New rifle barrel cleaning

P

p5200

New member
I just got a Vangaurd in 30-06 and was wondering if it is a good idea to clean the barrel often several times after 20 or 30 rounds of ammo with this Remington 40-X Bore Cleaner which has a fine abrasive in it to help smooth the bore? or is just shooting it and letting the bullets burnish the barrel nice and smooth good enough? Thanks! :)
 
barrel

Sir;
Quite a controversy on this subject but I would just use a phosphorous bronze bristle brush, some Hoppes N. 9 and maybe some JB bore cleaning paste.
Most barrels today are so smooth I don't think "breaking in" a barrel is necessary - but many disagree!
Harry B.
 
I cringe at the thought of putting anything abrasive down an old bore, let alone a new barrel.
Some folks like to lap a new bore though.
I just clean after every shot with a patch, nylon brush and solvent for the first 20 shots or so.
You want the bore to burnish in smoothly, and it cant do that if you are grinding in trash from the previous shots.

But as Harry said, almost every shooter has their own thoughts on the subject.

Some reading: http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/Break_In__Cleaning-c1246-wp2558.htm
 
i go to the extent of this.

1 shot clean 5 times
2 shot clean 5 times
3 shot clean 5 times
4 shot clean 5 times
5 shot clean 5 times

75 shots all together, it may seem excessive but i find after breaking the barrel in like this fouling is reduced with normal firing. It does take most of the day at the range.

I was told of this method from an old gun smith. He said it reduces fouling and properly fills the pores of the steel in the barrel. Fouling part is true, the pores thing im not too sure.
 
bore

Sir;
That Vanguard is a super rifle, made by HOWA in Japan and I remember the barrels are "hammer forged." The last post sounds good. However, I don't do it.
Harry B.
 
I believe a lot of the barrel break-in routines were for cut-rifled barrels, where a lot of wire edges in the bore needed to be burnished. Butta9999's routine is typical of many, but I've never understood the logic behind gradually extending the number of shots between cleanings. If the idea is the cleaning will remove metal fouling to keep the steel exposed to burnishing by the next shot, then surely you want to clean after each shot until the burnishing is completed, then shoot normally.

Today, if you have a hammer-forged barrel, the bore is already work-burnished. Only the toolmarks in the throat will need any burnishing. That can usually be done by cleaning between each round for twenty rounds. Use Boretech Eliminator or some other good copper and powder dissolving chemistry. Using JB or Iosso Bore Cleaner or the Remington cleaner may speed that process a little by polishing the throat slightly. I won't hurt and doesn't remove enough metal to widen a bore even a tenth of a thousandths even using it for every cleaning the gun ever gets. A stubborn throat with really bad toolmarks may justify light firelapping with 600 grit or finer abrasive embedded in cast bullets, but save that for a really stubborn case. If you aren't familiar with the process, read up on it.
 
I'm a fan of the late Gale McMillian. Gale has had more barrels in the winners circle than anybody so you'd think he would have a clue. Here's his comments about barrel break in-
http://yarchive.net/gun/barrel/break_in.html

In my opinion, if it shoots right out of the box, don't mess with it. If it doesn't shoot, the barrel will be the last place I look to remedy the problem. Case in point, I am an 03 Springfield collector. I have 03s with barrels so bad you wouldn't think a bullet could make it down the barrel and come out straight. But some of these old shooters will stack bullets at 100 yds better than some of the new rifles. I would never use any abrasive in my barrels. If the barrel is bad, abrasive isn't going to make it better.
 
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