The Shoot2hunt Podcast

Toomuchon

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Mar 29, 2024
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Location
New Zealand
Stainless barrels or better yet nitrided. Otherwise, cover the muzzle and keep water out. Oil if necessary, but yes- the first few shots will be off.
I’m interested in this too @Formidilosus I gave up cleaning barrels some time ago, but where I live the average relative humidity is 81%. Is there a legitimate concern with a barrel being put away ‘dirty’ and the burnt powder residue attracting moisture and causing corrosion in my stainless barrels? I’ve seen the insides of alloy suppressors begin to corrode, but a very different material.
 

Formidilosus

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Shoot2HuntU
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I’m interested in this too @Formidilosus I gave up cleaning barrels some time ago, but where I live the average relative humidity is 81%. Is there a legitimate concern with a barrel being put away ‘dirty’ and the burnt powder residue attracting moisture and causing corrosion in my stainless barrels? I’ve seen the insides of alloy suppressors begin to corrode, but a very different material.

I have not seen that even in extremely humid environments with stainless barrels.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2020
Messages
993
It certainly can be a problem with CM barrels
Spotlighting is popular for shooting here and after shooting when it is cold, a hot barrel sucks in cold moist air
Most rifles that are used a lot at night will show signs of pitting in the front 6 or so inches of the barrel
All my rifles are stored with a light wipe of oil inside and out because corrosion is a real problem here on the coast
Powder fouling isn’t the issue but copper in the bore is
The copper being more noble than steel sets up a galvanic reaction resulting in rust
 

Jt89

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Oct 25, 2022
Messages
40
Location
New Zealand, down undah!
There's probably a far better argument for regularly visually inspecting your rifle for potential points of failure rather than cleaning - common sense, but often not that commonly seen. This ties back into comments a few podcasts ago about barrel channels in stocks and twigs, etc getting in there and effecting point of impact.
A friend had a hunt ruined because a piece of dried fern jammed in a trigger on his Sako 75 - when he closed the bolt the firing pin would quietly release un-noticed, thus nobody home when the trigger was pulled. The only thing he had to field strip the rifle was a spoon in his tent, several hundred yards away... The Chamois buck lived to see another day. Long way to carry a rifle for nought.
(Knowing a little more now I'd hazard a guess his trigger has some sticky fingers poking around in there and adjusted too lightly on a standard spring - he possibly brought the situation on himself)
 

philcox

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Nov 27, 2018
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778
Location
Auburn, CA
@Formidilosus is there any need to clean the barrel when changing projectiles? For example, in my 65 I am running DRT, TMK’s, and EDM‘s. Would there be a need to clean the barrel and then refill it when changing those projectiles? I think the answer is “no need” based on what I understood in the podcast, but thought I’d ask.
 

Formidilosus

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@Formidilosus is there any need to clean the barrel when changing projectiles? For example, in my 65 I am running DRT, TMK’s, and EDM‘s. Would there be a need to clean the barrel and then refill it when changing those projectiles? I think the answer is “no need” based on what I understood in the podcast, but thought I’d ask.

Never have, and haven’t seen the need.
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
706
Thoughts on carbon ring? Is it real or myth and why does it happen?
Thoughts on barrels "settling" in with velocity? Why does it happen and what's going on with the barrel to do it? @Formidilosus

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk
 

Alaska92

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Oct 14, 2023
Messages
96
Similar topic, any recommendations for barrel maintenance/care for coastal Alaska?

I have heard running a patch with oil. This would involve checking your cold bore with oil.
Would it really matter if your muzzle was taped the whole time anyway?

After being in the field and before putting away in the safe, I assume a cleaning and oil would be in order to prevent rust?
Coastal Alaska is hard on everything. Various coatings are helpful for the exterior. 400 series stainless still has plenty of iron in it. Taping the muzzle is popular but that is primarily for debris. Water/saltwater still gets in the barrel from the action. Water getting trapped in a taped barrel in freezing weather can be a thing. Another problem I have seen is people bring “waterproof cases” to coastal Alaska and put a wet (salt water included) rifle in it and leave it there for a period of time. Waterproof means just that. From the outside or the inside. Typically not a good plan. All of the “pretty” custom to semi custom rifles seem to be all the craze these days on the interwebs, would not be so pretty if they spent much time in coastal Alaska. The point being, it’s just tough to keep them flawless in that environment. You can use oil and try to be diligent. If you are on a boat based or cabin based hunt where you can dry the rifle out each day, that can be helpful. If not (which is most of my time), I just keep an eye on it and wipe dry as necessary. Internally and externally. I have rinsed (dunked and sloshed) my rifles in clear creeks after riding around in an Achilles boat all day and getting a nice salt water bath. Essentially, you can fight it or just accept you have a tool that will probably need to be replaced at some time and just go hunting.
 

huntnful

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Oct 10, 2020
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So is copper fouling not a real thing?
It’s definitely real. But how much it truly affects accuracy, I honestly can’t say with any real data. I’ve had a barrel shoot like dog shit when it was full of copper. But it was only full of copper, because I cleaned it with an abrasive, and didn’t get all of the abrasive out of the barrel hahaha. Cleaned the copper, shot the same load, and it was significantly better.

And I’ve had a barrel that was totally full of copper that still shot insanely small groups.
 
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Cant say I can remember a time when it was obvious that copper fouling was messing me up. Definitely had times when carbon fouling caused problems but not copper. Maybe copper is a bigger issue with rougher bores?
 

slatebuilder

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 17, 2020
Messages
182
@Formidilosus, you briefly mentioned the 6.5x300 Weatherby in the barrel cleaning podcast. How much experience do you have shooting one? How about hunting with one? Any suggestions on bullet or loads? I have one that I would like to improve on.

Thanks.
 

Formidilosus

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Shoot2HuntU
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@Formidilosus, you briefly mentioned the 6.5x300 Weatherby in the barrel cleaning podcast. How much experience do you have shooting one? How about hunting with one? Any suggestions on bullet or loads? I have one that I would like to improve on.

Thanks.

It’s been a while, and I don’t have any personal loads. It kills like all 6.5’s, just farther.
 

RussDXT

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Oct 22, 2018
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Location
Littleton, CO
[mention]Formidilosus [/mention] quick question on cleaning. What are your thoughts and experience with precision .22 lr and cleaning?

That was the only part that wasn’t addressed in the podcast.
 

Formidilosus

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[mention]Formidilosus [/mention] quick question on cleaning. What are your thoughts and experience with precision .22 lr and cleaning?

That was the only part that wasn’t addressed in the podcast.

Haven’t cleaned a .22 in a very long time.
 
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