Blaser barrel cleaning?

deeangeo

Well-Known Member
So what cleaning regime do all us folk on the 'dark side' have for our Blaser rifle barrels?

I've never been able to put the rifle back in the cupboard without first giving the barrel a good cleaning out, although I only copper strip (not that I get much out) every 40-50 rounds.

Am I overdoing the job & should I leave copper stripping alone for longer/much longer?
As a result would I see better accuracy maintained for longer?
What do you Blaser owners think?
ATB
 
Just a rod through until clean if I have been practicing at the club or bore snake if I am away stalking, apart from that making sure the rifle is free from moisture asap. Never really bothered too much about copper residues but one thing to look out for is when using a mod there can be residual deposits on the crown which need prompt attention.

atb Tim
 
Tim. When you see the corrosion that can form on the crown if the mod is left on, you wonder why people think its OK not to clean a rifle ?
 
I'll be following this thread with interest. I'm testing a new M03 at the moment and building up a picture of clean barrel first shots. I use a separate target for the first shot from a clean barrel and then shoot the next two at a second one. I'm doing this alongside not cleaning for a few outings and check zeroing periodically.

As for copper build up. The build up will have an effect on velocity and sometimes accuracy. There is a whole school of thought, mainly amongst the long distant target shooters about removing carbon but allowing copper to build until it plateaus. It will have more of a positive effect with an older barrel. Whether the effect is significant enough for us deerstalkers is another debate.
 
A quick pull through with the Boresnake when I get back from stalking.

And..is that it Willie/Tim? Next time out, next shot down the barrel - spot on? fouling shot req'd?
No quick wipe out with a Butches/Hoppes patch & a dry patch to finish?

I'm genuinely interested in what you folk do...and what happens to the first two shots when you next fire it - we're only on the very edge of real feedback yet ref Blaser barrels.
ATB
 
And..is that it Willie/Tim? Next time out, next shot down the barrel - spot on? fouling shot req'd?
No quick wipe out with a Butches/Hoppes patch & a dry patch to finish?

I'm genuinely interested in what you folk do...and what happens to the first two shots when you next fire it - we're only on the very edge of real feedback yet ref Blaser barrels.
ATB

Yes, next time out spot on.

At the recent Catton Park day I checked the .243 and it was spot on, so I ran the Boresnake through it and put it away. Karlbird from the site came out later that week and used it and, when he put a couple of rounds down, it was certainly close enough for Government work. Here is a photo:

73e7351b6f0382bb35727629a37ab2b0_zps3b6ef9f8.jpg


They were out of a (reasonably) clean, cold, barrel and the next one cleanly downed a roe buck.

I put about 100 rounds down the .308 at Catton and will tell you next weekend whether it's still zeroed.

I have a bottle of Wipe Out but I've not used it on either Blaser yet.

willie_gunn
 
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Please explain why a Blaser barrel would be different from any other barrel made the same way?

As I understand it there are three ways to make a barrel. Button rifled, Hammer forged and cut rifled. I am unsure as to which Blaser uses but suspect it will be button rifled. The equipment and set up is cheaper to start I believe. tried a web search and it seems Blaser are cagey about telling the method they use.
 
Please explain why a Blaser barrel would be different from any other barrel made the same way?

As I understand it there are three ways to make a barrel. Button rifled, Hammer forged and cut rifled. I am unsure as to which Blaser uses but suspect it will be button rifled. The equipment and set up is cheaper to start I believe. tried a web search and it seems Blaser are cagey about telling the method they use.

I doubt a Blaser barrel is any different at all. My cleaning regime with my Blaser is the same as I had with my previous rifle.

In my non-scientific, purely anecdotal, way all I can say is that my bog-standard Blaser would appear to shoot more consistently than the bog-standard Sako 75 I had before. Most importantly for me is that it is rare that I have had to re-zero the scope when there are different shooters behind the butt, which was certainly not the case with the Sako.

The only other anecdotal point is that, with the Sako, I spent a lot of time developing a suitable hand load. With the Blaser I shoot either factory loads in the .243 or exactly the same reloads in the .308 that I had for the Sako, as the accuracy I have been getting convinced me I have better things to do with my time. My accuracy is not as good as Tim's :)tiphat:) but then I am only looking for "accurate enough" to shoot deer under field conditions, almost exclusively at sub-200 yards.

I don't know why I've found the Blaser to be better, and nor do I care enough to run a series of experiments, but I do recognise that a big contributor towards success when stalking is having confidence in your kit.

The problem with cleaning rifles is that people seem to become OCD about it. Good for them, but I prefer to spend my time worrying about shooting deer rather than worrying about whether the barrel has been deep-cleansed, suitably re-fouled and then zeroed again.

I have a neighbour who removes the wheels from his car when he cleans it - which he does about every other week. I clean my car at the end of the shooting season, unless in the meantime I've found a suitably deep puddle to drive through. Each to their own.

willie_gunn
 
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I would hazard a guess that the Blaser fits you better. Although it could be something else :confused:.

For instance I let three people fire one shot a piece through my Medwell rifle. None had handled it before and all three shots made a group of less than an inch. The rifle just seemed to suit all of them. This rifle also has a tightly bedded barrel with no filler used in it's bedding. Come to think of it I also let a couple shoot the BDS Regent .222 rem at Reepham and didn't notice a change in group position on target. As the King said :-

T'is a puzzlement!
 
