Last night, I succumbed to curiosity and broke out the bore brushes and Hoppes #9. Honestly, the results were stunning! Patches pulled through afterward were much smoother and continued to pull fouling and dirt for several cycles even though the bore was cleaned normally before it was brushed.

There were several triggers for this: First was my experience using the .22 button that comes in the Patch Worm kit, next was the advice of Dan Lilja, and finally came standard practice of bench rest shooter. Bench rest shooters arguably have the final word on accuracy and this is SOP for them, and if I wear out a barrel cleaning it, well, Evelio probably has a cure for that.

Thoughts?

58 views and no replies - is everyone simply tired of debating cleaning? Or waiting for a range report? Harsher cleaning methods have already worked well in a 504 with a Lilja barrel so I expect good results.

Accuracy is consistency,the only way to be consistant is with a clean barrel.

Agreed, HeavyBarrel, but conventional wisdom has dictated no brushes or rods and even that dirty .22's are more accurate. I'm discovering (or maybe rediscovering) the difference between seasoned and dirty. It only takes ten shots at most to re-season a scrubbed barrel.

To clean or not to clean - that is the questiion - Huh

Reading this thread made me feel so guilty that I cleaned my rifles tonight!

Hutch wrote:To clean or not to clean - that is the questiion - Huh

There's no question in my mind that cleaning is good, but most silhouette shooters that I know avoid rods and brushes even though other kinds of shooters insist on them. I know that freshly cleaned barrels need seasoning to settle in, and that dirty barrels shoot badly. What procedures are other shooters following?

I clean after each use but do not use a brush. The bolt face is kept clean to remove fouling or fowling if I've been practicing on chickens and turkeys . The breach face and loading area gets attention then I push
a couple of patches moistened with Shooter's Choice through the bore,
then wipe the muzzle and crown clean. I leave the bore wet until next use.
I dry patch before I shoot next time to remove the residual solvent.
I get very little leading and mostly I'm pushing powder fouling out.
My first clean barrel shot is within a half minute of the zero at any of the targets so I don't worry even about starting a match on a clean bore.

I use a rod guide and coated Bore-Tech rods and a good linen patch.
Butch's patches are good. They are a heavier twill but any cotton or linen patch is good. Stay away from those crappy chiffon patches.

We were quiet because we were so horrified.......... A brush through a Lilja barrel? Dan will be coming by to take it back......I knew no good would come from you hanging around me.......

Kitty

We were quiet because we were so horrified.

Kitty
I thought that you were only supposed to clean on 4th of July and Christmas and I'm still trying to figure out which holiday it is....


Innocent

Innocent,

I've lost track of time too.....All I know is I'm supposed to be in Benton this weekend to spot for a really good junior shooter......

Kitty

I saw this thread but thought it was about "Hershey's" Chocolate so I didn't open it:)

I don't know how to clean a rifle.....I just do what James McMahen tells me to do.........

jneihouse wrote:We were quiet because we were so horrified.......... A brush through a Lilja barrel? Dan will be coming by to take it back......I knew no good would come from you hanging around me.......

Kitty

See what happens when you leave me unsupervised? This is all your fault Kitty...

My cleaning methods don't work, particularly in Mr. Lilja's barrel so I'm trying different methods before recycling that particular rifle to prop up a rose bush. It's hard to believe how much looser that bore is now, so this may explain the problems with that rifle.

Which rifle are you talking about???... If it's the Remingotn 504, then I know that rifle to be demon possessed....Anything else I can help you. If it's the 504 then sacrifice a chicken, use the blood to clean the gun and call me in the morning.

Kitty

I wipe down the outside of my gun every time I'm done using it, using a shop rag and a quick spray of "BreakFree CLP" on the rag. I clean everything I can reach with my hands and fingers. (Inside the receiver and around the breech, etc.)

About every box of shells, I use a Boresnake to clean the barrel and chamber. When I feel like it "needs" a good cleaning I take it apart and give it the whole Magillah, rod and all.

But for the bristles in the Boresnake I don't use a brush. I do have a home made version of the PatchWorm, made out of a piece of monofilament weed wacker line. Between that and the Boresnake, I have no problems giving the gun a quick wipedown even if I'm in the field.

You can wind the monofilament up inside the cap of your favorite spray cleaner and tuck in a few patches before you snap it back on. That and a clean rag fits in my range bag in one neat little package. It doesn't take up too much room, leaving me lots of space to carry MORE BULLETS!