Bore Cleaning

[Hawks Feather]

Bore Cleaning

First, the standard disclaimer â€" if you don’t agree with my way of bore cleaning, that is fine.  I am sharing what works for me and what I have found to work for me.  If you are getting great results with your current method of cleaning, then don’t worry and be happy.  I am giving you a little different look in this write-up in that I will be covering most of the “cleaning” here and then will have another post about the cleaning products I have used.

I took the Remington .221 Fireball to the range yesterday to see how a few loads would work and also to make a post on barrel cleaning.  I was shooting 50-grain bullets around 3,000 feet per second, so I was not using excessively fast speeds.  In order to get a little closer to what I think the “average” shooter does, I did not clean the barrel (something I normally would have done) between any of the groups.  I did start by running a couple of dry patches down the bore to clean out any oil that was in the barrel.  38 rounds were fired.

After reading an article in the January 2006 issue of Precision Shooting, I am currently using SLIP 2000 as my “normal” bore cleaner, Bore Tech Eliminator as my copper remover (even thought it is advertised as the only cleaner you need), and my old friend J-B Bore Cleaner.


Before shooting, I run a couple of dry patches down the bore to clean out any oil that is left.  Whenever possible, I use a bore guide to keep the cleaning rod away from the end of the chamber.


This is my “normal” set up at the range


I always take along my shooting box that carries all the things I can’t live without.


When I am cleaning at home I always use the Muzzle Mate Splatter Guard.  I used to use an empty plastic pop container, but after getting frustrated with it falling off, I got this.  It keeps all the splatter and used patches in one place.


If you have a patch that fits the bore and you want to get some additional cleaning solvent down the bore (really wet down the bore), you can do it by spearing the patch a little bit off center.   I usually do this when I am putting solvents down the bore.  When I am getting the solvents out, I spear the patch in the center.


This is the first patch down the bore.  The Muzzle Mate was removed to show the patch.


After running a patch down the bore I use the next patch to wipe down the cleaning rod.  By folding the patch over and pulling the rod through it you will remove any grime or grit from the rod.  I then put the “soiled” side of the patch on the “inside” and use it for the next push through.


This is the third patch and you can see that it is much cleaner.


Here is the “line up” of patches â€" the first four (left to right) had SLIP 2000 and the rest had Bore Tech Eliminator.


Since I had run 38 rounds through and not done any cleaning patches the bore was fairly dirty.  I used SLIP 2000 â€" three wet patches and then 30 strokes with a brass brush which also had SLIP 2000 on it.  I then ran two dry patches through and started with the Bore Tech Eliminator.  The Bore Tech procedure was â€" three wet patches and then 30 strokes with a NYLON brush which also had Eliminator on it.  Bore Tech Eliminator is a copper remover and it will do a number on the brass brush.  Since the bore was pretty bad, I did four “sets” (SLIP followed by Eliminator) to get the barrel where I wanted it.  If I had cleaned a couple of times at the range I might have been able to get by with one or two “sets” to get the results I wanted.



This is the reason that I can tell when my bore is actually clean.


The Hawkeye Bore Scope allows me to see what is really happening inside the bore of my rifles and pistols.  Shining a light down the bore will allow you to see the build up of residue and also some gold colored sections where copper has built up, but seeing what is actually in the corner of the grooves is really difficult to do with a light.  As much as I would have liked, I was not able to get pictures from the Hawkeye Bore Scope.  If you would like to see what it actually looks like inside a bore, you can check this out  http://gradientlens.com/precisionshooting.asp

In checking the bore with the Hawkeye I could see that there was still some carbon in a couple of sections of the grooves in the barrel.  Rather than run another round of SLIP 2000 I opted to use my old friend J-B Bore Cleaner.  J-B is a mild abrasive (don’t worry it won’t scratch your barrel) that works well.  While you can use it (alone) to clean your barrel it will take you a much longer time than using other cleaners first.  I put the J-B on a patch, spear it on the cleaning jag, put a couple of drops of Kroil on the patch, and start working the patch back and forth in the bore. 


I have found that a cleaning rod stop works wonders here.


The rod stop keeps the patch from coming all of the way out of the bore and my needing to reinsert it again from the chamber end of the bore.

After several rounds of J-B Bore Cleaner, I will usually run a patch or two of some type of cleaner/degreaser â€" this time it was Quick Scrub.  This is followed by several dry patches and then a final patch with a light coat of oil to protect the bore from rust.

So there you have it.  Like I said at the beginning it is just the way I am doing things right now.


Good shooting,

Jerry

[Carolina Coyote]

Good Post Jerry, very informative, Thanks for posting.cc

[misfire]

I do much the same, but after every 100rds, I will paste my barrel, then clean THAT out with alcohol, then bore cleaner, then run patches till dry and no residue