Rifle Cleaning Middle Ground

[Hurley88]

Like many of you, I’ve benefited greatly from from all of the testing done on this site. It has helped me shoot more, worry less, and work on my hit rate rather than spend time accounting for ethereal theoretical principles that may or may not have an effect on my shooting. I’ve tested barrel speed-up, seating depth, barrel heat up, various such things on my own to verify what I’m seeing online. But without documenting them, I’m just another voice online claiming something.

So I wanted to put this test out there in an effort to help with the rifle cleaning debate. I’m hoping more guys join in and we have a place for people to reference and even test for themselves.

There are those that clean down to bare metal, there are those that don’t clean at all, and there are those who I think are in the majority; they want to never clean but they think it borders on neglect. They wish they could speed up the process or spend less time on it though. If they could spend less time on it they would shoot more. Hence this test. If you could just run a patch of protectant down the bore, wipe down the exterior and walk away without ever worrying about rust or zero shift then that would be the bees’ knees.

This test will be to see if you can use a protectant to prevent rust while not affecting your zero. To do this, shoot a ten shot group. Then shoot another ten shot group but use the product between every shot. These are only 10 shots each (you’d need 30 or 50 to see no shift at all), there needs to be a zero shift of less than one click on the scope. Mine is 1/10 mil, so if I observe a shift of more than 0.36” then it can be said that the product causes zero shift.


**Edited for clarity

 

[Hurley88]

I’ll start by explaining my cleaning method for the last 20yrs. I’d lay the rifle on its side atop a towel, put a Possum Hollow bore guide in (after a dab of lube on the o-ring so it lasts forever), then wet a patch with BoreTech. That patch would travel from breech to muzzle then back to breech 20 times to aerate the solvent. There was tape on the rod to tell me when the jag started to protrude from the muzzle. Between the bore guide and the jag never falling out, the idea was that I never be scratching or damaging anything.

I tested this more than a few times, and came up with a soak time of 1-1.5 hours. At which point a bore brush was used for 10 passes and then three clean patches to remove everything.
With that method it would be 90% down to bare metal in one iteration. I’d wet a patch using Prolix and go 20 times in both directions then three dry patches to remove everything.

I never noticed any zero shift personally, but also never specifically measured for it. Any time I checked zero I was right where I needed to be. But, it sure took a long time and there were times when I wouldn’t shoot bc I didn’t have time to properly clean the rifle and it was approaching its 100 round limit.

 

[Hurley88]

Eventually I decided to try Form’s no-clean method. But as mentioned previously, I couldn’t just neglect the rifle. My personal belief is that if you’re going to burn out a barrel in 6mo to a year and don’t live in a humid environment then you won’t have an issue. If your barrel will last much longer, then you might.

I had burned out two 243 barrels (McGowan, 1:8” twist) and they gave up the ghost somewhere between 1350-1500 rounds. I had tested before 1400 and they were good, then had opened up to an unacceptable level before hitting 1500. Then I stopped cleaning. Just one patch of Prolix and wipe it out. The third barrel lasted until just shy of 1700 rounds, and I stopped cleaning with a little over 300 rounds on it.

I didn’t worry about rust, got increased barrel life, saw no pressure signs, and shot more. But did I have zero shift? In this thread we test exactly that.

 

[Hurley88]

I went to the range, rifle hadn’t even had Prolix in it for 400ish rounds. Just popped it into a new stock and swapped scopes too.

I gave it a rough zero then shot ten rounds for a group. I then used the Prolix pseudo clean method (one patch, three dry patches to wipe out the excess). Then fired another 10-shot group. Then I did another 10-shot group but used the Prolix wipe in between each shot.

 

[Hurley88]

I also brought a stock Tikka T3X in 6.5CM as a control. I always do. It shot a tidy 21-shot group.
I bring this up, because I didn’t have the greatest shooting position. Throughout the test, I broke position every 5 shots to let the gun cool. I broke position many times in between. And I broke position every single shot when cleaning in-between for the last target.

