cleaning your lever action rifle ?

R

rebs

New member
How do you guys clean your lever action rifle. I really don't want to clean from the muzzle and push all the dirt and crap into the action and am thinking about a bore snake. I have read good and bad about the Hoppe's bore snake, is there other brands that might be better ?
 
'Don't know what you've heard about Hoppe's bore snake, but I've got several different brands in different calibers for different rifles and don't see a delbilitating difference one way or t'other between them for what they provide.

That said, I use a short coated Dewey rod from the muzzle on occasion w/ the 94Marlin and the 92Winchester when either lead or copper is being cleaned out, but I stuff a dry patch into the chamber and close the bolt on it fully to provide a soft stop to the cleaning rod. The patch blocks all crud/solvent from going into the action, and I poke it out finally with the last cleaning rod pass.
 
Pick up an Otis kit. Plastic coated steel wire pulls to work from the breech to the muzzle. Even with those, just like cleaning a revolver, I stuff an old sock or rag in the open action against the bolt face to keep anything from coming down onto/into the bolt and action.
 
Or, in the case of the Win94 or the Marlin series, simply take the rifle apart and clean it from the breech. I don't believe that a barrel should be cleaned each and every time it's shot and I generally only clean my levers about twice a year. Still on the Marlin's especially, it's really easy to take out the lever screw, withdraw the bolt, and clean the barrel from the breech. Nothing to it.
 
On my Marlin I simply pull the bolt and clean from the breech. On my M94 I clean from the muzzle and use a bore guide. I made the bore guide for this lever action by cutting the base off of a 5.56 case. It cost nothing and it has worked fine for decades.
 
I had a 30/30 when I was younger and man, you just dont take them apart. Heck, you might not get it back together again! All those little parts and stuff thats bound to come shooting out of it...:)

Years later when I bought my Guide Gun and I know the bolt has to come out somehow. Dangit, nows the time to hanker down and learn all the parts and stuff and do it right. Boing or no boing this things coming apart.

Imagine my surprise when I (opened the lever half way) took out the lever screw and removed the lever, and then the bolt, and nothing went boing! Theres only one more little piece left in it now and its impossible to put it in wrong!

I can't believe I was so scared to take levers apart before. There's not much to them. (I know this is so for at least Marlins and Winnys).
 
Assuming its a marlin, just remove the lever, slide out the bolt, and lift out the ejector. then you can clean it from the chamber-end just like a bolt gun.
 
To satisfy my own curiosity I bought a Hoppe's bore snake yesterday at Walmart. I used it last evening on my AR 15 and it worked pretty good. I did not have thew problems I had read about. I believe its the older one since it doesn't have Viper anywhere on the package and it only has one brush. Since this is the only one I have tried I don't know if the newer one with more brushes is any better.
 
...made the bore guide for this lever action by cutting the base off of a 5.56 case.
Click to expand...

Great ideas again on TFL. :)

In my 357 Winnie, a 6.5 (Grendel) case fit both bore and Dewey rod diameter perfectly.
 
I turn my lever guns upside down in the cleaning cradle and use a rod and bore guide from the muzzle. Any drips/junk goes out the ejection port, not down into the action.
 
How do you guys clean your lever action rifle. I really don't want to clean from the muzzle and push all the dirt and crap into the action and am thinking about a bore snake. I have read good and bad about the Hoppe's bore snake, is there other brands that might be better ?
Click to expand...

I clean my old Winchester M94 from the muzzle. Open the action all the way, the flip the rifle over up side down. With the rifle at a 45 degree angle I push the rod in the muzzle.
Very simple, there's nothing to it. No dirt gets in the action.

I don't take apart any rifle for cleaning when I'm in the bush unless it's a bolt action. (just remove the bolt, it's one piece)
 
Stuff a patch into a fired cartridge case, chamber it and close the action.

Clean away end-to-end with absolutely zero worry about pushing fouling and solvent into the action.

When done, open the action and push a final dry patch through end-to-end completely (or pull a snake through from the breech), then a BreakFree/CLP/WeaponShield patch.

Done
 
Stuff a patch into a fired cartridge case, chamber it and close the action.

Clean away end-to-end with absolutely zero worry about pushing fouling and solvent into the action.

When done, open the action and push a final dry patch through end-to-end completely (or pull a snake through from the breech), then a BreakFree/CLP/WeaponShield patch.

Done
Click to expand...

Good idea. This work's well when using patches but will not work with a bore brush.

The action needs to be open when using a brush so it clears the chamber. Then you can you can pull the brush back out of the muzzle.
 
...This [patch-filled case in breech] works well when using patches but will not work with a bore brush.
Click to expand...
Actually it'll work for you just fine. Bore brushes are cheap and I simply
scrub the barrel back & forth a few times w/ the wet brush after the
2nd soaked patch to loosen up the groove corners. (You can do it. Trust me.) :)

If I throw away/replace a brush every half-dozen sessions, so be it.
That'll be the cheapest expense I'd have had over those days ;)






post script: I do not go through the cleaning agony w/ my 92Win and 94Marlin
that I do w/ my precision bolt guns. "Very Clean" is very easy by comparison
to my usual eat-off-of-it-OCD clean. :o Ten minutes at most, and then I let the
BreakFree/Weapon Shield sit in the barrel til next session.
The first dry patch then gets everything left.
 
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FWIW, removing the bolt from a Winchester 94 for cleaning the barrel from the rear is almost as easy as a Marlin - just remove the large-headed lever pin stop screw from the left receiver wall, partially open the bolt, and tap out the lever pin from the bolt, through the small hole in the RH receiver wall opposite the large headded screw's hole, drop the lever / lower link & remove the bolt.

If you try it with a Model 92, it's best to have an empty cartridge case seated in the boltface for reassembly, or the extractor will give you fits.

.
 
I clean my 92 44-40 after bp with a fired case in the chamber. That won't work with straight walled cases tho.
 
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