17 HMR and cleaning.

[gixer1]

Just waiting to pick up a new 17 HMR and from what I’ve read they can be quite fussy on the cleaning side so I’m just curious if folks are cleaning them every time with a full regime after an outing or if just a pull through is enough or do you not bother cleaning at all? Are we talking cleaning at 50 rounds? 100 etc? Is a copper cleaner such as boretech eliminator a good idea as per a centrefire or is that overkill for a bunny bashing rimfire? Do they usually take a few shots to settle down again?

Regards,
Gixer

 

[User00035]

Cleaning preference seems to vary rifle to rifle. Some are very finnicky, others like to be left alone. My HW60 tends to open up after a couple of hundred rounds. For years I would do a thorough clean using Butch's bore shine and a good scrub, then patch after patch until they came through absolutely spotless, and finish with a final patch of meths. That would see it restored to zero almost immediately with no shooting in. But if there was a hint of muck still showing on the patches it could go through half a box to get it back on again.

Nowadays I've taken to pulling through a dry clean boresnake a few times after every outing. It will still need a deep clean eventually but it extends the intervals between cleaning. Must be a clean boresnake though. Leave a hint of oil in there and it'll be all over the place.
It'll be trial and error to see what yours likes. Though I'd wipe the bore out with meths before shooting it in.

 

[Smellydog]

Hmmm, I do mine with a copper cleaner every 100 or so.
I do jag the bore if I come in from a cold night to remove condensation once the rifle has come up to room temperature.
It being a rimfire has nothing to do with what a barrel requires, well except for a 22, they rarely need a clean. Soft lead, low velocity and lube useless lasts years. HMR though is much faster and copper based alloys like picking up on stuff, like steel barrels.

 

[Koenig]

My little CZ works best clean (ish).

 

[gixer1]

Hmmm, I do mine with a copper cleaner every 100 or so.
I do jag the bore if I come in from a cold night to remove condensation once the rifle has come up to room temperature.
It being a rimfire has nothing to do with what a barrel requires, well except for a 22, they rarely need a clean. Soft lead, low velocity and lube useless lasts years. HMR though is much faster and copper based alloys like picking up on stuff, like steel barrels.

The rimfire part was alluding to the 22.

 

[Cottis]

The ones I have seen are all different. You will need to see what yours likes I guess.

My own with a few thousand rounds down it has always behaved the same and I have had it since new. It likes being dirty/fouled and while I am happy with that situation for all my rifles, the HMR is a little different in that the cartridge is very dirty. The powder residue gets very sludgy and seems to attract moisture. Some of the crap that comes out of the moderator when I can be bothered to clean it is grim.

So like @Smellydog I push a clean dry patch through after shooting to remove the majority of any powder residue that might attract moisture but I don't use solvents or scrub the bore. It then shoots fine until it doesn't which is around a few boxes of ammo. At that point it gets a proper birthday, boretech eliminator, mechanical action with brush scrubbing, more patches, more eliminator yadda yadda until spotless. Then it needs shooting back in which takes at least 10 rounds and is 100% necessary for my rifle. It literally shoots 2inches in any direction from POA and is random. Around about the 10th shot, it centres back up perfectly to previous zero and is fine for another few hundred shots. It is an Anschutz.

I have a friend who treats his terribly and it shoots the same whether clean or dirty. Another person I know has never ever cleaned his and it shoots well. I did once clean his moderator out for him and what came out of it was staggering. It is a proper dirty little round.

 

[long_range_rob]

Clean them like a centrefire or they’ll soon suffer pitting and rot. There’s not a lot of rifling in there to rust out.

Also beware the shot you think is a clean miss, it may be a duff round and have left a bullet in the barrel

 

[JohnSmith]

I run a bore snake through mine after every outing, good enough. It’s done well for the last 10 years

 

[bowji john]

Have not used mine for a while

Now changed out the thermal for a 3 - 9 x 40 scope and re-zeroed

Group in 15 mph winds (from 5 o'clock) was 4 inches @ 100m !

