Barrel Cleaning

[Lawnboi]

Your gun will tell you when to clean, and every gun is a different collection of chamber size, bullet, powder, barrel condition, etc.

Tight chambers don’t have as much physical room or clearance for carbon to build up - an old factory chamber will shoot many hundreds or thousands of rounds and probably not cause problems. I love buying newish Christensen Arms barrels that guys pull off because they don’t want to clean and the built up carbon screws with their accuracy - the snug chamber contributes to good accuracy, but they have to be cleaned.

Those statistically significant groups you guys claim to shoot all the time will start to go to hell and that’s your clue it’s time.

It’s easier to clean more often and not wait until it only shoots 2 moa right before a hunt and none of the crappy solvents you have will remove the stubborn carbon ring. It’s also easier to use a cheap borescope to see if your cleaning has actually removed the carbon - you don’t even need to buy it, just make friends with someone who has one.

I think the resistance to cleaning comes from elaborate directions and thoughts of lots of unneeded elbow grease. Just soak a patch and run it through.

I have a plastic set of $10 magnetic jaws that go in the vice in the garage that clamp the barrel - insert a simple bore guide, grab the cleaning rod and put on the correct size plastic brush to hold a patch, use a medicine dropper to add a squirt of solvent to the patch, run it down the bore and let it drop out the end. Done. Wait 5 minutes and repeat until very little green comes out. Run two dry patches and bore scope it. If theres a carbon ring that hasn’t come out just keep repeating, maybe run a brass brush each cycle if you have to, or change to a better solvent. When you’re finished, run two well oiled patches then two dry patches, make sure to wipe anything out of the chamber and you’re done.

It literally takes longer to type this than clean a rifle. Having a can doesn’t matter - the patches just go one way.

Even the carbon ring in this photo doesn’t look large enough to actually contact the bullet, but it might.

View attachment 651917

Correct me if I’m wrong, but what im looking at dosnt seem to be what I have understood what a carbon ring is. To me the carbon in the photo looks to be in the neck portion of the chamber, not the freebore where bullet contact may happen.

That carbon can be a pain to get out as well. And can cause issues if you let your brass grow

 

[TaperPin]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but what im looking at dosnt seem to be what I have understood what a carbon ring is. To me the carbon in the photo looks to be in the neck portion of the chamber, not the freebore where bullet contact may happen.

That carbon can be a pain to get out as well. And can cause issues if you let your brass grow

You are right, the detrimental carbon is only that which can touch the bullet or interfere with the release of the bullet from the case neck. Before the barrel was cleaned, the carbon in that picture probably did extent up the throat a bit.

 

[wind gypsy]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but what im looking at dosnt seem to be what I have understood what a carbon ring is. To me the carbon in the photo looks to be in the neck portion of the chamber, not the freebore where bullet contact may happen.

That carbon can be a pain to get out as well. And can cause issues if you let your brass grow

Seems everyone has their own definitions but bulding up at neck/throat transition has to be the most common.

 

[Lawnboi]

I wish I knew the answer. I have gone full circle on this.

Started cleaning like traditionally said, with traditional chemicals and bore snake.

Rokslide told me not to clean so I didn’t. Had issues with a few barrels.

Now I’m somewhere in the middle. I do clean, but cannot put my finger on when or why. I do own a bore scope, and don’t clean to bare metal. I keep a close eye on the first 2” of barrel and that pretty much tells me when I feel the time is, or an acceptable interval.

I will say cleaning without bore scope is pretty much a waste of time.

I also don’t clean like benchrest/f class. I run a wet patch of bore tech eliminator, and jam another wet patch on a brush in the neck and freebore and let it sit for a day. Clean that out and repeat if needed. Patch dry, clean chamber and go shoot.

I clean my suppressors every once in a while too.

I’m trying to clean as minimally as I can. Iv had exactly one barrel go to absolute crap from not cleaning, and I don’t want that to happen again. My rifles I do clean I don’t see changing, so maybe I’m doing something right.

 

[Doc Holliday]

New Rifle (less than 100 rounds):

-After each range session.

All other Rifles:

-After getting home from a hunt where there has been considerable moisture.
-After the next to last range session prior to going on a hunt.

On average for all my rifles, less than once per year.

 

[Southern Lights]

I don't clean any barrel unless the rifle has started shooting poorly and nothing obvious has changed. I'll clean the action periodically, but again don't go overboard.

If the rifle is being stored for a while, I may think of cleaning it or running a wet patch down it.

I have rifles that have shot thousands and thousands of rounds that have never had the barrel cleaned. I won't clean them either unless I'm troubleshooting some kind of accuracy issue.

I spoke with a barrel maker once that said he's seen more barrels ruined by over cleaning than by not cleaning.

 

[Lawnboi]

I also see a big difference in what’s ding said between cleaning and corrosion protection.

I do occasionally run an oil patch down the bore and swab the chamber, depending on conditions and if I’m storing the rifle for a while. I don’t consider that cleaning.

 

[Roadrunner1]

I clean my rifle barrels after every range session or hunt regardless if I shot few rounds or many. Just my preference