I personally don’t believe in cold bore shots. I haven’t seen barrel speed up. I don’t know why people worry about coriolis and then never shoot beyond 1000yds. I believe that the shooter is by far the greatest source of error in the shooting equation, nothing else comes close. And the shooter should be able to build a position, not be magnetized to the gun for fear of inducing some sort of “difference” shot-to-shot. If the gun kicks, then the both of you moved and there’s already a difference. It “broke your position”.

So here’s a pic of my shooting position, taken on Day 2 of this test (more on that in a bit):

I had to dig my left heel into the ground, put my knee against the seat, use my right calf against the center post, then use the bench to get as much surface contact as possible. I had never shot at this place before and came ill-prepared. And I’m too short for their bench. I think you have to be 6’ 8” to use it.

 

[HuntHarder]

I am probably more in your camp than the other 2, but admittedly, I rarely clean barrels unless I see something that isn't normal. (larger groups, increased velocity, pressure signs). Out of curiosity, what are trying to accomplish with only a patch down the barrel?

 

[Hurley88]

Since

I am probably more in your camp than the other 2, but admittedly, I rarely clean barrels unless I see something that isn't normal. (larger groups, increased velocity, pressure signs). Out of curiosity, what are trying to accomplish with only a patch down the barrel?

Rust prevention without any effect on zero retention.

 

[Hurley88]

So here are the results of Day 1. The last group is the only one that has shifted to a statistically significant degree. Which would seem to show that using this cleaning solution does cause zero shift.

But, I built a bad position for half the shots during that last test. My face was pressing down on the stock too much, chest too hard into the bench, tends to skew shots to the left. So I went back to repeat it twice more on the second day.

 

[Hurley88]

I came back to repeat the test, shot another 10-shot group cleaning between each shot. Then decided to shoot a second 10-shot group doing the same thing.

 

[wyosam]

Depends on the rifle for me. My 223ai is at about 7k and never cleaned. Out of curiosity, I recently checked to see how far I am from the lands with the 85.5 Berger this gun has always been fed. Was able to push the bullet out of the case before it bumped the lands, but still shoots great. It was seated with base of bearing surface just above the neck/base junction at .020 off when new. Current Dasher barrel same story. Hunting rifles get cleaned, mostly because I shoot a variety of bullets out of them for practice, including cast bullets. All 3 of my current hunting barrels shoot to the same POI clean as they do fouled with my hunting bullets. Have cycled a couple to practice only because they wouldn’t shoot clean because I want to be able to clean and go without having to worry about fouling when it’s time to hunt. For that mixed use, it’s easier to be consistent on the clean side when it matters. Those rifles typically get cleaned if I’m switching from cast lead to jacketed bullets (or to the monos I hunt with), but otherwise don’t get cleaned.


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[Hurley88]

The main reasons for a test like this are twofold.

1) With a much shorter cleaning regimen, essentially just doing an exterior and “interior” surface wipe-down, guys can shoot more and clean less. But maybe not worry about corrosion over time like they would if no protectant was used in the bore.

2) With no observable shift in zero, guys can go hunting and not worry about fouler shots.

It’s a way to do a simple test to worry less, for those guys whose rifles spend a large chunk of their lives stored. Which is most everyone. I’ve also noticed in my small sample set an increase in barrel life from not cleaning. Personally it’s been nice to just grab the gun and have confidence that it’ll hit where I want. Regardless of the time of year, whether it has been cleaned, etc.

If anyone out there wants to share, just do a 10-shot group then another one using a protectant between each shot.

 

[The Harbor Master]

Interesting. I fall in the middle ground. Minimal cleaning, one wipe through with protectant if it's going to be stored for awhile. Thanks for taking the time. The more data we have the better.

 

[Hurley88]

Interesting. I fall in the middle ground. Minimal cleaning, one wipe through with protectant if it's going to be stored for awhile. Thanks for taking the time. The more data we have the better.

Who knows? Maybe zero shift is a myth. With known rifle/scope/rings combo at any rate. If Roksliders post up some targets we can start to see a clearer picture.

I’ve heard a lot of people say there’s a shift, but it’s also always their first shots of the day. Cleaning while at the range and warmed up, I’m doubtful there will be a shift. We’ll see.