How often to clean the barrel?

[Littlelebowski]

I've tried cleaning and I've tried not cleaning. Those of you that clean, tell us exactly when accuracy drops off from not cleaning. I've never cleaned my way into accuracy.

[ALCOAR]

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[m1ajunkie]

Again this comes back to the fact that most people are not interested in evaluating true precision/accuracy in an AR platform and thereby cannot even discern differences of 1/4"-1/2" in their groups or targets to know when their accuracy is tailing off.

A MK12's practical accuracy down range as measured in torso or man sized target hit's and misses is not really being affected at all by running a barrel w. 1-2k rds. already through the tube.... now if you take that same MK12 to the range and start trying to either shoot tiny groups @ 100yds or ring smaller pieces of steel out at 600yds your gonna see the accuracy tail off faster than you would in the first example.

In that situation I would clean when I couldn't hit the smaller pieces of steel at 600yds. I think 1-2k is a little much, but I would think 500 rounds is well within reason for the barrel to continue to out shoot me. It seems kind of like a judgement call for the most part as to when accuracy falls off.

[Littlelebowski]

Again this comes back to the fact that most people are not interested in evaluating true precision/accuracy in an AR platform and thereby cannot even discern differences of 1/4"-1/2" in their groups or targets to know when their accuracy is tailing off.

A MK12's practical accuracy down range as measured in torso or man sized target hit's and misses is not really being affected at all by running a barrel w. 1-2k rds. already through the tube.... now if you take that same MK12 to the range and start trying to either shoot tiny groups @ 100yds or ring smaller pieces of steel out at 600yds your gonna see the accuracy tail off faster than you would in the first example.

So, back to my question. At approximately what round count does it drop off?

I'm not trying to be an ass here; I am going off of what several SMEs in this field have told me. New guy in charge of Magpul's Precision rifle training (Caylen Wojcik), an 8542 (my brother), Rifles Only instructors, and so on. I have also been unable to find the benefit to obsessive cleaning when shooting long range.

[Littlelebowski]

It's worth repeating from an SME and an IP (not on this site). Frank AKA LowLight of Rifle's Only and SnipersHide.

I tend to clean my barrels much less then most but still manage well over 10,000 rounds staying below an MOA at 100 yards. I recently rebarreled my GAP Harbinger with a Broughton .30 cal barrel after it had what I conservatively estimated 12k rounds down the rifle. It was just about hovering at .75" at 100 yards. According to GAP it was worn about 1/4" in the throat.

At Rifles Only the SHR #50 had in excess of 15,000 rounds through it before changing the barrel with no break in and very little cleaning. It too was shooting about .75" when the action would cock the bolt. GAP reported about 4" of rifling missing from in front of the throat.

My Werewolf with a Bartlein Barrel has about 6k rounds currently through it, no break in, and no issue with accuracy or fouling, it shoots a solid 1/2 MOA.

The Gladius, about 3k rounds through it hits like a hammer, very little cleaning and no break in.

None of my gas guns have had their barrels broken in either, that is 3, a POF, a GAP with a Rock Creek and a Bartlein. No issues, very accurate and no fouling.

I also spoke with Tac Ops on the subject, and he does not believe in breaking in a barrel, Mike R does not recommend any form of break in, and does his test firing without doing so. So there is another voice in the mix that after years of experience does not feel there is any merit to the process. He did mention, as others have as well, that it's a bit of a pain in the ass because most customers expect some form of guidance and he simply recommends they shoot more and clean less, much to their chagrin.

So while data may not be available with hard and fast evidence, I have quite a bit of rounds downrange with a variety of similarly chambered 308s from a variety of makers and my results as well as opinions appear to be all the same. Clean less, shoot more and don't sweat the dogma published in the name of Barrel Break In.

[m1ajunkie]

It's worth repeating from an SME and an IP (not on this site). Frank AKA LowLight of Rifle's Only and SnipersHide.

That is really interesting. Sounds like I won't be cleaning for a while if I keep shooting roughly 100 rounds per range trip. It makes more sense to me to continue shooting a dirty barrel than excessively cleaning and risk damage to the barrel. (i.e. damaging the crown)

[Belmont31R]

That is really interesting. Sounds like I won't be cleaning for a while if I keep shooting roughly 100 rounds per range trip. It makes more sense to me to continue shooting a dirty barrel than excessively cleaning and risk damage to the barrel. (i.e. damaging the crown)

I've only cleaned my EMC's barrel once at 2k rounds and it now has over 3k through it. I didn't clean it even taking it out of the box. I just put a new optic on it 2 weeks ago which required zero'ing, and it shot just as well as when it was brand new.


Even then my barrel cleaning is just a foaming cleaner, leave it in for about 10 minutes, rinse it out with brake cleaner, and its done. I rarely use a rod, patches, brushes, and solvent.


Only once have I experienced an accuracy drop off from lack of cleaning, and that was a Noveske Afghan I had around 2007. It had around 5k with no cleaning. I went from around 1MOA average when new to about 2-3". It just suddenly dropped off. Cleaned it for about 30 minutes, and it went back to shooting around MOA.

[ALCOAR]

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[Alaskapopo]

Damn I clean my precison AR' barrels after every range visit but it does not take me that long. Some interesting posts here. I may have to re think what I am doing.
pat

[LRB45]

I know that my AR, which has about 1200 rounds through it, has been cleaned about every 300 rounds give or take. My thinking is not so much worried about copper and powder buildup but I worry about corrosion of the barrel. So I clean it decently and then hit it with a light oil and patch. Yeah I know that the barrel is CL but still nags at me.

Of course this is not a precision setup either.