.22 barrel cleaning

[Benjerman08]

What do you serious rimfire guys use for barrel cleaning (.22 rifle)? Although I use sweets, kroil/hoppes 9 on my big centerfires, I am not sure the little .22 needs that strong of stuff. Maybe I am wrong. Also, how often do most of you clean your .22's? Thanks.
TF

 

[RichinKansas]

Rimfires using lead standard velocity ammo have a different type of fouling. No copper but lead, burnt powder, glass like substance from primmer compound and carbon. A loose patch first to remove the burnt powder and priming compound. I use a little oil on that patch. Then there are a zillion products for removing lead. Some require a brush to work. I used to use Shooters Choice Lead Remover. It requires a brush to work. Same with Rimfire Blend. I have never seen anyone at a sanctioned match use a pull through of any kind in 15 years. One piece rods such as used for good centerfires. Some like hardened stainless steel and others coated. I use Dewey's and old Parker Hale's. I clean my bench guns after each target, my 3p gun after each match. All my plinkers get cleaned if they are being put away for a while. Really need to shoot your clean gun to see how many rounds it takes to settle in and shoot well, and then how many rounds before accuracy becomes unacceptable to you. If you shooting tin cans it may rarely need cleaned. If groups open by .05 cost you points in a benchrest match you will clean much more frequently. They all vary. Even a particular gun will vary as it ages, the brand of ammo used and the cleaning method.

 

[mongochicago]

I think that Montana Extream 50 BMG. is the best thing since Hoppe's. I use it on center and rimfire. Of course I shoot a 22 mag with jacketed ammo. On the rare occassion when I shoot LR, hoppes is fine.

 

[watercam]

On my Win. 52C one pass with Butch's Bore Shine cleans the whole shebang. Three dry patches and, according to my bore scope, she's clean. I'll clean every 300 - 400 rounds with no loss of accuracy. Frankly I'm not sure I really ever need to clean. Makes no difference whether I'm using lead match ammo (good wax coating on those) or Winchester Power Points (this gun's preferred ammunition), it all cleans the same. With my Savage MKII it takes two passes with solvent then dry patches and you are done!

 

[Benjerman08]

Alright, thanks guys.
TF

 

[RichinKansas]

I wrote a two part article on cleaning for my gun clubs web site a while back. Go to: http://www.aircapgunclub.org/ and then Information and then Articles. I think I mention using two passes of IOSSO . I am using less now. Only once using 6 strokes in the throat. Because the borescope told me so

 

[SmokinJoe]

Since some of my gun club buddies got interested in shooting RF benchrest last year, and they started turning up with all sorts of really 1st class rigs, I got interested enough to buy a very slightly used custom built RF BR rig. It was built by Randy Leger and he calls his rifles Accu-Shot; they are very well done. This one has a Hart barrel on it. In my experience, the worst cleaning problem with RF is the section of the chamber and throat right past where the brass comes to. A ring of lead & fouling will form there over a period of shots, and it can be a bugger to clean it out. I tried Butch's, which is what I've been using on CF for the past few years, JB compound, IOSSO, and maybe a couple others, plus lead remover cloth on a loop jag. All of them would get the job done sooner or later. What I have settled on for the time being, though, is straight Kroil with a 6mm or 25 cal nylon brush on an 18" brass rod I got from Brownell's. I just saturate the brush with Kroil, then run it in to total chamber depth & scrub and turn the brush as I do so. That method seems to work like magic, getting the ring out of the chamber quickly without much any risk of damaging the chamber/ lead area of the barrel. After cleaning that part of the barrel, I run a couple wet patches with Kroil through the bore followed by a couple dry patches. This technique seems to be an easy, simple way to clean a RF barrel with little risk of damaging anything, and it should be especially good for use on CM barrels because you are using oil instead of solvents that may contain suspended water in their formulation. Give it a try and let me know what you think. BTW, I verify what I am doing with a borescope.

 

[Hammer47]

If you ever want to start a lively debate, just raise this question. How to clean a 22.

