Is my cleaning technique good enough?

[CC268]

Hey guys,

So I wanted to get some opinions on my cleaning technique and see what you guys thought about it. I essentially follow this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WRO17sk_dI

I clean the rifle (Tikka T3 .243) after every time I shoot it, which may be overkill. I may switch to cleaning it every 20-40 rounds or when I start to lose accuracy.

I do use a bore guide by the way.

Here are the steps I take:
1. Wet patch with Shooter's Choice Bore Solvent (x2)
2. Bronze brush with Shooter's Choice Bore Solvent (ran back and forth 10-15 times)
3. Wet patch with Shooter's Choice Bore Solvent (x1)
4. Dry patch (x2)
5. Repeat 1-4 until fairly clean
6. Wet patch with Barnes Copper Solvent (x2)
7. Bronze brush with Barnes Copper Solvent (ran back and forth 10-15 times)
8. Wet patch with Barnes Copper Solvent (x1)
9. Dry patch (x2)
10. Repeat steps 1-4 to ensure copper solvent is removed
11. Mop with gun oil

This process takes me about an hour and a half...which is a bit long if I am going to be doing this after every time I shoot it.

Other than the bore I wipe any metal down with gun oil and also wipe down the bolt with oil as well as grease the lugs with Shooter's Choice grease.

I would say my only concern is that sometimes it seems like I can never get the bore completely clean, as soon as I brush it again, the patches come out dirty? Maybe I am being too anal about it though. I have made sure to clean the bore very thoroughly since I bought it. It doesn't even have 100 rounds through it.

[hooligan1]

Use brake cleaner and spray out your brush before you reuse it, that seems to help..
And use the Shooters Choice until patchs come out clean followed by two dry patchs then copper solvent if necessary, if not run an oil patch then a dry patch...

[peggysue]

A modern firearm using modern ammo does not need to be cleaned every shot. In the army when you shot One blank out of it was dirty.

[CC268]

Interesting...do you use the chlorinated or non-chlorinated brake cleaner?

[ShaulWolf]

How often do you shoot it, and for how many rounds?

If you shoot a lot of rounds in one trip to the range, or go for more than a couple weeks in between trips to the range, then cleaning it every time you shoot it would be a good idea just as preventative maintenance.

If it's less than the above, you can probably tone down how often you do a hard scrub and just wipe down major components to remove grit and dirt. Most modern firearms and ammo don't need a huge amount of maintenance, though some of the dirtier ammo may require it.

[CC268]

When I shoot it, I shoot no more than 20 rounds in one trip. My frequency of shooting varies...but if you averaged it out it would probably be once every month or two. It doesn't get shot a whole lot, mostly because I am a college student and can't afford to shoot it often.

[CC268]

I have also heard of people plugging their barrel and letting some Hoppe's solvent sit in the barrel overnight. However, I would need to get some sort of plug for my .243

[zach_]

Some say not to push or pull a brush down through the muzzle/crown.

Some say it is ok to push or pull a brush down the muzzle/crown.

Be sure to lube everything per the owner's manual.

Swab the bore with a dry swab before you shoot. You don't want anything in the bore when you shoot.

Read and follow ALL of the instructions in the owner's manual.

I bet your rifle looks new.

[Snyper]

Interesting...do you use the chlorinated or non-chlorinated brake cleaner?

Most all commercial products are non-chlorinated, which is the best choice

[Bart B.]

One bore cleaning solvent is enough. Shooters Choice is what I have used for decades. Go to a rifle match and watch the winners and record setters move bronze brushes back and forth in and out of the muzzle and breech end of the most accurate and expensive barrels made. Wear by brush is the same at both ends of the rifling (negligible). Yet nobody says not to push the brush into the breech end. Burning powder erodes away metal and pits the breech end but not the muzzle end. I and others often run dry brushes back and forth in barrels which removes a lot of fouling. And cleaning is good every 50 shots for both rimfire and centerfire barrels.

[Double Naught Spy]

For 20 shots? I think you are putting more wear and tear on the barrel from cleaning (mechanical and chemical) than you are getting from shooting.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by CC268

Here are the steps I take:
1. Wet patch with Shooter's Choice Bore Solvent (x2)
2. Bronze brush with Shooter's Choice Bore Solvent (ran back and forth 10-15 times)
3. Wet patch with Shooter's Choice Bore Solvent (x1)
4. Dry patch (x2)
5. Repeat 1-4 until fairly clean
6. Wet patch with Barnes Copper Solvent (x2)
7. Bronze brush with Barnes Copper Solvent (ran back and forth 10-15 times)
8. Wet patch with Barnes Copper Solvent (x1)
9. Dry patch (x2)
10. Repeat steps 1-4 to ensure copper solvent is removed
11. Mop with gun oil

This process takes me about an hour and a half...which is a bit long if I am going to be doing this after every time I shoot it.

Other than the bore I wipe any metal down with gun oil and also wipe down the bolt with oil as well as grease the lugs with Shooter's Choice grease.

I would say my only concern is that sometimes it seems like I can never get the bore completely clean, as soon as I brush it again, the patches come out dirty? Maybe I am being too anal about it though. I have made sure to clean the bore very thoroughly since I bought it. It doesn't even have 100 rounds through it.

My experience says a few things here.
1) You should brush once per chemical. I would not repeat brushing.
2) You probably should find time for the chemical to work. After a wet patch, waiting a min or 5 is good.
3) You should look for a single chemical solution for most of your cleaning. I use Butches Bore Shine on the bore.
4) I think you will find better patch results by, after brushing, running a wet patch, waiting a few min, running 2 dry patches, running a 2nd wet patch, then running 2 more dry patches. That should be pretty good. . .maybe 1 more iteration.
5) You will always have something on the patch. The goal is to get about 80 - 90% clean dry patch.
6) Step 10 is wasting your time.
7) I learned something here! A good use for all those silly mops I have!

