Am I cleaning my guns wrong?

[MuleyHunter62]

I am wondering if I am cleaning my guns wrong. This weekend I wanted to clean my brand new Weatherby accumarks 300 win and 300 weatheby and a used Winchester m70 270WSM. The accumarks were new from the factory and the m70 was used from a gunshow with unknown history.

My gear: Proshot 42" stainless steel .270 cal + rod, proshot brass bushes, hoppes #9, bore tech eliminator, slip 2000 carbon pro. I also have some steel core brass brissle brushes from an old cleaning kit I used when using the bore tech. I had a 27 cal and 30 cal patch holder. Using 1-3/4" cotton patches and plastic patch holders when running boretech.

Cleaning rhythm for accumark #1: wet brass brushes in hoppes at first I was doing 20 strokes, then wet patches till clean, a dry patch, then repeat. Here is the first patch after 12 sessions or 240 bore strokes.
After that I went to 10 brush strokes, wet patches till clean, then a dry patch and repeat. Here is after 400 brush strokes with the first wet patch
At this point I was doing 10 brush strokes, clean brush, 10 brush strokes clean, repeat until 60 total brush strokes. Then wet patches until clean. I did this atleast 5 or 6 times, by brass brushes eventually lost contact with the bore like it wasn't adequately scrubbing it. Mind you this was a new gun from factory, is this normal?

Winchester M70: 10 brush strokes, dry patches till clean, a single wet patch and repeat. For this gun I did the first 3 sessions with bore tech, allowing 5 minutes of soak after the wet patch before brushing again. At the 5th session I swapped brushes, to a much loose fitting brush for 2 sessions, hence why the patch appears cleaner. I swapped back to the tighter brush after this. At the 15th session or 150 brushes I used slip 2000, waiting 5 minutes from the soaked patch to brushing again. I did this three times before going back to hoppes. On the 21st session I forgot to lub the brush with hoppes and the patch lightens up, but immediately gets dirty again. I did 25 sessions total. The last patch is somewhat dirty still. Top to bottom left to right is the first dry patch I ran for each session. What am I doing wrong.

A couple notes, on each gun I primarily used a bore guide. Every now and again I would take it out to ensure it wasn't trapping debris causing the dirty patches. I did 100 strokes on my 300 weatherby with an older brush, them went and bought a new one. The new brush had good resistance but by the end you close push it through the barrel by blowing on it. For the 270wsm I used an older brush that had good resistance, but by the end of the 25th round it was the same thing as the 300, it really had no resistance left. For the 300 winchester I did 20 rounds of 10 brush strokes. That cleaned up but I think its because the brush was the same from the weatherby and was already worn out.

 

[DaveTooley]

I use chemicals to soften fouling, the brush to break it loose and patches to clean it out. I keep brushing to a minimum. Chemicals and time are your friend.
My routine at a match whether short range or long range.
1 wet patch to remove loose powder fouling, Brushes last longer this way.
5 passes with a wet brush
let it soak until I'm ready to shoot again
5 more passes with a brush
two patches to clean things out

 

[338 Mollett]

Chemicals and time are your friend.

THIS !!

 

[clowdis]

If you're not cleaning your brush between applications then you're putting the dirt back into your barrel which is where you get the dirty patches from. If this isn't the case, especially with the used barrel, then try an abrasive cleaner like Iosso or JB until you get the carbon out. Be careful with the abrasive.

 

[AckleymanII]

Keeping things in perspective is critical in the analysis. A guy says he likes this and that without framing the conversation in whether he is talking 6ppc, 308, or 7 Rem mag. When barrels have a lot of carbon in them, chemicals can loosen some of the carbon; brushes do the work.

Pro Shot and Dewey bronze-bristle brushes are among the very best. The brush's bristle has a bend in it, which wears over time. When the bristle has worn to the point where it is straight, the brush bristle is doing very little cleaning, but you are getting some exercise. Within the first 60 strokes, the bend in the bristle is half or less of what it is when new. By 100 Strokes, the brush should be saved for other uses and a new brush installed. This is where guys really screw up.