 

[Benjerman08]

Smokinjoe,
I decided to do a cleaning test on my savage this weekend with the products I have on hand right now. I started with hoppes 9 and of course lots of black came out. I let it set for an hour with more hoppes and got more out. A few more cycles and it was starting to look pretty clean. I then let kroil sit in the barrel overnight and got "some" carbon out, but nothing like the initial cleaning. Some more kroil and dry patches and not much at all was coming out. I then used some montana extreme and let it sit for an hour, but nothing dirty came out with the process. I dry patched real good and decided to try some sweets just for the heck of it. The dry patches came out without much any additional residue. I thought it was clean. I decided to finish up with some kroil. I let it sit for a half hour and was completely surprised that I was getting some more black on the dry patches (lines of black). I used some more hoppes and got these black stripes on the patches for several more. I decided to use a nylon brush for the first few inches with Hoppes. I got a fair amount more black out and then it cleaned up again. I need this gun to shoot high velocity as good as it can for varmint/pest work. It shoots CCI quickshok .75" at 50 yards (bipod and no rear rest) and that is acceptable to me. After 15-20 shots, it started to come back to zero and group good again. I may try the Butches next time just to see. I do believe in the carbon ring now though. I have never been much for using brushes as Kroil/Hoppes, then Sweets have done a great job with my centerfires without much brushing. Light brushing for a few inches to get the carbon ring loosened up first would probably speed this process up drasticly and I will try that next cleaning.

 

[SmokinJoe]

Thanks, TF, for your detailed reply to this thread. I've been waiting for some others to offer input on their experiences, especially those with a borescope to be able to actually see what is going on with different products & techniques. Any body out there?

BTW, TF, if your rifle took 20 or so shots to settle down again, you may be over-cleaning. You might try doing the chamber area with the brush & product of your choice, then just a light cleaning of the bore & see if that gives any better results.

 

[Benjerman08]

ok, thanks again.

 

[cliffy]

I clean after every shooting event: starting with a wool mop soaked in Remington 40X bore cleaner, next is a bronze brush coated with Rem Oil, about six strokes each. Then 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" cotton patches (6 total) four with Rem Oil and two dry. Since my pistola shoots consistant 1" groups at fifty feet, I consider this adequate. Then I clean the innards with Rem Oil and q-tips. The amount of carbon fouling can gum-up the bolt-face, trigger assembly, and chamber-face. I speak of Ruger Mark III pistol maintenance, but all similar beasts face the same carbon-gumming problems. Cleaning the barrel simply ain't enough, so take it apart after every session of a hundred rounds or more fired. Cliffy

 

[snert]

If memory serves me right, about ten or 12 years ago Precsion Shooter had an article regarding carbon lead ring issues, specifically in Rem 541T. at that time a gentleman in the southwest (part of the article) made a small tool to remove the lead. I waited too long I guess, because when I sent my $20 check and a letter to the address a few years ago, I had no reply. The check never cashed, and no return either. Anyone know about him or where he went? Figure some of the 22BR guys might recall.

 

[RichinKansas]

I think he works for Shilen now. I didn't have one, but they worked ok for most chambers, but wouldn't fit some of the tighter chambers. I've never got a carbon ring in the 8 or ten barrels I've used in benchrest. But I clean after each target. I do have a bore scope and don't get the barrel absolutely perfect. Afterall it won't shoot great till it puts a bit of lead back in and lube. A good match barrel properly cleaned will shoot within 4 shots. Some cleaners such as Hoppes #9 take longer to relube or something as it can take up to 15 shots to settle in. I suspect some cleaners don't allow lube to attach to the barrel as easy as others.

 

[Tozguy]

Wouldn't LockEase type stuff (graphite suspension) be a good product to prep a clean barrel for shooting?

 

[SmokinJoe]

Toz, the Lock-eze method is used by a lot of CF BR shooters, especially the group guys, with naked bullets, but RF is totally different. There are others that know a lot more about your concern than I do, but I would think the Lock-eze might actually be detrimental to accuracy in a RF because what you are trying to accomplish is to evenly coat a clean barrel with beeswax (bullet lube). The Lock-eze might interfere with that process, but you'd just have to give it a try on a comparative basis & see what happened. There are probably some shooters who have already tried this, so maybe one will chime in.

 

[Benjerman08]

Smokin,
I have been having a hard time getting my preferred ammo locally, but discovered my savage likes cci velocitors even better, so I bought 5 bricks of them. My question is.....these bullets have a copper looking coating on them. Does a .22 generate enough heat/pressure to even worry about copper fouling? Thanks again. TF

 

[SmokinJoe]

I really don't know about that, but suspect that it shouldn't be a problem at 22RF velocities. Maybe somone else will chime in who has 1st hand experience. If accuracy goes south, you'll know it needs a good cleaning, like with any ammo.

 

[snert]

Can anyone tell me the name of the man who made the lead remover (ring remover) that might now work at Shilen? I would like the tool.

 

[RichinKansas]

Frank Terrel I believe. I might have the spelling wrong.