Competition barrel cleaning

[ShtrRdy]

That was always my feeling as well but in my case I did not pay enough attention to the carbon build up thinking it was fire cracking.

Oh, yes, carbon build up. I really try to stay on top of the carbon build up around the case-neck/freebore junction.

 

[ELR LVR]

An early mentor of mine (name of Art Bourne) told me there would be a slight copper wash, along with powder residue, deposited in the barrel in the first couple of shots. Further, he felt that cleaning it out completely was a waste of time. Hell, its existence might even be beneficial. So, I think he was saying much the same thing that Jackie Schmidt said. WH

Agreed here ^^^
In most of my rifles I have found an equilibrium point of how many shots fired and when to clean
and not cleaning too much
For instance if after 5 minutes of my usual routine, there is still a very light copper streak along the bore
I leave it, figuring that is part of the copper fouling needed to get it shooting predictably to begin with
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This allows to get right back into shooting, maybe needing 3 fouler shots to ensure everything is settled
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I believe this sort of regimen depends on your bores condition though
IE: Custom cut rifled vs factory
Most cut rifled bores clean up quickly as mentioned

 

[JFrank]

My comp barrel’s don’t seem to lay much copper after the throat gets a few rounds on it. I clean it good then send a few to foul it before a match if possible or just wait and foul it during the sighter period, it only takes two or three rounds to be back at center X. As I mentioned earlier I know through testing how many rounds I can go and still have it shoot real small. I think that adds a layer of confidence knowing just where accuracy drops off.
Methods of cleaning IMO ( and from what I’ve observed ) is dependent on the shooters discipline, how much time between relays and what’s been working for them, I don’t know if there is a do it all or one particular style or brand that is above all without a down side of some type.
I’m told a little common sense goes a long ways and I suppose that’s true, especially when cleaning a comp rifle.

I hope that makes sense.. it did when I typed it. lol
Jim
Edit to add a thought..

 

[jelenko]

Methods of cleaning IMO are dependent on the shooters discipline,

!!

 

[Websurfer]

When you look into a barrel with a borescope and see fire cracking, especially if the barrel stops shooting good with not many rounds, make sure it's actually fire cracking and not layers and layers of hard, built-up carbon. What a nightmare it was to get out. Now I am just hoping the accuracy comes back. I honestly thought my barrel was clean but after hours of scrubbing with just about every "Elixer" on the market, I finally started to see the metal on the barrel. If I had to guess, there were about 9 or 10 layers of carbon baked into the first 5 to 10 inches of my barrel.

Now that the barrel is back to shiny metal, I will be much more diligent in my cleaning and inspecting. I wish I would have taken some before, during and after pics.

I let my barrels tell me when they want to be cleaned. 6PPC - I throw a few patches down the tube between each target, and do a complete clean at the end of that day’s competition. 30BR - I may not clean til the end of the season. This barrel seems pretty unfazed by being dirty. At Tomball in the February NBRSA, I won the 100 with 250 24x, and the barrel had at least 300 rounds through it before that match even started. If cleaning more often made a difference on paper, I’d be doing it.

 

[Will Henry]

Another thing about cleaning. I use toilet paper for patching. Always have. Sometimes, to dress things up a bit, I use those blue Scott shop towels. For a typical factory barrel, it doesn't much matter what you use. For a quality match barrel, maybe be a little more fussy. I recently got a new HWP (Hugh Williamson) barrel. I'll probably have to lay in a supply of Charmin for it. WH