Things to know?

[Kairo]

I just ordered a savage trophy hunter xp, left-handed, in 30-06. Will take a few days, then dros time. anything I should know on how to maintain it? Like, should I buy a hard case? Should I clean it every time? Is there a break in period?

[hermosabeach]

If you do not have a rifle cleaning set up, consider buying
1 piece rod- long enough to exit bore and bore guide
Bore guide
Cleaning rest
Some good brushes, jigs, patches and solvent.


Hard case for airline travel or just a soft case for hunting and range trips.


Clean it before you shoot it the first time to get the factory/ long term storage grease out of the bore.

[Divernhunter]

No special break in process. Shoot it. Stop and let it cool when you cannot hold the barrel in your hand.
One piece cleaning rod--I like Dewy.

[ElvenSoul]

when shooting at the range after 3 or 4 shots the barrel will be hot. Let it cool down for a bit then resume shooting to have best accuracy. Hot barrels suck for shooting.

This is a good excuse to have a second or third gun!

clean when you get home or just before packing up at the end of your range session.

[Wrangler John]

I use these cases for the majority of range and hunting trips: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/369...-polymer-black

Don't buy something too small, the single rifle case will crowd the rifle and scope combination, this case is large enough for a rifle equipped with a large scope and a bipod, and has room for a cleaning rod. It also has two locking latches, so you don't have to mess with a separate lock. I have a stack of these, some that have been in use for over twenty years, and they are still going strong. I do not like soft cases as they don't protect a scope as well as a hard case. Never had a damaged rifle with four cases strapped into the pickup bed on interstate trips using these.

For cleaning rods I prefer: http://www.boretech.com/products/borestix7mm.shtml

The bore snake type pull-through cleaning tapes are useless in my opinion. When hunting in the field and a cartridge sticks in the chamber from having a bullet seated too long, to having an extractor malfunction, only a one piece cleaning rod works best to eject it. Further, the one piece coated rod is strong enough for tight fitting patches and doesn't have threaded joints to cause problems. The Proof Positive rod has a female threaded tip that does not contain brass or copper alloy to leach blue color into your patches fooling you into believing there is copper bullet fouling remaining in the bore. Measure your rifle from muzzle to butt and order a rod that is at least that long or a few inches longer, a rod that is barely long enough is a pain to use.

For the above reason I also use these jags: http://www.boretech.com/products/bor...agsproof.shtml and these brushes: http://www.boretech.com/products/rif...lonproof.shtml

None of these produce false positives for copper fouling. I do not use brass or bronze bore brushes, because they leach copper fouling into the bore and are too abrasive. Brushes need to be cleaned after use and discarded frequently as they wear. I purchase a dozen 3-packs of each caliber I shoot.

My favorite cleaning solvents are also Bore Tech products: Eliminator, CU+2 Copper Remover, and C4 Carbon Remover. http://www.boretech.com/category/solvents.shtml

These products contain no ammonia and are non-hazardous and biodegradable. I have found they outperform every other product, including the foams, gels, and ammonia based cleaners, and will not corrode barrel steel. After using Eliminator, followed by CU+2 Copper Remover if needed, a few patches of C4 Carbon Remover usually turn up a bit of brown or grey carbon fouling. When the patches turn clear the bore is free of all fouling, ready for a coat of bore lube prior to continued firing.

My experience is that these patches are superior to all cotton patches in removing fouling, one side is an open weave for scrubbing, the other smooth for spreading lubes or coatings. http://www.brownells.com/gun-cleanin...0%28xzzx308%29

Then you will need a bore guide to avoid damaging the barrel and the rod, and to keep solvent from running into the action. This is one universal type guide I use: http://www.sinclairintl.com/gun-clea...prod35230.aspx This is an alternative for Remington and Savages with a bolt diameter of .695": http://www.sinclairintl.com/gun-clea...%20Springfield

When you first shoot your new rifle, I suggest that the barrel be cleaned of all factory residue, then broken in slowly. First, obtain a can of this stuff: http://www.hornady.com/store/One-Sho...g-5-oz-Aerosol Then follow the directions.

With a lightweight barrel contour (and the heavier target/varmint contours too) the idea is to avoid unnecessarily overheating the barrel. Without the mass of a heavy contour to absorb and moderate heating and vibration, the lighter contours are prone to overheat. While barrels are stressed relieved at the factory, firing them for the first few shots is exposing them to internal heat, friction, pressure and vibrations completely different from the manufacturing process that is causing miniscule changes in the steel's grain structure. Taking it slow and allowing the barrel to remain cool lessens the chance for bad things to happen and reduces copper fouling. Do not shoot the barrel until it is hot to the touch. I use an infrared thermometer to monitor barrel temperature just ahead of the chamber, but this is not necessary for the average hunting rifle. It should never get above mildly warm, if it was a cup of coffee you'd spit it out as too cold.

Shoot one or two shots allowing a full minute or two between shots. Then clean the bore until all traces of copper and carbon fouling are gone. Reapply Hornady's First Firing and repeat the process for at least ten, or better still, twenty shots. Then slowly fire a five shot group, waiting at least two minutes between shots. Then clean again. At some point in this process fouling should diminish and clean up quickly, and groups should shrink. At that point the barrel is broken in. In my barrels this usually occurs between 25 and 50 shots, the lower figure for custom double lapped barrels, the higher for factory barrels.

Take your time, you aren't running a race, but you are learning your new rifle. After all a slow day at the range is better than the best day at work.

[Kairo]

Thanks for all the replies. All I own are semiautomatic rifles and this is the first time owning a bolt rifle. I use hoppes and have a cleaning rod for a garand already, so it should be fine for this since a garand barrel is longer... Is removing copper between shots that necessary, because been reading the opposite...