Cleaning your gun??

[Siiri]

Hello,
I am fairly new at this, and have been looking around about how to clean my gun properly. There are many ways of doing it. I recently have a Savage .17 HMR with a stainless steel barrel. I bought a cleaning kit (Remington targetmaster with 52 pieces). It has all brass rods but they seem to scratch down the barrel and I was wondering if brass would hurt the barrel at all because I have been told that brass wouldn't but I'm afraid it will.
Also the way I clean it is I push a solvent patch down 1st, then wait a few minutes then brush it a few times then push dry patches down until they come out clean and finally I push an oil patch down.

Thanks!
Siiri

 

[Preacher]

Check where the rods join together and see if there are any burrs on the joints.. if so 400 grit abrasive cloth will remove them.
The brass shouldn't hurt the barrel being that it's softer than the steel........
I use more than one patch with solvent on it down the bore, at least as many as it takes to get the carbon fouling out, and then a bit of brush work with a good bore guide in the chamber, followed by a few more wet patch's then a few more dry ones to remove all the solvent, then a few oiled patches, and then always run a few more dry ones when I'm ready to shoot it... Lots of ways to do this, but thats what I do...........

 

[blawton]

Tipton in my opinion makes some of the best rods they are well worth trying. I only use 3 things to clean my guns now. Check for burrs on the the jags and get them off smoothing them up with 320 grit or higher. smooth files work as well. THe brass wont hurt your bore unless you are really hitting it hard and often.

Wipeout/patchout will work in any combo even if you just use the normal cleaner. I let it sit in the bore after i run a couple of wet patches for about 30 minutes and repeat untill i dont see blue anymore. Then a caliber small brush with a patch on it with iosso on it for about 20 strokes total i replace the patch after 10. You can also just use a jag but its the best stuff to get the carbon out just dont over use it. Then i run one patch of kroil down the bore it really helps your next set of cleaning and keeps the bore safe. I dont dry patch it out it doesnt hurt to leave in. I found if that cleaning this way allows me to run the guns a lot longer without having to completely clean. I will run kroil every 30-50 rounds just to get the powder fouling out and thats it. Sometimes i can get away with only cleaning my guns every 200-500 rounds by doing this. Thats if you shoot enough. If its gonna sit for a month or more then i clean it again. Hope this helps.

bobby

 

[40X Guy]

And by all means buy a bore guide for your 17, it will help get that rod going into the bore without interference. I just got mine from Sinclair for my Savage 17HMR, fits perfectly, and they have them in stock for Marlins as well. Tough trying to clean a 17 rimfire without one and all the solvents ending up in the bottom of action/trigger.

Frank

 

[Siiri]

Thank You All! This is very helpful information. I am looking into a straight rod and a bore guide now. If you have any more tips or tricks I'm interested in hearing them.
Thanks again!
Siiri

 

[bozo699]

siiri,
This is the ten million dallar question you have ask,(a can of worms so to speak) I don't know how many people belong to this forum but say 10,000. By asking this question you will get 10,000 different answers.I have ask this same question same as the other 10,000 members here on 6br and every other shooting forum out there.
With that being said give the remington cleaning kit to someone @ work you really don't like and do as others have suguested and buy a tippton or duey one piece rod some good jags and brushes from the same companies and buy some different chemicals in small quantities and try them.I use sweets 7.62 or barns crx for copper removers and butches bore shine for general cleaning.a bore guide is a must. I usually only take my 17hmrs to the bone a couple of times a year the rest of the time when groups start to open up or I am missing to many squirrels a put some butches bore shine through it. If you have any friends that are br shooters watch them clean there rifles there won't be any one of them clean there rifles the same but if there winners chances are there cleaning there guns right. Good luck to you
Wayne.

 

[bozo699]

I forgot to mention, Welcome to the forum, you will not meet a better group of people than the people here on 6br. I am fairly new here myself,and have gained a lot of knowledge here.ask your questions and you will get plenty of answers,sort them all out and use the one's you consider to be sound advise.Good luck Be safe and have fun.
Wayne.

 

[Siiri]

Hello,
What is the difference between a nylon brush and a brass brush?
Also I am looking for a good long range varmint rifle. Which one would recommend? I was looking at the Savage Model 12 LRPB.
Thanks!
Siiri

 

[bozo699]

Siiri,
Not sure what you mean,nylon brush has nylon bristles and brass brush has brass bristles. There is whole nother debate on them. IMO they both have there place and are both neccesary. The savage is a great choice IMO.
Wayne.