[Bart B.]

Double Naught,

Benchresters clean their barrels every 10 to 20 shots. They also know that burning powder causes 100 times more barrel wear than cleaning rods and brushes do. They use rod guides in the breech to prevent wear from both solid and coated steel cleaning rods. Neither causes any wear throughout the bore length.

Even the most accurate Garands used in competition with the bore and grooves worn away and no copper wash the last half inch of their barrel from bare steel cleaning rods rubbing on the barrel effected accuracy. They've tested no worse than 4" at 600 yards for the 3000+ round good accuracy life of the barrel. That couple thousandths inch belling at the muzzle had no effect on accuracy. Only when burning powder had eroded the origin of the rifling too much did accuracy suffer.

[CC268]

One bore cleaning solvent is enough. Shooters Choice is what I have used for decades. Go to a rifle match and watch the winners and record setters move bronze brushes back and forth in and out of the muzzle and breech end of the most accurate and expensive barrels made. Wear by brush is the same at both ends of the rifling (negligible). Yet nobody says not to push the brush into the breech end. Burning powder erodes away metal and pits the breech end but not the muzzle end. I and others often run dry brushes back and forth in barrels which removes a lot of fouling. And cleaning is good every 50 shots for both rimfire and centerfire barrels.


So are you saying I should just drop the copper solvent and just use the Shooter's Choice?

Thanks for the help!

[CC268]

Thanks for the tips guys, so should I just use Shooter's Choice and then some gun oil like CLP for the final step?

[riflemen]

I shoot a lot and it depends on the ammo and the gun, for rifles, I run a bore snake down the barrel a few times, then when I notice it is dirty or feel in the mood to clean them, I will sit down and do a few all at once... I use CLP, it doesn the job, then lube and inspect everything...

[Bart B.]

CC268, yes; use just Shooter's Choice. You can oil the bore to prevent corrosion but clean it all out before shooting it.

[CC268]

Sounds good! Do you ever use any copper solvent after say 1000 rounds, or is it just that the Shooter's Choice has enough copper solvent in it that it is not needed?

Thanks. Should be my last question.

[DAVID NANCARROW]

I don't worry all that much about copper in a factory barrel until it starts to affect accuracy. The problem with removing all of the copper from the barrel is that the first 5 or so shots is going to re lay that copper onto the barrel again, and you might find your rifle not quite as accurate until it does.

[Mobuck]

Sounds like way too much cleaning. I might clean that much before putting into long term storage but not if planning to shoot again within a month +/-.
It's a good idea to flush your bronze brushes with solvent to remove the copper dissolving component of many cleaning products. I use brake parts cleaner(whatever is cheapest). If there's a possibility you might hose something plastic/synthetic, get the safer cleaner.

[Bart B.]

I agree with David N. A lot of commercial barrels are rough enough that until enough jacket copper's laid down in them, they'll irregularly wipe off jacket material unbalancing bullets. Once those micropits are full of copper, bullets no longer leave a tiny part of their jackets behind.

I've shot matches with Winchester factory match rifle barrels and always went to the sighting in range to shoot a few shots to condition the bore before going to the range where the match was. Otherwise, the 2 sighting shots allowed before the first record shots were fired didn't foul the bore enough for best accuracy. They started out going towards 10 o'clock; apparantly unbalanced such that they jumped in that direction upon exit from the muzzle. 86 rounds later, the barrel still shot very well, but it got totally cleaned that night.

CC268, never put more than 100 rounds through a barrel before cleaning it with bore cleaner. I sometimes would dry brush it after 40 or 60 rounds. I've never used copper remover after Shooter's Choice. I have used Sweets 7.62 ammonia based copper cleaner and it's probably the best. But it's high level of ammonia burns my fingers and the fumes are not pleasant in my nose. I've also used a 50-50 mix of Hoppe's No. 9 and 28% ammonia which is way too toxic for my liking.

When Shooter's Choice first came out, they got sued by some errant rifle shooter who never cleaned his barrel too well over several thousand rounds. The barrel's throat was so full of crud that it still shot reasonably well. The strong cleaning of Shooter's Choice cleaned all that stuff out and left the very eroded, rough leade and origin of the rifling bare to scrape off and deform really good bullets. So proved the attorney for Shooter's Choice before they went to court. The errant rifle shooter decided it wasn't a good idea to pursue it further. As told to me by Boots (Barrett) Obermeyer, the barrel maker who made the barrel in question.

[603Country]

I certainly can't disagree with anything said so far, and I'm happy to hear what Bart said about the barrel brush moving in and out of the muzzle being Ok.

Nobody has mentioned one of the biggest variables in bore cleaning, which is the individual rifle. Some need more cleaning than others, and cleaning needs may vary. My 220 Swift needs Shooter's Choice after 20 or 25 rounds, and accuracy is negatively impacted by copper fouling after maybe 40 rounds or so. The 260 needs far less cleaning and rarely ever seems to have much copper. The rest of my rifles seem to be sort of in the middle range of the two rifles mentioned above.

As for copper removal, I use Boretech Eliminator, which is far more effective than Sweet's and is less stinky.

[NateKirk]

Get a boresnake, and a can of balistol. You will never go back to what you are doing again.

[CC268]

Thanks for all the tips, I will follow Bart B's suggestions!

[jmr40]

Get a boresnake, and a can of balistol. You will never go back to what you are doing again.

Bore snakes are OK for emergency use in the field if a barrel gets wet or small debris needs to be removed.

I'd strongly suggest there use be limited, if at all. Yea, they are easy to use, but it is just a matter of time before something breaks and you are left with one stuck in the barrel. I sure wouldn't recommend one as a primary cleaning tool.