How often should a rifle barrel be cleaned?

[8x57]

+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.

Taff there are probably some who would say that the Mossberg already needed a new barrel the day it left the factory.

 

[Dave88]

Do most people store rifles muzzle up or muzzle down? Has always just been muzzle up for me.

 

[Woodsmoke]

Do most people store rifles muzzle up or muzzle down?

Muzzle up, of course! Muzzle down is just asking for crown damage

 

[activeviii]

quality pull through when i get back after an outing. wipe over and dry if its has a wetting. once group opens up i then clean with solvents. it takes a lot. thats the stalking and fox rifles.

you range guns are cleaned before they are put away. 100% clean. these take 1 fouling round to pull back in on the group.
i dont want this on the stalking rifle. i want it first round on the money as it might only be one round fired

 

[Ranger22]

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.

Not strange, the Op uses an A7. I was poking fun.

 

[Dave88]

Muzzle up, of course! Muzzle down is just asking for crown damage

Thats what I thought. Just noticed 8x57 said he stores his muzzle down. Each to their own I suppose.

 

[Woodsmoke]

Thats what I thought. Just noticed 8x57 said he stores his muzzle down. Each to their own I suppose.

I guess if you can be 100% certain you won't damage the crown it'd be ok. Too much risk for my money though

 

[Milligan]

Muzzle up, of course! Muzzle down is just asking for crown damage

Are your barrels made of cheese and the cabinet floor of grater?
put some memory foam or sorbothane down and you're good to go either way.

 

[enfieldspares]

Thats what I thought. Just noticed 8x57 said he stores his muzzle down. Each to their own I suppose.

I do too. Shotguns muzzle down. Rifles muzzle up. I've got some thick black rubber 'gripper' sheet on the floor of the cabinet. Sold as rubber anti slip mat.

 

[Milligan]

quality pull through when i get back after an outing. wipe over and dry if its has a wetting. once group opens up i then clean with solvents. it takes a lot. thats the stalking and fox rifles.

you range guns are cleaned before they are put away. 100% clean. these take 1 fouling round to pull back in on the group.
i dont want this on the stalking rifle. i want it first round on the money as it might only be one round fired

That right there is an oxymoron.

 

[8x57]

Muzzle up, of course! Muzzle down is just asking for crown damage

How is muzzle down going to cause crown damage? I've been storing my rifles that way for 35+ years without damage. I would extremely surprised and disappointed if the crown were damaged from resting on the carpet of the gun cabinet. By storing that way any residual cleaning fluids or oil runs out of the barrel and not into the action, trigger mechanism, bedding or stock. Not that there is usually any residual fluids after cleaning because I usually make a good job of patching out.

 

[8x57]

Not strange, the Op uses an A7. I was poking fun.

I realised that you were just gently prodding a friend or an acquaintance Ranger but I thought that you had confused the rifle as it was his friend with the 85 who has never cleaned it or removed the moderator.
That would certainly be one rifle to avoid if you ever saw it for sale. It will probably end up as a donor action at some point in the near future I would guess.

 

[Ranger22]

I store mine muzzle up, can't really see any issues with storing them muzzle down. Do you guys that store them muzzle down use thread protectors?

 

[Woodsmoke]

How is muzzle down going to cause crown damage?

What if you catch the muzzle on the edge of the cabinet? Or accidentally drop the rifle? Each to their own, but I don't want to take that risk. Guess it's one of those things that comes down to personal preference. Not for me though

 

[8x57]

I store mine muzzle up, can't really see any issues with storing them muzzle down. Do you guys that store them muzzle down use thread protectors?

Yes I always put the thread protector on when I remove the moderator from a threaded rifle. I wouldn't want to damage the thread in any way which would be so easy to do.

Woodsmoke you are just as likely to catch the top of the cabinet as the bottom of the cabinet.

 

[bewsher500]

depends entirely what you call "clean"

Outside, muzzle and action gets cleaned every outing

I patch through the barrel as a bare minimum to remove powder residue after each outing if fired
depending on rifle I will then remove carbon,
possibly then copper fouling depending on shots fired (range use or longer periods without copper cleaning

BUT...
i have rifles that really do not respond well to "deep" copper removal cleaning.
My 300wm will take a good dozen shots to get back on track after that.
So do I want to spend £20 in components to prove a point? No

other barrels are much less fussy and I keep them much cleaner

I have a new toy, a 6BR, Bartlien barrel on a 595, arriving next week and suspect that will be in a glass cabinet glistening after each use.....

 

[Woodsmoke]

Woodsmoke you are just as likely to catch the top of the cabinet as the bottom of the cabinet.

I've just posted a poll as I'm really interested to see the split. SO far, I'm 100% in the right

(Sorry for the hijack, Alex )

 

[bogtrotter]

Outside and bolt given a rub over after each time its out,barrel cleaned only if wet and a fear of having got water into it
other than that normally only cleaned when accuracy starts to fall off.

Seems to work rifle is around 35 years of age with a huge round count still shoots to P.O.A.

 

[artschool]

mod off.
thread protector on.
bore snake after outing.
stored muzzle down.

big clean every few months.

i personally found that cleaning after every outing affected accuracy even with a fouling round.

 

[Silvius]

Avoid doing anything that might cause corrosion, abrasion or loss of accuracy. Beyond that its fairly personal as to what works for you and your rifle.
For me I want to wipe the barrel clean after each use, leave oil in it for storage of more than a week (removing it before firing) and gently remove copper every 40 ish rounds. I come from a target background and I was taught to avoid brass brushes and bore snakes as they can be rough to the crown. I remain an adherent of this theory. However if someone is consistently getting good results with another regime it must be working ok.