Cleaning a Rifled Barrel

A

andrewd523

New member
Here is a question. Is it best to use only cloth with oil when cleaning a rifled barrel? Or can you use a copper brush to clean it out? I have heard using only soft cloth's, with oil will improve the life of the barrel, it just takes longer, and is more tedious. I will only be shooting sabots out of my Hastings barrel, how often should I clean it? Thanks
 
I really doubt that a brass or bronze brush is going to do any damage to your barrel.The stell is much harder then the brushes and I doub't a 1000 passes would make a difference you could actually measure. I also don't think a soft cloth is going to scrub out the plastic fowling very well. I have used a stainless Tornado brush in my smoothbores for many years and have never seen any evidence of harm. In my rifled barrels, I use a bronze brush and again, have never seen anything that looked like damage.
 
You'll do far more damage to the bore by not cleaning it properly than any bronze or synthetic brush ever could.

I recommend buying a good bore solvent that is made to help remove plastic fouling caused by modern plastic shot shells and plastic sabots.

Buy several bronze or synthetic shotgun brushes.

Use a hobby paint transfer bulb to apply solvent to the brushes and patches so as to not contaminate the solvent.

Apply a good amount to the brush , and push it ALL THE WAY through and OUT THE END, before pulling it back through. (NEVER reverse ANY bore brush inside the barrel).

Brush until the fouling deposits are removed, (At least 15 to 25 passes of the brush), keeping plenty of solvent in the bore.
Then run several soaking patches down the bore and out the end.

Allow the bore to soak while you clean the rest of the gun.
All bore solvents need TIME to work, so allow plenty of soak time.
After soaking, run a couple of clean patches through, then using a good light, take a close look at the bore and chamber for any signs of fouling.

If you see any, go back to the brush and solvent and scrub some more until the barrel is truly clean.
Then dry with several patches, apply a good rust preventing lube like CLP Breakfree to a clean patch and coat the bore with lube.
Allow a few minutes for the lube to spread, then use another clean, dry patch to wipe out the excess.

Many shotgun shooters also buy a special chamber cleaning brush and handle to insure all plastic deposits are removed from the chamber.
The major cause of extraction problems in shotguns is a fouled chamber caused by not really getting it clean.
Bore brushes often will not do a good job in the larger chamber, and shotgunners are often shocked to find their chamber is pitted under a layer of plastic fouling they failed to get out.
 
Dfaris-
Thank you so much for the great advice, could you give me the links of the solvents you use. I would like to get the right stuff, as I would like to keep this barrel hopefully for the life of the gun. How often should I clean the barrel like this? (how many rounds need to go through the barrel to require a cleaning like this?) Thanks again
 
Since I have to pay for my own guns, I take GOOD care of them.
That means I clean the bore EVERY time it's fired, even if it's one shot.

Some of my guns have been fired thousands of times, and they still look like new.
That's because I do take such good care of them.

What bore solvent you use depends on what you try and like.
For shotguns, here's a few proven brands that you can buy in most gun shops:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/catsearch.aspx?k=bore+solvent&ps=10&si=True

Hoppe's has been around since the 1930's AT LEAST, and is still one of the best.

Note that statements about "removing lead" are advertising hype. There is no chemical that will "dissolve" lead that won't also dissolve YOU.
Lead has to be removed by mechanical means like a brush.
Bore solvents just help in lead removal.
 
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