How often should a rifle barrel be cleaned?
- Thread starter AlexN
- Start date
Woodsmoke
Well-Known Member
How are the groups at the moment? If it ain't broke, don't fix it 
Are you using factory rounds? Have you tried different brands, bullet weights, etc? Do you reload? There are a hundred variables that can affect how a rifle shoots, and a hundred more ways you can try to improve your groups. Unless the grouping's gradually been opening up, and no other cause can be suspected, I'd be inclined to leave it alone and just give it a pull through with a boresnake or similar. Stand by though, you're about to get a hundred different answers to the same question
Are you using factory rounds? Have you tried different brands, bullet weights, etc? Do you reload? There are a hundred variables that can affect how a rifle shoots, and a hundred more ways you can try to improve your groups. Unless the grouping's gradually been opening up, and no other cause can be suspected, I'd be inclined to leave it alone and just give it a pull through with a boresnake or similar. Stand by though, you're about to get a hundred different answers to the same question
triggersqueezer
Well-Known Member
every time its fired/outing.
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
I am with this approach. After shooting run a patch soaked with hoppes down the bore. Leave it half an hour and the patch out with three dry patches. Final patch with a drop of light oil. Put it away and no worries re fouling soaking up moisture and causing rust and pitting. Barrels don't build copper fouling either. When taking gun out, run a patch through with lighter fluid. I know that all my rifles shoot to point of aim from a clean bore.
I am only using a rifle once a fortnight hence this regime works for me.
baguio
Well-Known Member
I would say it's due a proper clean. De-copper it down to bare metal and then put 10 or 15 rounds through it before check zeroing. It should be good for another 300 rounds after that. Without a good clean you may find that the accuracy goes off without warning. Been there, done that! Running a oiled patch through it isn't worth the hassle IMO and achieves nothing!
If it was as simp!e as that,I would clean mine more often afraid any lack of accuracy is down to me rather than any cleaning of the barrel.
Don't think there is a simple answer to your question ,you just need to find a regime that suits you and your rifle, there are so many variables , some rifles shoot better clean, some need a couple of fouling shots to achieve the best results,how often do you use your rifle ,a rifle that's used every day will need cleaned less often than one that's only used
infrequently.
Myster Fied
Well-Known Member
Yep asking for trouble there, I patch mine out after each outing with a light oil (ballistol) removes pretty much everything then dry patch until clean (no oil residue) works for me once more its quick and easy.
paulbshooting
Well-Known Member
In terms of end result there seems to be little difference. I am a regular cleaner, mod off after each outing, clean with hoopes, jag, brush and patches with bore guide and proper rod after roughly every 20 rounds on sako A7 308. My mate is the exact opposite, he has never taken the mod off, never cleans his rifle (ever) and no issue on his sako 85 in 308. You must do what suits you. I always shot a foul round and check zero too after a clean.
enfieldspares
Well-Known Member
A .22 Rimfire with modern non-corrosive ammunition never unless it gets a wetting OR the wax lube on the bullets starts to 'gum up' it's extractor and ejector. A centrefire rifle, I'm 'old school'. So after each times it's fired AND the day after in case it sweats any powder residue.
Cleaning barrel / removing moderator
With reference to the earlier post where the barrel had never been cleaned and the moderator never removed
I know of someone who did the same. The moderator siezed solid onto the barrel threads and took an expensive visit to gunsmith to remove moderator! Barrel threads for moderator ended up a bit damaged too.
With reference to the earlier post where the barrel had never been cleaned and the moderator never removed
I know of someone who did the same. The moderator siezed solid onto the barrel threads and took an expensive visit to gunsmith to remove moderator! Barrel threads for moderator ended up a bit damaged too.
Highlandsjohn
Well-Known Member
Im not one for cleaning the barrel every time l shoot. I'm on record regarding damage to rifling caused by ill informed cleaning practices..Perhaps after a trip to the range and certainly it gets an external rub down especially if wet.
If you use a mod it should be removed every time to dry out and the rifle thread and crown cleaned and greased without fail. The machining of a moderator thread reduces the surface area of the crown and it will corrode quickly even on the so called stainless barrels...this imho will affect your groups more,if not attended too.