Using an Iosso plastic brush with Iosso, JB in the problem areas of the barrel where carbon has built up works well, where you can scrub in short strokes back and forth.

In my opinion, Thurro Clean is the most aggressive cleaner on the market, and I only use it on very heavy carbon-fouled barrels.

A bore scope tells all. Many of the chemicals are nothing more than Snake Oil, and I try them all....hoping....

Shooting 45-72g of powder, getting down to bare metal after every 30-50 rounds, teaches volumes if you are willing to be honest with yourself.

When you are done shooting or as soon as you get home, run 4 patches of Free All down the bore and let it set. The Free All does not remove the carbon, but it does loosen it up.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I have never needed to brush stroke a barrel enough to wear out the brush. Very fouled barrels get a long soak time(barrel plugged and filled, usually Free All). Wipe out foam/Accelerator for 15-30minutes before brushing.

 

[V35]

How I do mine-
-Wet patch with Boretech Eliminator
-Wet patch With Boretech carbon remover and go in with it until it is in the throat and neck area, leave it in there. (Carbon ring softening)
-Go do something else for a while, however long it takes
- Wet brush 10 strokes
- Dry patch until dry
- One acetone patch
-Done

This works well with my PRS rifles every other match, and my hunting rifles once per year.

 

[tobnpr]

How to Clean a Barrel | Bartlein Barrels

www.bartleinbarrels.com

 

[WayneShaw]

If you're not cleaning your brush between applications then you're putting the dirt back into your barrel which is where you get the dirty patches from

I keep a can of carb or brake clean in my box, after brushing I give it a quick squirt to flush and neutralize the ammonia. A can will last me most of a season, it don't take much.

 

[jelenko]

The accumarks were new from the factory

There is usually a little burnt powder in a new barrel from a few test shots.
I think you've just demonstrated that running a brass brush through a completely clean barrel produces black 'stuff'.

For new barrels, it's enough to run a couple patches with a solvent or gun oil through the bore.

 

[MuleyHunter62]

If you're not cleaning your brush between applications then you're putting the dirt back into your barrel which is where you get the dirty patches from. If this isn't the case, especially with the used barrel, then try an abrasive cleaner like Iosso or JB until you get the carbon out. Be careful with the abrasive.

I did clean the brush between sessions. On the 300 weatherby I was blasting it with break free, then back in hoppes before scrubbing

 

[AlNyhus]

If you don't have a borescope, it's really hard to tell where you're at just by reading patches.

A decent Teslong borescope is under $70. Doesn't take too long to spend that much on solvents, brushes, patches and elixers...and still not know where you're really at. Especially with hard carbon build up in the throat like those big 300's are known for.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[MuleyHunter62]

How I do mine-
-Wet patch with Boretech Eliminator
-Wet patch With Boretech carbon remover and go in with it until it is in the throat and neck area, leave it in there. (Carbon ring softening)
-Go do something else for a while, however long it takes
- Wet brush 10 strokes
- Dry patch until dry
- One acetone patch
-Done

This works well with my PRS rifles every other match, and my hunting rifles once per year.

Do you suspect if you brushed and patched again the first patch would come out clean?

 

[Clancy]

In a word…. Yes.

You don’t need 3 solvents. You need boretech eliminator.

I run 5 wet patches and wait about 30 minutes. I then run a wet brush 10-20 strokes. After that, I run 3 more wet patches and 2-3 dry patches. This is more than enough to clean a barrel. Although, I occasionally clean with JB bore paste if I want every tiny speck to be gone. Bore scopes just don’t lie. This method works great.

I don’t keep a brush more than 30-40 in and outs.

I should add that for factory barrels, I may wait 2-3 hours instead of the 30 minutes. As others have said, time is your friend.

 

[V35]

Do you suspect if you brushed and patched again the first patch would come out clean?

I would think it would not. There will be remnants left in there in some places. I always do a quick look with the scope, mainly to see that the carbon ring is gone, shooting suppressed accelerates the ring build up in my experience. I do look for copper and rarely see any. I read the barrel more than the patches, and Im not going to clean it to new condition every time.

 

[ShaunBrady]

I've replaced a factory barrel or two in a fit of rage after cleaning sessions......