The same old cleaning argument. Your flavor?

[Mutant]

Was watching one of the gun channels and the guest was stating his Company's testing showed most people overclean their rifles. He found after removing the copper, his groups went from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches for quite some time. (Don't remember the number.)

He found he did not need to remove copper and would not, except after 6 or 7 thousand shots and then his groups remained at 1/2 inch. They did clean residue normally (whatever that is).

Made me wonder. My Marine buddy loved his brass brush and worked to get his rifle spotless. Others I shoot with and who are much better that I ever will be, clean rarely. I try to clean my Swiss rifles after every two trips to the range or a Sat. shoot. My skill gives no clues if this is good or bad.

This has been argued for the 50 years I have been shooting but I was wondering, with all the technology, the better rifles, new solvents, new tools and available measurement devices of today; what is your preferred routine? Any magic tricks? Any old or new theories or tried and true methodologies could not hurt anyone's knowledge base.

[OldShooter32]

When I was shooting on a military team, we found that the M14's grouped best after about 15 shots and started to open up about 150. Not scientific, and a small sample, but does make one wonder. I rod my K31 a couple times when I get home and leave it damp, then dry patch right before I shoot again. Rifle drives tacks (when I do my part) so I'll stick with that.

[emcon5]

Frankly I clean mine as little as possible, other than a quick douche after shooting corrosive ammo.

[Nitro Express!]

I clean my Enfield until the patches come out fairly clean, which is to say, not too much.

[wjc]

I normally clean my rifle with Hoppe's #9 and put a little behind each ear so I smell like no other guy.

I only use copper solvent on my bolt action (Winchester model 70) after 500-750 rounds of using lead-free ammo and the pattern starts opening up.

[tdyoung1958]

Depends on the gun

C&R's I just do a quick clean with a boresnake after the range to remove any powder residue / carbon, wipe them down and add a little lube oil. Twice a year, I sit down and do a thorough cleaning.

But that also depends greatly on what ammo I'm shooting as well, if it's surplus corrosive, I clean it much better at the range and again when home.

my 1911's get a good cleaning every range trip.

My AR's get cleaned like the C&R's

My one AR went for 5 years with over 25k rounds through it and I never touched it other than a bolt face scrub / boresnake and some lube

[meaty-btz]

What I found is that my VZ24 shot better cleaned with BP cleaner (carbon remover) than with Hoppes #9 (copper and carbon remover). I have since switched out to the Black Powder Cleaner and focused on only lubing, carbon removal, and lead removal if I note any.

I do think we over clean. I think we clean like we are using Black Powder, where you REALLY need to clean it heavily each time due to fowling. I did an experiment on my PT745 which is given a cleaning cycle by Taurus of 250 rounds. Instead of abating copper and giving it the once over I just pulled the slide swabbed (no brush) the barrel, cleaned face, lubed if needed and reassembled and it worked great. I say that the brushes are a bad idea, use nylon if you need to. I don't think we need to be "scrubbing" as much and that scrubbing does affect the gun in so much that a weapon will "settle" into a pattern and that constant cleaning will keep resetting it.

[Latigo]

For the past three years all of our solvents have sat on the shelves untouched. We use Wipe Out, and nothing else for everything. Carbon, copper, Moly etc.

[bruceflinch]

I normally clean my rifle with Hoppe's #9 and put a little behind each ear so I smell like no other guy.

You certainly do! May I suggest a splash under each arm?



I like to; run 2 wet patch, brush 20 strokes, 2 wet patch & about 4-6 dry patches. one oiled patch to finish.

[knucklehead0202]

for corrosive stuff i stick the muzzle in a sink full of hot, soapy water and hydrualic it up the bore with a tight patch. 2-3 patches of hoppes after that, 1 dry, 1 with oil. done deal. less than that with non-corrosive stuff. different guns get different-dirty however, even with the same brand of ammo. because of my collection, i shoot either handloads or prvi partizan, but old rifles especially, vary widely in barrel length, rifling twist and style, as well as depth and quality so each gun may need a specially-tailored type of cleaning. just don't brush the hell out of them every time and you'll be ok.

[corrosively_armed]

It's amazing how much you can get out by just running some wet patches of hoppes down the barrel then run a bronze brush down it two or three times then some more wet hoppes patches. You will get a far cleaner barrel than if you had not used the brush. Some people like the nylon brushes but I think the bronze probably works better.

For heavy leading and copper fouling I've used birchwood casey bore scrubber. Actually makes the barrel hot! And it smokes too wen you run another patch down it. Great fun... Don't get the stuff on your skin or in your eyes. I wear gloves. Works great. End up with green and blue patches. Read the warning about how long you can leave it in the barrel before cleaning it out. I never let it sit more than a couple minutes at most.

Was watching one of the gun channels and the guest was stating his Company's testing showed most people overclean their rifles. He found after removing the copper, his groups went from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches for quite some time. (Don't remember the number.)

He found he did not need to remove copper and would not, except after 6 or 7 thousand shots and then his groups remained at 1/2 inch. They did clean residue normally (whatever that is).

Made me wonder. My Marine buddy loved his brass brush and worked to get his rifle spotless. Others I shoot with and who are much better that I ever will be, clean rarely. I try to clean my Swiss rifles after every two trips to the range or a Sat. shoot. My skill gives no clues if this is good or bad.

This has been argued for the 50 years I have been shooting but I was wondering, with all the technology, the better rifles, new solvents, new tools and available measurement devices of today; what is your preferred routine? Any magic tricks? Any old or new theories or tried and true methodologies could not hurt anyone's knowledge base.

[meaty-btz]

I found this: If you are needing a Bronze Brush to clear something from your barrel you have Deposits. Essentially a hard and bonded build up, be it lead,copper, or carbon. Your chem should be emulsifying the deposits, if not you need to wait longer, use more, or change brands.

[Latigo]

Wipe Out is a brushless cleaner for carbon and brass deposits. The proof is in the Hawkeye Borescope. It never lies, and it never believes marketing ploys.

[DaveInOroValley]

You do know they sell this for those of us that are Hoppes fans:

http://www.amazon.com/Hoppes-H9AF-Air-Freshener-Pack/dp/B007ED76P8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343835634&sr=8-1&keywords=hoppes+air+freshener

[emcon5]

Keep in mind, bronze is 80%+ copper, so if you are using a copper solvent, it will also eat your brush. Some (Sweets 7.62, Barnes CR10) much more than others (Hoppes),