 

[RonAKA]

What is the difference between a nylon brush and a brass brush?
Also I am looking for a good long range varmint rifle. Which one would recommend? I was looking at the Savage Model 12 LRPB.

I think the big difference between nylon and brass is that the brass brush obviously contains copper. If you use a copper removing solvent like ammonia, it turns the patch blue if you have copper. So, if you use a brass brush you can't determine if the blue color is coming from copper in the barrel, or copper from the brush. For that reason I only use nylon brushes. I like to wrap a patch around a nylon brush to scrub the bore. It it comes out with no touch of blue then you can be sure there is no copper in the bore.

I think the manufacturers are finally catching on, and are offering copper free brushes and jags.

On varmint rifles I just got a Savage LRPV 6BR, left port, right bolt. I'm quite happy with it. Looks like it should do close to 1/4" groups at 100 yards, but proof is in the targets. Will still have to see if I can do it. So far I just have done ladder testing to see which load ranges have potential. The factory barrel broke in very quickly and after 15-20 rounds showed little copper fouling. After firing 20 rounds or so in a stretch, all I see is carbon, and after 4 patches it is clean using Barnes CR-10.

 

[bozo699]

I agree with rons whole post with the exception I like copper brush over nylon when I am removing carbon. thats why I say you need both. And the savage is the most accurate out of the box factory rifle avalible. IMHO.
Wayne.

 

[blawton]

I never use a brush on a bore. Seen to many bores that are rounded off to ever want to use one again. Nylon is far worse then any other kind of brush that stuff is a lot tougher then you think it is and will cause excessive wear that is not needed. If you do use one use a small one with a patch on it. It gets the job done.

 

[Siiri]

Hello,
Where do you buy your cleaning stuff and is there any sold in Canada?
Thanks!
Siiri

 

[K0na_stinky]

TTT

Any good places to buy quality cleaning products in Canada?

 

[RonAKA]

In Canada Wholesale Sports is OK if they have stock (more often than not, they do not). In Edmonton P&D is more reliable, but also more costly.

 

[Siiri]

How often should you clean your barrel for different calibers like .17HMR, .22 LR, .223, .308? Also is it bad to leave your gun dirty?

 

[boogershooter]

Sirri,I found an article on here about a man with the last name of Hoover.He seems to win some number of the long range BR comps. And in the article he talks about his 6.5-284 winning a match after not having the time to clean it for some 250 or so rounds. I have a hard time leaving my gun in the safe dirty, I figure sooner or later I'll have to pay the piper! I am going to do some experimenting myself on this one. Good question!

 

[swampfox1975]

I went to the South Carolina I.H.S.M.A. match this weekend. I was very suprised to find the WORLD RECORD HOLDER, Marty Cato does not clean his gun barrels ever! I was super suprised that he could still shoot 5 shot .256 groups with a barrel that's been fouled for x amount of years. I cannot fathom never cleaning my gun, and will never follow that schedule but it works for him. All that green and gray build-up on the crown and still shooting like that...... I was amazed, astonished and dumbfounded that it could be. Just thought I'd pass that along for cleaning routines.

 

[Siiri]

What brushes won't hurt your bore? I know brass is the best, which is the next best metal for a stainless steel bore?
Thanks!
Siiri

 

[bozo699]

What brushes won't hurt your bore? I know brass is the best, which is the next best metal for a stainless steel bore?
Thanks!
Siiri

Siiri,
Any foreign material (ie.brushes jags ect.) is never good on a bore. Unfortunatly we all have to clean our bore's from time to time. With that said all we can do is use good cleaning practices, (ie. good brushes,jags,rods,and rod guides,ect.) I wouldn't use anyother metal other than brass in your bore,they make stainless bore brushes I personally won't use them,It doesn't take a degree in rocket science to figure two metals of the same rubbing on each other can't be a good thing. As discussed earlier in this post there are good quaility nylon brushes as well as brass. I hope this helps. as you get into this further you will get a feel for each different rifle you own ,each one will take a little different cleaning method.I think I may have some good articals on this I will try to find them and send them to you. Best of luck.
Wayne.