Cleaning a precision rifle

[rcoodyar15]

I would like to know what your procedure and interval is for cleaning your precision bolt action rifle

I am a clean freak. Every time I go to the range I clean my barrel till it is squeaky clean. I wet patch and soak. Push the carbon out. Use a nylon brush. soak and then she comes clean.

Then the next time I go to the range I have to fire a 5 shot fouling group to get started. Groups keep tightening up for about the first 20 rounds.

I am wondering if just running a wet patch and soak and then a couple of dry patches is good enough. Then when groups start going away to a super clean.

What do you guys do?

[Koshinn]

I would like to know what your procedure and interval is for cleaning your precision bolt action rifle

I am a clean freak. Every time I go to the range I clean my barrel till it is squeaky clean. I wet patch and soak. Push the carbon out. Use a nylon brush. soak and then she comes clean.

Then the next time I go to the range I have to fire a 5 shot fouling group to get started. Groups keep tightening up for about the first 20 rounds.

I am wondering if just running a wet patch and soak and then a couple of dry patches is good enough. Then when groups start going away to a super clean.

What do you guys do?

I only clean carbon out basically.

Firing 5-20 fouling shots wastes barrel life and ammo.

[Eurodriver]

I have a Krieger barrel and I only clean every 100+ rounds. That may be a stretch for a factory barrel, though.

Being a clean freak is nice to show your dedication to your Drill Instructor, but cleaning rods destroy barrels far more quickly than firing, and then you have to shoot some fouling shots to get back on track after that.

[ubet]

About every thousand rds I will run a bore snake through my 5r. The fouling fills in little impurities in the barrel and smooths it out, thus making it more accurate. If you track your shots, track your dope, and our honest with yourself, the barrel will tell you when it needs a little tlc. Your accuracy will start to wan, that's when you'll know. Have a Remington 700 5r in 308win and have not had any problems yet, I think I'm around 1,200 rds on this barrel and it's better now than the day I bought it and started rolling loads for it. Think of it as seasoning a 100 yr old cast iron pan.

[rcoodyar15]

Everybody thanks for the replies. Makes me feel less guilty when I don't clean it. It really does make a difference. I didn't clean last weekend when I went to the range. I was beginning to think like you guys. This time groups were tight from start to finish. I shot 25 rounds last weekend and 40 yesterday and 40 today. Looking for that right combination of bullet, powder, powder charge and COL. Now this is just my deer rifle. Not a bull barrel but a #3 contour and I have a 2X12 illuminated scope with really heavy crosshairs. I keep thinking I will put my 4X24 duplex non illuminated on it for load development but I have to keep telling myself this is just a deer rifle not a 1000yrd gun.

Dirty barrels shoot good. this was a load that I found a couple of weeks ago. 168 MK and 42.9 gr RL15

33198

I really want to use the Berger hunting VLD. Bergers like to be jammed in the lands. That makes them a single shot. Trying to find that magic COL that they will jump from. Haven't done it yet.

33199

[taliv]

i'd recommend listening to the barrel. of the eight 260AI barrels (all bartlein 8.5 twist) i've been through now, 6 were fine without any cleaning at all. i shot them roughly 1500 rounds until the velocity started dropping off and then cleaned the crap out of them and shot them a little more. but two of the barrels mysteriously got wacky (over pressure) after 200-300 rounds and needed a pretty serious regular cleaning.

one other thing i have noticed is that i routinely get SDs of 1 or 3 fps shortly after a moderate cleaning. the first five rounds or so after the cleaning will usually be an SD of 10 or so, but the next five are usually very tight. over the next 100 rounds it gradually creeps up to high single digits.


if i knew i wasn't going to shoot a rifle for a couple years, i would clean it before putting it away.

[Gearqueer]

I think you have to look at your own frequency of use and method of storage. If you live in an environment that may be more wet or salty then you may want to clean your bore after each session. It doesn't seem that you have a chrome lined barrel, so corrosion could be an issue. I think it would be fine to leave the copper in your bore between sessions as long as you shoot frequently, but after your hunting season or a wet day in the field you may want to clean out the carbon in your bore and possibly run an oily patch.

For the most part, I just scrub the carbon out with solvent patches and then run a few dry patches to dry it after every session prior to storage. I store the rifle in a dry armory. Of course, I live in the Midwest so it works for me and my Hart barrel. Nice group BTW[emoji4]

[PathfilmsNZ]

I very seldom clean, only when the bore gets wet, I'm bored, or I notice a loss of accuracy (usually the first 2 things happen before the 3rd)

[yellowfin]

Something a friend of mine brought up yesterday--the occasional need to take the action out of the stock for cleaning/servicing. Uhm...how often does THAT come up?

[markm]

I clean every few hundred rounds for carbon and then give the barrel a half ass copper cleaning. Getting it TOO clean seems to cost me several rounds of re-fouling.

[taliv]

Something a friend of mine brought up yesterday--the occasional need to take the action out of the stock for cleaning/servicing. Uhm...how often does THAT come up?

depends on how dirty you get it. if you get sand and mud in the lug recess, a little grain of it can wedge itself in there and then it's not really free floated or consistent anymore.
if you shoot in one of the extreme southern states where dust and sand are pretty much constantly blowing by at 20+ mph, you'll need to remove the action from the stock a lot more often than the guys in higher latitudes with grass.