That is useless to me

I will give it a good clean and try again

If it is printing similar groups after that it will get the heave ho - I don't keep rifles that can't keep MOA or below

Also, out of 30 rounds fired, about half had split necks

 

[GSP84]

Have not used mine for a while

Now changed out the thermal for a 3 - 9 x 40 scope and re-zeroed

Group in 15 mph winds (from 5 o'clock) was 4 inches @ 100m !

That is useless to me

I will give it a good clean and try again

If it is printing similar groups after that it will get the heave ho - I don't keep rifles that can't keep MOA or below

Also, out of 30 rounds fired, about half had split necks

To be fair the .17 is very light and impacted heavily by wind. In a 15mph wind I wouldn’t be expecting excellent grouping.

I have a Sako quad heavy barrel .17hmr. At 150m it groups within a 5p, it’s an incredible little gun. Never had an issue with it or it’s ammunition using hornady.

I generally pull a bore snake through it multiple times after each use. 10 years I have had it and it biblically accurate.

 

[bowji john]

To be fair the .17 is very light and impacted heavily by wind. In a 15mph wind I wouldn’t be expecting excellent grouping.

I have a Sako quad heavy barrel .17hmr. At 150m it groups within a 5p, it’s an incredible little gun. Never had an issue with it or it’s ammunition using hornady.

I generally pull a bite snake through it multiple times after each use. 10 years I have had it and it biblically accurate.

Yup fair one

I'm just getting bitter and twisted in my old age

Besides - I like to blame my tools for my own growing inadequacies

 

[gixer1]

Clean them like a centrefire or they’ll soon suffer pitting and rot. There’s not a lot of rifling in there to rust out.

Also beware the shot you think is a clean miss, it may be a duff round and have left a bullet in the barrel

Absolutely - I have to admit to not really liking 17HMR’s all that much but it fits the purpose in this case…will keep an eye on it though.

 

[foxdropper]

You can always make a lamp stand and sell that Gixy Seen enough nights go Pete tong to never have one with the current ammo status .

 

[gixer1]

You can always make a lamp stand and sell that Gixy Seen enough nights go Pete tong to never have one with the current ammo status .

Were the Pete tong nights due to that rent 700 firing when it liked?

 

[jb1]

Bore snakes are always handy to keep in your pocket, very useful for when your boot lace brakes.
Have one snap in your barrel and enjoy getting it out.
Your better off keeping a 17 cleaning rod in your car, very handy when you get squibs. A pull through us no good in those circumstances.

 

[Lancaster]

Bore snakes are always handy to keep in your pocket, very useful for when your boot lace brakes.
Have one snap in your barrel and enjoy getting it out.
Your better off keeping a 17 cleaning rod in your car, very handy when you get squibs. A pull through us no good in those circumstances.

Much better than a cleaning rod if you get a squib lodged in the barrel, it states that it is flat, but it is actually round, cut it to around 2" longer than the barrel so that it doesn't bend when hitting it with a rubber mallet from the muzzle end.

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[JohnSmith]

I’ve been shooting guns for 24 years and have never had a bullet lodge in the barrel. Sounds like a pain in the ***. I guess I’d be sitting in the snow furiously jamming a stick down the barrel.

 

[Lancaster]

I’ve been shooting guns for 24 years and have never had a bullet lodge in the barrel. Sounds like a pain in the ***. I guess I’d be sitting in the snow furiously jamming a stick down the barrel.

Neither have I, but I have helped out a few folk with HMR that had issues with the earlier ammunition, seems like it has improved a lot over the last few years though.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Hmmm. IMHO a great chambering, as accurate as my beloved .222 but very dirty in the barrel so defo needs a couple of runs with the boresnake after every outing. No further cleaning required.

 

[Lancaster]

It's a filthy little cartridge, and with my CZ, once it gets dirty I can't get a .17 bore snake down the barrel.

When it's good it's a great bunny basher, and to lightly clean it spoils it's accuracy, but after 250 - 300 rounds mine goes off and needs a proper fettling with Wipe Out and another 20 shots to get it back on song.