After thee hundred rounds l would say it needs a bit of a clean.
Like a car, it's not just the mileage count,it's how those miles were accumulated,should determine the service. Good maintenance never does any harm..
ChesterP
Well-Known Member
Every time the rifle is used for me. Barrel damage due to ill informed cleaning is easy to avoid....don't use ill informed cleaning methods! Suitable bore guide, bin the boresnake and use a proper cleaning rod. Don't push brass brushes through the muzzle and then pull them back to avoid crown damage.
As for products...KG are good, Wipeout is good, Boreshine is good. Take your pick.
As for products...KG are good, Wipeout is good, Boreshine is good. Take your pick.
Moray Outfitting
Well-Known Member
I'd only clean JUST before Muir arrives just so's to aggrivate him ( to be read in Bearclaw Chris Lapp impression per Jeremiah Johnson )
Thread hasnt become quite so heated as these usually do -
Bottom line, a person is entitled to do what they like with their own property and I support that freedom of choice. A quick search back over previous musings on this topic will throw up widely divergent views and the reasons for that have been touched upon previously.
Whilst not really helpful to the OP in terms of immediate answer, the length and depth to which the topic has been covered previously makes reproducing it again here quite a chore and perhaps no more helpful than simply referring back to relevant posts.
My personal position remains that in all such cases careful thought of what happens in a process and what you are seeking to achieve will usually be the best steer for an individual. My rifles and the course rifles get cleaned after every use.
Thread hasnt become quite so heated as these usually do -
Bottom line, a person is entitled to do what they like with their own property and I support that freedom of choice. A quick search back over previous musings on this topic will throw up widely divergent views and the reasons for that have been touched upon previously.
Whilst not really helpful to the OP in terms of immediate answer, the length and depth to which the topic has been covered previously makes reproducing it again here quite a chore and perhaps no more helpful than simply referring back to relevant posts.
My personal position remains that in all such cases careful thought of what happens in a process and what you are seeking to achieve will usually be the best steer for an individual. My rifles and the course rifles get cleaned after every use.
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8x57
Distinguished Member
Strange that you should particularly mention the A7 Ranger ( I think you meant to say 85 though) because one of my fellow rifle club members was showing us the crown of his A7 rifle that he bought only last September so less than a year old. The muzzle crown was badly eroded all over but especially on one side and looked similar to the result of holding the end of a plastic garden hose over a candle. He said that this was the result of leaving the moderator on the rifle and storing it in the cabinet (traditional manner butt down) for only two weeks. I simply couldn't believe the extent of the damage in such a short length of time and had to call over several other club members to see it, all were equally shocked. I now wish that I had taken a photograph of the damage.
My fellow club member took the rifle to a reputable gunsmith the next week hoping that the barrel could be saved by cutting it back and rethreading but unfortunately the bore scope showed that the damage extended a fair way down the one side of the bore. So now he is looking at re-barreling a rifle that is less than a year old.
Incidentally he did test fire the rifle on the off chance that the damage wouldn't affect accuracy too much but the results weren't exactly hopeful with patterns rather than groups being produced.
It seems like the products of combustion combined with condensed moisture in the moderator produces a pretty corrosive substance.
Personally I'm old school and usually clean after shooting but I have been known to leave it a week if I know I will be using the rifle again during the week. Moderators always stored off the rifle and rifles stored muzzle down in the cabinet.
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Brimfire
Well-Known Member
Leaving a moderator on the barrel for storage will definitely result in the barrel becoming cream crackered. As soon as I have finished shooting the moderator comes off and the thread gets a wipe with an oiled rag before I get home to the pull a dry bore snake through the barrel a few times. Then the moderator gets a clean with my chosen method of WD40 to displace any corrosive residue left inside.
A good conversation with Steve Beaty at Ivythorne about the damage moderators will do to the crown and the resulting creep of the erosion down the barrel if moderators are left on the barrel was good advice for me to look after my kit accordingly.
+1 on removing moderators, I removed 2 seized ones this week, fully silenced are the worst , we have a mossberg that will need a new barrel.
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