Please explain why a Blaser barrel would be different from any other barrel made the same way?

As I understand it there are three ways to make a barrel. Button rifled, Hammer forged and cut rifled. I am unsure as to which Blaser uses but suspect it will be button rifled. The equipment and set up is cheaper to start I believe. tried a web search and it seems Blaser are cagey about telling the method they use.

The reply I got from Mauser. (Blaser and Mauser being the same barrel process)

<font color="black">our barrels are cold hammer forged.



<font color="black">The surface is laped very carefully before starting the hammer process.

<font color="black">That means the surface is already finish lapped, so a usually breaking in of the barrel is not really necessary.



<font color="black">Best regards
 
I doubt a Blaser barrel is any different at all. My cleaning regime with my Blaser is the same as I had with my previous rifle.

In my non-scientific, purely anecdotal, way all I can say is that my bog-standard Blaser would appear to shoot more consistently than the bog-standard Sako 75 I had before. Most importantly for me is that it is rare that I have had to re-zero the scope when there are different shooters behind the butt, which was certainly not the case with the Sako.

The only other anecdotal point is that, with the Sako, I spent a lot of time developing a suitable hand load. With the Blaser I shoot either factory loads in the .243 or exactly the same reloads in the .308 that I had for the Sako, as the accuracy I have been getting convinced me I have better things to do with my time. My accuracy is not as good as Tim's :)tiphat:) but then I am only looking for "accurate enough" to shoot deer under field conditions, almost exclusively at sub-200 yards.

I don't know why I've found the Blaser to be better, and nor do I care enough to run a series of experiments, but I do recognise that a big contributor towards success when stalking is having confidence in your kit.

The problem with cleaning rifles is that people seem to become OCD about it. Good for them, but I prefer to spend my time worrying about shooting deer rather than worrying about whether the barrel has been deep-cleansed, suitably re-fouled and then zeroed again.

I have a neighbour who removes the wheels from his car when he cleans it - which he does about every other week. I clean my car at the end of the shooting season, unless in the meantime I've found a suitably deep puddle to drive through. Each to their own.

willie_gunn

X2 , there seems to be a lot of over zealous cleaning going on .

AB
 
I would hazard a guess that the Blaser fits you better. Although it could be something else :confused:.

For instance I let three people fire one shot a piece through my Medwell rifle. None had handled it before and all three shots made a group of less than an inch. The rifle just seemed to suit all of them. This rifle also has a tightly bedded barrel with no filler used in it's bedding. Come to think of it I also let a couple shoot the BDS Regent .222 rem at Reepham and didn't notice a change in group position on target. As the King said :-

T'is a puzzlement!

I can't explain it either, but certainly compared to the Sako the Blaser has had more people shoot it with no noticeable change in POI.

We seem to have moved a bit away from cleaning regimes :oops:
 
The reply I got from Mauser. (Blaser and Mauser being the same barrel process)

<font color="black">our barrels are cold hammer forged.



<font color="black">The surface is laped very carefully before starting the hammer process.

<font color="black">That means the surface is already finish lapped, so a usually breaking in of the barrel is not really necessary.



<font color="black">Best regards

Thank you. I had forgotten that the same company that owns Blaser also bought Mauser. I sort of lost interest in Mauser after their move from Obendorf and the M96 "Slide Bolt" was not built to the old Mauser standards IMHO. I see hammer forging is becoming more popular again. Even Remington have bought and installed hammer forging machines.

I also recall hammer forged barrels being dissed for going off and becoming inaccurate rather quickly. Of course both Parker-Hale and BSA made and used Hammer forging and as we know it was fashionable to knock British made products.

Cleaning is no more difficult and in fact should be easier than with either cut rifled or Button rifled as the bores surface in Hammer Forged barrels is very smooth and with closed pores.
 
Thank you. I had forgotten that the same company that owns Blaser also bought Mauser. I sort of lost interest in Mauser after their move from Obendorf and the M96 "Slide Bolt" was not built to the old Mauser standards IMHO. I see hammer forging is becoming more popular again. Even Remington have bought and installed hammer forging machines.

I also recall hammer forged barrels being dissed for going off and becoming inaccurate rather quickly. Of course both Parker-Hale and BSA made and used Hammer forging and as we know it was fashionable to knock British made products.

Cleaning is no more difficult and in fact should be easier than with either cut rifled or Button rifled as the bores surface in Hammer Forged barrels is very smooth and with closed pores.

I'm disappointed to hear that British made firearms are looked down on in the UK . In this part of the world it's the opposite . we'll take Brit made over most others . To each their own I guess .

AB
 
I'm disappointed to hear that British made firearms are looked down on in the UK . In this part of the world it's the opposite . we'll take Brit made over most others . To each their own I guess .

AB

During the 70's especially and the 80's the media had a real downer on British made stuff be it cars, electronics you name it Jap and German were better. It was so drummed into the young back then that many still believe it and refuse to look at the facts.
 
During the 70's especially and the 80's the media had a real downer on British made stuff be it cars, electronics you name it Jap and German were better. It was so drummed into the young back then that many still believe it and refuse to look at the facts.

Probably BH that period was among the worst in our recent history for production methods, materials and strikes.
This thread though is not about British or other nationals products and manufacturing, it's about a cleaning regime.

I am of course aware there are a number of ways barrels may be made and rifled, the thread was raised asking what regime and effects Blaser owners used and experienced with their rifles. ATB
 
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