Gun Cleaning

[JAG1]

Are you supposed to always use the wire brush inside the barrel? Seems that the steel wire brush would be a bit harsh on the boring. Do you guys use a brass brush instead? I just ran 15 patches or so thru the barrel till they came out clean in the end and then ran one back and forth with the lube oil. Is that right? Thanks in advance.

[CSM]

Sounds good to me!  A few notes... A brush of softer material than the barrel is good.  Hence the bronze/brass and plastic brushes.  Scrub with cleaner like CLP or hoppes.  

 

If possible for rifles, remove the bolt and run all brushes, jags & patches etc from the breech to the bolt.  Its easier on things and reduces the risk of damaging the crown.  

 

Dont use steel cleaning rods or dirty and gritty rods, as they will damage the throat in the chamber or crown at the end of the barrel.  This is why most rods are aluminum.  

 

For smokeless ammo, run a brush through with hoppes if really dirty, patch til clean, then oil. You can look down the barrel visually to look for dark spots that show fowling or pitting. I DONT reuse patches on my good guns.  Patches are cheap.  Soap and water then oil on black powder guns.  

 

Finally, i generally wipe down the outside surfaces with a very lightly oiled cloth to remove fingerprints and associated acids and salts...  Generally, most guns dont need more than a light oiling.  Some, like M1 garands, 1911s, and others like a bit of grease.  The old rule is if it rotates, oil it, if it slides, grease it... but most of the time oil will work just fine.  

 

Unless its an AR15, then I just wipe the flash hider off and put it back in the safe.  I dont clean the M4gery rifles unless they get wet or i am really bored.  

 

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by CSM

[JAG1]

Thank you CSM. It is a .22 mag Golden Boy rifle that I enjoy a lot.

[CSM]

5 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

Thank you CSM. It is a .22 mag Golden Boy rifle that I enjoy a lot.

 

Those are fun.  I know nothing of caring for brass, but i would think you just let it age gracefully.  .22 can have lead fowling that should come out with brushing.  Some of the lead removal foams etc can be hard on the finish of the gun.  

[Wild and Free]

I follow a lot of gun info forums ect. and it is coming down to the fact that few hard core gunners are spending a lot of time cleaning the bores or actions of guns until noticeable performance issues are noticed. Most say that more damage is done to the action and bore from over cleaning and not using the proper methods of cleaning than from not cleaning and just shooting.

Stainless barrel guns I see a lot of guys now say they only run a couple patches through every couple thousand rounds or so.

[Hawkez]

I used to use Hoppes until last year.  I was having trouble getting my 7MM-08 group.  I cleaned religiously after every time at the range.  I always cleaned until the patches came out looking clean.  After some inspecting I noticed this copper fouling through the barrel.  Hoppes wouldn't touch it.  After some research, I settled on Sweets 7.62 and Butch's Bore shine.  After some time with those the barrel came out clean and I got the gun shoot tight groups.

 

I always clean with brass brushes, never dip the brush in your solvent.  After scrubbing with the brush I clean the brush off with carb cleaner.  No sense sending a dirty brush down a barrel.  I push the rod from the chamber to the muzzle, I always use a bore guide.  I use jags rather than the loops

 

With Butch's and Sweets I always clean until there is no more blue color on the patch.

 

But all of this is just my simple opinion and I am satisfied with the results.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Hawkez

[Wild and Free]

One other thing I see is most are now using aerosol brake cleaner for cleaning guns now rather than the other solvents out there, especially the AR folks then just a bit of oil on the action and back in business.