• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

Pushing patches through?

Just wanted to make sure I am not doing something wrong to my new barrel. I have read tons and tons of barrel cleaning procedures. I use a Lucas bore guide and coated Bore Tech rod and start with a single saturated patch of Break free on a patch holder and loosly run it up and down the bore, being sure not to exit the crown. After removing most of the carbon, I run a couple dry patches with a tight jag and push these right through the end and out. I then attack the copper with either sweets 7.62 or Montana xtreme 50BMG nd patches on a jag, pushing them all the way through the barrel.

My question is, when I exit the crown with the patch and jag, should I unscrew the jag before I draw back the cleaning rod or is it ok to pull the jag, minus the dirty patch, back through?

Thanks!
 
Usually, I want to run the first 3 wet patches through the bore and exit the muzzle. Running a dirty patch back & forth just moves the carbon back to the breech, and could accelerate the wear on the rifling.

As you sayl, clean most of the carbon out first, and then attack the copper fouling with a copper solvent. I usually leave the solvent in the bore overnight, and clean the next day. Leaving it overnight seems to make it easier to clean in the long run.

I exit the muzzle, and then very carefully pull the rod & jag back through the barrel to the breech. You must be careful doing this as you don't want to nick the muzzle which will ruin your accuracy.
 
The potential for damage to the crown edge is very real and unfortunately very common. The most common issue is the jag or brush rear edge protruding beyond the diameter of the rod tip/ferrule so it impacts the front edge of the lands at the crown on the return stroke. So yes it would help to remove the jag or brush before the return stroke.

There are other ways to avoid this potential problem. See my previous post from the "Why rods? thread http://www.accurateshooter.com/forum/index.php/topic,2645785.msg25455077.html#msg25455077
 
Seems like times like this is when a muzzle break is handy for supporting the jag on the way out... I always remove the jag before pulling it back through the bore one way or the other.......
 
I also remove the stab jag ( and the brush) from the cleaning rod before pulling it back thru the bore: too many sharp 90 degree edges on the jag to be pulling it over the crown. Takes a little more time, but worth it, I think. While one hand is pulling the cleaning rod out ( Dewey and/or Bore Tech), the other hand is holding a clean rag that the rod passes thru, so it's wiped off after each trip down the bore. ;)
 
I just push the rod and jag clear out of the barrel and then bring it back. Of course, if the jag doesn't coincide with the diameter of the rod I spin it on some emery cloth so that the transition is smooth. You must also be careful that the jag isn't smaller than the rod or you'll tick the lands on the way in if you don't have a patch on the jag.rod and jag are the same size
 
You didn't say what caliber your cleaning, or the size of the rod. But on my 6MM I use a 22 cal one piece rod, and wrap some of that blue masking tape around the rod, just below the jag, and it or the brass rod end cant touch the lands. It keeps the jag centered in the bore.
Mike.
 
I've recently switched to using felt pellets followed up with patches. I don't know why but I just think the felt leaves some felt in there. It seems to me the felt pellets clean up WAY faster than patches.

I use a two pellet adapter for the felts and an accupro jag for the patches. Now here's where it gets a little different. I couldn't get a rod in the right length so I have a Dewey rod that is about 4 inches longer than I really need. I added some shrink wrap tubing that bottoms out on my lucas guide so that the pellet adapter and the jag will just exit the muzzle and drop the patch or allow me to get my booger hooks on the felt pellet.

I think you either need to completely exit the muzzle so the coated rod is resting on the crown or keep the whole thing far enough in that nothing damaging can be pulled back across the muzzle.

I did it this way to save one step of removing the jag each time. Before I added the shrink wrap I removed everything each time.

If I brush I use a different rod and remove the brush.

Jeff
 

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Forum statistics

Threads
165,783
Messages
2,203,068
Members
79,110
Latest member
miles813
Back
Top