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Cleaning a target rifle
- Thread starter rebs
- Start date
To quote someone who really knows accuracy:
From: bartb@hpfcla.fc.hp.com (Bart Bobbitt)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Cleaning .22 LR Rimfire Barrels
Date: 7 Mar 1994 18:32:52 -0500
There's a really neat thing on the market for removing lead from barrels. Sold by Kleen Bore, they're 1-in. square cotton patches impregnated with come chemicals. Sold in boxes of 25 for about $2.40, I got a box and tried them.
My smallbore match rifle had been cleaned quite well with Hoppe's No. 9 solvent, then the bore wiped dry with patches. Leaving a film of No. 9 in the barrel for an hour did not dissolve any more lead that could be picked up by a cleaning patch. So, it appeared squeaky clean.
I usually run a benchrest bronze brush through the barrel from breach to muzzle direction only a couple of times about every 500 rounds. I had done this in the cleaning process used.
Then I takes one of these Kleen Bore lead removing patches, puts it on my nylon jag, and slowly pushes it through the bore. To my surprise, it came out black! I reversed the lead removing patch on the jag, then pushed it through again. This time, it came out gray in color. It must have removed something that the standard procedures did not get. I then put another one through but it didn't show any discoloration indicating the bore was more
or like the fuels most cars use these days; unleaded.
To verify the blackening was not due to chemical reaction with the blued bore, I took another lead removing patch and rubbed in on the barrel's outside; no color change. Seems to prove that the one that went through the bore did remove the last microinches of fouling.
I would guess these Kleen Bore lead removal patches would work in
any barrel to remove all the lead.
BB
#####
Eley has a different routine from Bart's: http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/how-to-clean-rimfire-rifle-barrels/
Hope this is helpful.
Jimro
From: bartb@hpfcla.fc.hp.com (Bart Bobbitt)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Cleaning .22 LR Rimfire Barrels
Date: 7 Mar 1994 18:32:52 -0500
There's a really neat thing on the market for removing lead from barrels. Sold by Kleen Bore, they're 1-in. square cotton patches impregnated with come chemicals. Sold in boxes of 25 for about $2.40, I got a box and tried them.
My smallbore match rifle had been cleaned quite well with Hoppe's No. 9 solvent, then the bore wiped dry with patches. Leaving a film of No. 9 in the barrel for an hour did not dissolve any more lead that could be picked up by a cleaning patch. So, it appeared squeaky clean.
I usually run a benchrest bronze brush through the barrel from breach to muzzle direction only a couple of times about every 500 rounds. I had done this in the cleaning process used.
Then I takes one of these Kleen Bore lead removing patches, puts it on my nylon jag, and slowly pushes it through the bore. To my surprise, it came out black! I reversed the lead removing patch on the jag, then pushed it through again. This time, it came out gray in color. It must have removed something that the standard procedures did not get. I then put another one through but it didn't show any discoloration indicating the bore was more
or like the fuels most cars use these days; unleaded.
To verify the blackening was not due to chemical reaction with the blued bore, I took another lead removing patch and rubbed in on the barrel's outside; no color change. Seems to prove that the one that went through the bore did remove the last microinches of fouling.
I would guess these Kleen Bore lead removal patches would work in
any barrel to remove all the lead.
BB
#####
Eley has a different routine from Bart's: http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/how-to-clean-rimfire-rifle-barrels/
Hope this is helpful.
Jimro
I would defer to the folk at Eley as 'the experts' so go to the link Jimro provided. Do that.
Jimro's link works fine. The link to Eley from that site didn't work for me...shrug...but the info on cleaning the rifle was on first site so...
That said, when I was young I did shoot in .22 competition (we used the term 'small bore' cause it sounded way cooler than '.22'). This was semi-serious stuff and there were a lot of Anschutz, Winchester 52, and Remington 40x rifles around. The club owned some target rifles so you didn't have buy your own and these rifles were cleaned every year before they were put away for the summer. They generally had 100 to 200 rounds put through them every week September thru May which was our shooting season.
After a cleaning most of them did require fouling shots to get back into the 'groove'.
But as to fouling shots, don't take ANYBODY'S word for it. Clean your rifle, shoot your rifle, see if it needs some fouling shots to settle down. Then you'll know. Your .22 might be different than others.
Good luck.
Jimro's link works fine. The link to Eley from that site didn't work for me...shrug...but the info on cleaning the rifle was on first site so...
That said, when I was young I did shoot in .22 competition (we used the term 'small bore' cause it sounded way cooler than '.22'). This was semi-serious stuff and there were a lot of Anschutz, Winchester 52, and Remington 40x rifles around. The club owned some target rifles so you didn't have buy your own and these rifles were cleaned every year before they were put away for the summer. They generally had 100 to 200 rounds put through them every week September thru May which was our shooting season.
After a cleaning most of them did require fouling shots to get back into the 'groove'.
But as to fouling shots, don't take ANYBODY'S word for it. Clean your rifle, shoot your rifle, see if it needs some fouling shots to settle down. Then you'll know. Your .22 might be different than others.
Good luck.
When I was in high school I was taught how to shoot 4 position indoor small bore by a gentleman who's son was the Minnesota state champ. He was also coached by his father and got a full ride scholarship to college for shooting.
I used borrowed rifles from our club because I couldn't afford one for myself.....One evening after a match I got curious as to why I'd never seen him clean any of the rifles.....So I asked him.
I said "When do you clean the rifles?" To which he replied "when they need it." I then asked "well, when do they need it?" His answer was simple...."Very rarely."
As it turned out he cleaned them once a year after the season. He'd clean the actions, chambers and bolts and kept the outside of them lightly oiled but never touched the bores until there was nothing on the line.
It has been my observations with several Anschutz rifles and a few other standard factory rifles that he was correct. The bores do not need to be cleaned very often. Keep the rest of the rifle clean and leave the bore alone until the accuracy drops off....which probably isn't for a few thousand rounds at the least.
I used borrowed rifles from our club because I couldn't afford one for myself.....One evening after a match I got curious as to why I'd never seen him clean any of the rifles.....So I asked him.
I said "When do you clean the rifles?" To which he replied "when they need it." I then asked "well, when do they need it?" His answer was simple...."Very rarely."
As it turned out he cleaned them once a year after the season. He'd clean the actions, chambers and bolts and kept the outside of them lightly oiled but never touched the bores until there was nothing on the line.
It has been my observations with several Anschutz rifles and a few other standard factory rifles that he was correct. The bores do not need to be cleaned very often. Keep the rest of the rifle clean and leave the bore alone until the accuracy drops off....which probably isn't for a few thousand rounds at the least.
I sometimes run a bore snake thru my 22's. Other times...I just needle spray oil inside the pipe, turn the muzzle face down on newspaper and let drain. My other option is an oiled Q-Tip, swabbed in the chamber, so as to negate the effect of salty sweat of my fingers; when I handle the ammo while loading.