How to Clean a Rifle Bore

[seabiscuit]

I've heard a lot hinting at proper cleaning of rifle bores, but I've never really seen someone explain how to do it.

So, what rod/boresnake/oil should be used and how should they be used?

Let's consider both AR type carbines and hunting rifles.

[secondstoryguy]

For ARs and precision/hunting rifles: I run a patch through with solvent, let it sit for a few seconds, brush it out with a nylon bore brush and then put patches through till they are clean. I might repeat this 2-3 times but nothing extreme. After this I usually put a patch through with oil and then a dry patch to get the excess oil. I use a chamber type bore guide with both ARs and bolt guns just to make it easier to guide the rod in. I use Boresnakes on occasion, primarily on .22s but on ARs as well, and find they work pretty well.


I do not clean my guns excessively. Even when I was into precision rifle stuff and shooting bolt guns worth many-many thousands of dollars the barrels would not get cleaned but every 1500 rounds or so and often into the 2000s. I might put an oily patch down it if they were exposed to rain/dirt/dust but I think scrubbing barrels down after every range session is silly. ARs get cleaned with more frequency but they are not cleaned to death.

[Odin Bravo One]

My personal routine. This works for my guns, and my purposes. Other's have their own routines and reasons for doing what they do. My way........not THE way.

AR bore cleaning: A) Doesn't happen. or B) Boresnake pulled through once in awhile. Barrel life on a hard use carbine is fairly short. I have shot out most of my carbine barrels long before I saw fouling or carbon build up affect accuracy.



My precision rifle cleaning routine, whether a precision semi, or precision bolt gun:

1) Start with proper size one piece, nylon coated cleaning rod, proper size brass jig, proper size cotton patches, proper size bore guide.

2) Attach brass jig to coated rod, screw on only halfway, give or take. Place patch over jig.

3) Place patch/end of rod into bore guide.

4) Add solvent to patch via solvent port.

5) Run patch through bore slowly.

6) Remove patch after it clears the muzzle.

7) Some say to remove the jig, and then withdraw the rod, others have told me to not bother. On my personal .5 MOA capable hunting rifle, I prefer to protect the crown, and take the jig off, since that is really the only thing I can do to damage the crown other than stick the barrel face down into 5 inches of gravel. A damaged crown can easily turn a hit into a miss at extended ranges out of an otherwise accurate rifle.

8) Repeat 2 or 3 times, depending on amount of fouling. I just want to ensure thorough coating of the bore with the solvent.

9) Let sit 10-15 minutes. Read the instructions on your chosen solvent. Some ammonia based solvents will tell you no more than 15 minutes, and how to neutralize the ammonia once you are done. Others don't give a specific time. Just know what you are using, and the potential unpleasant side effects of leaving it sit too long.

10) Push clean patches through until they come out without any fouling and/or blue tint if using ammonia based solvents. I do not ever re-use a patch. Even if it comes out clean. Come on.......they are like less than $.01 each.

Repeat steps 2-7 at least once, more if I continue to get fouling and carbon coming out after the initial clean patch pass. Clean patches coming out do not necessarily indicate a clean bore. Often times they simply mean the solvent/cleaning ability has ceased to work, and patches are coming out clean because of lack of working solvent. Add more solvent, and dirty patches will start coming out again.

I repeat the entire process until the first patch after the solvent sits comes out clean. It all depends on how dirty the bore is as to how long that takes, or how many times through the steps.

I push through a couple of more clean, dry patches to ensure all of the solvent is out. Then push through 3-5 lube coated patches through to neutralize and remove any remaining solvent, and lube the bore. Then a final dry patch to remove excess lubricant.

Once everything is clean, and re-assembled, the precision rifle goes back to the range, and I fire one round. Wipe everything down on the outside, clean the optics, put on covers, and back into the safe.

Cleaning complete.


ETA......The products I use for bore cleaning are either Isso or J&B Bore paste for super nasty, high volume shooting in the precision rifles. It is applied and scrubbed with a nylon brush prior to beginning with any solvents. I leave it on after scrubbing, and go straight to the routine outlined above.

For solvents, I use either Butch's Bore Shine, or 7.62 Solvent.

For lube, I use either EWL, or Froglube as that is what I have a ton of right now.

Dewey cleaning rods & jigs, are my preferred tools.

[Packy]

Too long guys...

I use STP Engine Degreaser on the bore. i just flush the bore, wait for a minute then patch 2x.
put slip ewl or Mpro 7 on the patch/cotton rag and run it on the bore.. DONE.

[Odin Bravo One]

Too long guys...

I use STP Engine Degreaser on the bore. i just flush the bore, wait for a minute then patch 2x.
put slip ewl or Mpro 7 on the patch/cotton rag and run it on the bore.. DONE.

I suppose that depends on how precise the precision rifle is, and what you plan on hunting with it...............

A rack grade rifle used for Bambi gets a different approach than a true precision rifle used for dangerous game hunting.

[Jay Cunningham]

I'm just going to comment on an AR-15 type rifle.

I clean by pushing through (or pulling through) from the chamber towards the muzzle.

For a quick clean I simply pull through a .22 BoreSnake. It works fine.

For a deeper cleaning I soak some patches with Hoppe's and push them through to get all of the chamber and bore wet. I use the specialized AR-15 chamber brush on the chamber, liberally covered in some extra Hoppe's.

I let the chemical do its thing for 10 minutes while I clean the rest of the gun.

I push (or pull) a brush through a few times, then push some dry patches through until they're clean. I use brake parts cleaner to flush out the chamber area since rags or Q-Tips or "chamber stars" don't really work well

That's about it.

[LittleLebowski]

Too long guys...

I use STP Engine Degreaser on the bore. i just flush the bore, wait for a minute then patch 2x.
put slip ewl or Mpro 7 on the patch/cotton rag and run it on the bore.. DONE.

For a precision rifle, sooner or later accuracy will degrade, and you will have to do more than the above. It may happen at 100 rds, 500 rds, or 2k but it will happen.

The way an SME in the precision field taught me (combat vet 8541/8542 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Frationalgun.blogspot.com%2F2011%2 F11%2Fmy-brothers-award-writeup.html&ei=p439T-ikFNCx0QGMrJj_Bg&usg=AFQjCNF-KW4yNua5CaIKtstzDV3h5VENEQ)) is to always clean the same way and don't over do it. You want to prevent too much build up; not clean down to bare metal each time. He suggests 2 patches of carbon solvent, 2 of copper every 200-500 rounds depending on the barrel. You will have to track your accuracy through that barrel to actually know what your cleaning intervals should be. Of course, you can vary the number of patches you push but try not to get down to bare metal and therefore a cold, unfouled bore.

As SeanM pointed out, cleaning properly is extremely important to precision work. .5 MOA in loss of accuracy may not matter to you but it makes a world of difference at long range and on low probability, smaller targets.

I use the KG line of solvents after reading this test (http://rationalgun.blogspot.com/2012/01/scientific-bore-cleaning-test.html). Jay Cunningham already pointed out that actually letting the chemicals sit and do their work is paramount.

[seabiscuit]

Thanks for all the info, guys.