Barrel Cleaning

[hfinkle]

I have a 22br with a Shilen barrel that has maybe 1000 rounds through it. The man that got me into shooting told me never use a bore brush, patches only. I run 2 wet patches and maybe 10 dry one's.
This gun shot a .132 5 shot group this year and will 3 target agg. in the .2's . I was thinking of giving the barrel a deep clean but would like some advise. I don't want to screw up a good thing.
Hal

 

[JRS]

If it's shooting that well leave well enough alone.

 

[Tim s]

I have a 22br with a Shilen barrel that has maybe 1000 rounds through it. The man that got me into shooting told me never use a bore brush, patches only. I run 2 wet patches and maybe 10 dry one's.
This gun shot a .132 5 shot group this year and will 3 target agg. in the .2's . I was thinking of giving the barrel a deep clean but would like some advise. I don't want to screw up a good thing.
Hal

Just because the guy had a good barrel does’nt mean he had a clue.
Get a quality rod, brushes anda good boreguide and use them with good solvent.
If you go to any well attended BR match, you will see lots of guts with brushes.
Used properly, you hurt nothing but fouling.

P.S. by now you probably also have carbon in the end of the chamber to remove.

 

[alinwa]

And I printed off Greg Walley's electron microscope photos of what a brass brush does to stainless and I haven't let a brush touch a match barrel for 15yrs......

I have a Hawkeye.

 

[rardoin]

Well...if I have to use electron microscopy to visualize the effects of a bronze brush on my SS barrels...I don't think my bullets will care.

Be warned...I have bronze brushes and I'm not afraid to use them!

I have a Hawkeye too.

Seriously though, I use a bronze brush to remove carbon fouling and have not seen any adverse effects...only positive ones. I do use a high quality bearing handled rod and quality boreguide.

 

[JRS]

And I printed off Greg Walley's electron microscope photos of what a brass brush does to stainless and I haven't let a brush touch a match barrel for 15yrs......

I have a Hawkeye.

And the late Gale McMillan proved otherwise.

 

[PatMiles]

And I printed off Greg Walley's electron microscope photos of what a brass brush does to stainless and I haven't let a brush touch a match barrel for 15yrs......

I have a Hawkeye.

 

[alinwa]

And the late Gale McMillan proved otherwise.

Gale believed a lot of stuff.... he also believed and taught that bullets "go to sleep" and shoot tighter with distance.

Where did he prove Greg wrong though. I wasn't aware of this?

cite?

 

[JRS]

Gale believed a lot of stuff.... he also believed and taught that bullets "go to sleep" and shoot tighter with distance.

Where did he prove Greg wrong though. I wasn't aware of this?

cite?

The dean of American barrel making did much more than believe. He was a leader, not a follower of the things that are popular. The things that Gale McMillan brought about are still used to this day. Popular is a big money maker. The debate about barrel cleaning will go on forever, just as will the type of crown to put on the muzzle of the barrel. They all work. It's preference/following, popular.

 

[velocette]

I'm not going to suggest that my experiences should be used as an example. However a gentleman that shoots in my club's smallbore prone matches regularly and practices with several friends and myself regularly suggests that regular cleaning after every days shooting is a good idea. He's a three time Olympian, many times world cup competitor and more.
He cleans his rifle after every days shooting solvent, brass brush and patches. He also says that his barrels remain top level competitive until over 80,000 rounds and usually much more. YMMV.

 

[JMayo]

In ARA matches you'll see everybody cleaning.
Some scrub some patch only. Depending on how mine is shooting.
If shooting good I wet patch and 4-6 dry.
If something just isn't wright I'll run a brush a few times.
At the end of matches I run a brush, spinning it in the chamber area a bunch.
Oh . #9 only.
Kroil well keep the wax from coating the barrel (my experience) some use it allot though.

 

[hfinkle]

Thanks for all the help guys, that really cleared things up. Hal

 

[KenOath]

Just because the guy had a good barrel does’nt mean he had a clue.
Get a quality rod, brushes anda good boreguide and use them with good solvent.
If you go to any well attended BR match, you will see lots of guts with brushes.
Used properly, you hurt nothing but fouling.

P.S. by now you probably also have carbon in the end of the chamber to remove.

This^^^

 

[Tim s]

And I printed off Greg Walley's electron microscope photos of what a brass brush does to stainless and I haven't let a brush touch a match barrel for 15yrs......

I have a Hawkeye.

Yeah, what it does , as well as clean is maintain the texture put there by the makers that hand lapp them.

Among barrels that foul more, no question careful brushing with solvent breaks through that fouling.
And I check routinely with my electron microscope .

 

[Uthink Uknow]

I remember the pictures posted by Greg. One picture, at least, was flawed. It showed the crown of the barrel. Well, the scratches went well out on the crown. If those scratches were made by a proper brush, it's whiskers were about a half inch long making the brush about an inch and a quarter in diameter.

 

[K22]

Here we go again - an issue for which there is no definitive answer. I don't have the magical definitive answer either; I can only relate my experiences which may be different from other I freely admit. However...

I've used Dewey's no harm bronze brushes for many many years with a rod guide and haven't experience any decline in performance on target. In the final analysis, that's all that really matters. It would seem reasonable to me, although I can't prove it, that the mechanical action of a bronze brush would be helpful in preventing carbon ring formation. I've never had any carbon rings in my rifle, maybe I'm just lucky or maybe the bronze brush did help. I've never bothered to test the alternative of not using a bronze brush because if it works, don't fix it.

With regards to bore scope revealing minute imperfections - it reminds me of situation with my mother some years ago. At the time she was in her mid eighties and was in the hospital for the flu. The Doctor called me into his office with a dire report, my mother had congenital imperfection in her heart. Apparently this was discovered during an examination employing various scanning devices. He recommended surgery to repair the imperfection. I asked if it was indeed congenital did that mean she had it since birth. He said probably because it's been there a long time. I asked why would you want to repair it now? His answer, because we found it. She declined the surgery and pass away about ten years later in her mid 90's from natural causes. Moral of the story - every imperfection you find does not necessarily translate to a performance issue.

 

[AckleymanII]

alinwa, many would be interested in how you clean!

 

[Ken]

almost cultish

 

[rr2030]

And I printed off Greg Walley's electron microscope photos of what a brass brush does to stainless and I haven't let a brush touch a match barrel for 15yrs......

I have a Hawkeye.

Really, I thought the brass was soft enough not to do any damage. Is it worse on CM ?

 

[muleman69]

I do have one cleaning question, if competition shooters don't clean until there groups drop off ,what do they do when it is in the middle a match? Just asking?