Clean Patch?

[powaybob]

I have been shooting for some years and am of the school that believes you should do at least a basic cleaning after every shoot. I run a wet patch with Hoppe's #9 down the barrel and then clean the rest of the gun. I run another wet patch down the barrel, then a brass brush, and then start with dry patches on the jag. I am still getting a little grey on the patches after 8 or 10 runs. I have never gotten to the point where the patch comes out as white as it went in. I stop when I figure it is "close enough" to clean, figuring I have got 99% plus of the residue.

Do your patches come out white? Is there something lacking in my technique?

I'm not really worried about it, just wonder what others do.

[skeeter149]

New owner curious to the answer

[Nynvolt]

I don't run a patch until I'm done scrubbing. I start with the cotton "brush". I let it site while working on other parts. Then I run the brass brush and finish with the patches. They come out clean by the fourth our fifth patch. Maybe more or less patches depending. My glock I just twist a paper towel through it. Usually only need a couple of times and it comes out clean.

[Nynvolt]

Thought I'd add I'm also using hopes on the cotton brush. I dip the whole thing into the bottle and give it time to break down the crud before I use the brass brush.

And on the post above it's sit not suit lol, silly phone.

[Lead Waster]

I do it until the dry patch is clean enough. It's never white. I do basically the same routine.

[ThortheDog]

I follow pretty much the same routine. Wet the barrel with Hoppe's, then alternate bronze brush and wet patches on a jag until the patches look like they're not picking up dirt. Follow with a dry patch. If it doesn't look dirty, I do a visual inspection, and if I don't see copper streaks in the barrel I'm done. I then hose the barrel out with break cleaner and lightly oil. Boy, writing it out makes it sound a lot more time consuming than it is.

I suspect cleaning after every outing doesn't give powder and copper fouling a lot of time to build up.

I have come to prefer jags over slotted tips for running patches through. I've been told they do a better job of covering the entire surface of the bore with the patch, and that appears to be the case. May pick up a cotton mop like Nynvolt mentioned since it sounds like a good idea.

[starsnuffer]

You may have a situation where the brass on your jag is reacting with the cleaner. Try using a nylon jag and see what you get.

Personally I don't like hoppes, or anything else toxic, but I find I'm in the minority.

-W

[Army]

Shoot it for 2000 rounds, then clean it...if it needs it.

The "clean after every session" hasn't been needed since the demise of corrosive ammo.

Lube it, shoot it, do it again next week.

[Lead Waster]

I use the slotted patch holder to hold the wet patch, and use the jag tip to shove fry patches. It took me slow brain a while to figure out that the hoppes copper solvent was probably making my brass brushes smaller and smaller!!!

[Kodemonkey]

I use the slotted patch holder to hold the wet patch, and use the jag tip to shove fry patches. It took me slow brain a while to figure out that the hoppes copper solvent was probably making my brass brushes smaller and smaller!!!

I use these for that reason. They are nickel plated (I believe it is nickel) and will not react with copper solvent.

http://www.amazon.com/Tipton-Piece-Ultra-Best-Brush/dp/B001F6ITFG

It's a nice set, the brushes are longer so that equates to less back and forth in the bore.

To answer the OP question, I go until light grey and then check to make sure all the copper is out. Previously I was using mpro7 spray cleaner in the bore. I found it doesn't have anything in it to cut copper, so I had to use a dedicated copper cutter. Now I found their "bore gel" and when used regularly I don't have to use a copper solvent anymore.

My routine:

-Spray everything with mpro7 degreaser
-wipe down the barrel and run a dry patch through the bore (the mpro7 crawls in there)
-run mpro7 bore gel patch
-wipe down the rest of the gun
-run another wet patch of mpro 7
-run a brass brush about 10 times through the bore
-dry patch
-wet patch
-dry patch

I run the wet/dry patch 3-4 times. If it is still coming out dirty, I go back to the brush. If the dry patch looks pretty good I run an oiled patch and then a dry patch and I am done.

Total time for me if I do it regularly is 10 minutes total, from strip down to back in the safe.

Any good cleaner will do the same. I like the mpro7 because it is non toxic. I've got a cabinet full of cleaners and I keep going back to mpro7. From what I understand the hoppes elite non toxic is the same stuff as mpro7 (I heard hoppes bought the formula or bought the whole company - pantheon chemical).

[zfields]

Boresnake with a little hoppes in it. I think y'all are over thinking it.

[Munk]

I mostly clean just for the Zen of it. I know that when I'm using modern ammo, there's no corrosive element in it, so I don't need to clean for that reason, I do it because I enjoy it.

I also avoid using a metal jag and no steel cleaning rods, I prefer aluminum or fiberglass. I do like to make sure that even when I don't clean, I get all the loose debris from the chamber, I use a silicon rag to get all the fingerprints, oil, and dirt off the outside of my guns, and for my guns that I run wet (silly beretta), I make sure to wipe out the rails and other surfaces that accumulate powder residue in the lube, then re-lube them.

[h0use]

i use a boresnake. run it down maybe 3 or 4 times with hoppes. then with a patch run some rem oil down the barrel.

[Roots]

I think you're getting false positives from the cleaner.

[epcii]

The patches will never be as clean as before you run them through. I just visual inspect and brush/patch until most of the residue is gone.