "air freshener" than a gun cleaning product with all the superior products available these days. I do love the smell of nostalgia!

 

[MrMillspecer]

Why would you leave carbon, copper and lead? Fouling attracts moisture...

One reason I leave some these days is because my accuracy dropped after a thorough cleaning on my White Oak. Now I just run a patch with light oil through it for storage. I will wait until accuracy drops off. Then use the heavy solvents. But that's just me. I leave all my .22 barrels dirty until there's an issue. Again just light oil before storage. Never had a rusty barrel yet.

 

[Crohnos01]

I used to shoot competitively on a 22 LR team in high school (yeah, we actually brought guns to school and practiced in the gym...and no one got shot....crazy, right?). At the beginning of the season, the coach would have us clean our rifles, and for the first 10 or 15 rounds your groups would suck after cleaning. Then ever thing would get slightly fouled, and the groups would tighten up again. We shot thousands of rounds every year, and cleaned the rifles twice a year at the beginning and end of the of the season.... The coach would be pizzed if you cleaned your rifle every day due to the inaccurate groups after cleaning. It sure seemed to be true 40 years ago and suspect that it still is today... As the coach explained it to us, the fouling would fill in any gaps in the rifling grooves and give the bullet a constant contact with the barrel and better accuracy. I still clean my rifles sparingly today. Once before hunting season and punching 40 or so rounds downrange to warm up and check accuracy, but not again until I am ready to put it away for the season.

 

[Koda]

Interesting....

Ive never heard of a dirty barrel being more accurate, it doesnt make sense to me Is this a rifle only thing? (My thread was about a pistol barrel....) I dont see how leaving fouling in any barrel is a good thing...
Im pretty satisfied I cleaned my barrel spotless, so Ill try to remember if I have any accuracy issues next time I go shooting.

 

[11Charlie]

Interesting....

Ive never heard of a dirty barrel being more accurate, it doesnt make sense to me Is this a rifle only thing? (My thread was about a pistol barrel....) I dont see how leaving fouling in any barrel is a good thing...
Im pretty satisfied I cleaned my barrel spotless, so Ill try to remember if I have any accuracy issues next time I go shooting.

I'll second that one koda. Never heard of such a thing. Let me know if thats true so I don't have to clean my guns as well anymore.

 

[Koda]

I'll second that one koda. Never heard of such a thing. Let me know if thats true so I don't have to clean my guns as well anymore.

The last thing you want to do is take my advice...

 

[MrMillspecer]

Interesting....

Ive never heard of a dirty barrel being more accurate, it doesnt make sense to me Is this a rifle only thing? (My thread was about a pistol barrel....) I dont see how leaving fouling in any barrel is a good thing...
Im pretty satisfied I cleaned my barrel spotless, so Ill try to remember if I have any accuracy issues next time I go shooting.

Missed the pistol barrel part. I don't think you would notice either way. Polish away.

 

[Koda]

Yeah, I dont think so either.
So maybe a point of impact difference in a rifle barrel, but still dont see how it would be good to store them with some fouling in the barrel....

 

[Certaindeaf]

Larry will show you the proper way..

Ricky will show you the proper way.. lol

 

[Certaindeaf]

Wow, three days to clean your gun? Holy moly! I don't have that kind of patience. Hoppes, brush, boresnake, then another boresnake with light oil. That's it for me!

The instructions that HK put out for the MP5's called for like a three day or so rigamarole.. screw that. if memory serves, one was kept in the armory and never cleaned or oiled.. 70,000 rounds and it still chewed its food up. germans

 

[Crohnos01]

Just to be clear, I never said store the rifle with a dirty barrel. On rifle team, the guns got a thorough cleaning twice a year. Once when pulled out of the safe for the season, and once just before being out away for storage. As for the accuracy/repeatability thing, don't take my word for it. Try it yourself. Lock the rifle down in a leadsled or something similar to take the shooter out of the equation. Fire 30 or 40 rounds and get your grouping down and a dirty barrel, then pull the rifle and clean the snot out of it. Lock it back into the lead sled and see what happens with the first 10 to 15 rounds. If you change nothing else, you should see the groups widen for the first 10+ rounds.... That's been my experience anyway. Do some Google searches... I am not alone in this experience.

 

[Koda]

Just to be clear, I never said store the rifle with a dirty barrel. On rifle team, the guns got a thorough cleaning twice a year. Once when pulled out of the safe for the season, and once just before being out away for storage. As for the accuracy/repeatability thing, don't take my word for it. Try it yourself. Lock the rifle down in a leadsled or something similar to take the shooter out of the equation. Fire 30 or 40 rounds and get your grouping down and a dirty barrel, then pull the rifle and clean the snot out of it. Lock it back into the lead sled and see what happens with the first 10 to 15 rounds. If you change nothing else, you should see the groups widen for the first 10+ rounds.... That's been my experience anyway. Do some Google searches... I am not alone in this experience.

Ah... Makes sense. i may have got confused Im talking about cleaning the barrels to put the gun away for a while. Some were saying they dont worry about cleaning their barrels completely.... Maybe they shoot tem every day I dont know.

 

[MrMillspecer]

Mabey DizzyJ will weigh in . He ran a Beretta to 2500 rounds with no lube or cleaning. And runs cheap steel cased ammo through his ARs until they choke. Think his S&W AR went over 1000 rounds. Just to see how much they will take. A true first hand source on gun torture.

Let's hear the details on the pistol DizzyJ. And make sure I have my facts right.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

Ed's Red and elbow grease is still my favorite combination. I make it in two gallon batches and store it in dark brown, gallon sized, glass containers.

 

[coop44]

Wow, all good examples of advancing wear in the bore.

 

[Dan Adams]

Try Butch's Bore Shine. Swab the bore and leave it for 10 minutes or more (overnight OK). Then swab with dry patch and note all of the green streaks. That's the copper coming out. When I first used Butch's, I didn't wait long enough and wasted a few patches repeating the process. If you can be a little patient (maybe clean a pistol while waiting?), it does most of the work. The other gunk comes out with Hoppes or CLP. BTW, I almost never recommend anything to anybody, but I was really pleased to find something that cut my cleaning time in half.