Cleaning question

[Hat_man]

Hello everyone,

I have been trying to read as much as possible and have a quick question about cleaning the barrel.

First off, I have read that many folks don't clean the barrel of a .22 very often and some very rarely.  I guess what the question is, is a light cleaning every xxx number of rounds (as opposed to a good "scrubbing") with something like a bore snake a bad thing?  Maybe only a single pass.

The other question I have is about cleaning brushes. I know the brass brushes are softer than a hardened barrel, but do the brushes rotate along the rifling twist?  Wouldn't just an in/out motion cause linear scratching over time?  Especially in a gun (center fire? or pistol?)  that requires frequent cleaning? 

Just trying to learn as much as I can.

Thanks.

[painter]

The subject of rimfire cleaning is the same black hole as gun lube...everyone has their own ideas.

I use a patchworm for the bore, and a brush to clean the chamber. I clean the bore after every outing, and scrub the chamber every couple hundred rounds. Carbon rings will degrade accuracy.

If you choose a bore brush, yes it rotates with the rifling. Get a quality guide, and use a 20 cal rod to avoid rubbing the ejector.

[M1A4ME]

I clean mine (any/all of them) after I shoot them.  Whether it's 15 shots or a couple hundred (most I ever shot in a day as a civilian).

I've used lead or plated bullets.  My handguns/rifles don't show a difference in which is harder to clean and some of my guns really "like" the lead bullets.  "Like" means they are both reliable and accurate, so why pay more for ammo that won't shoot any smaller groups?

I have 3 or 4 .22 rim fires that are 80 to 100 years old.  The barrels look new - because they were cleaned and a lightly oiled patch run through the barrels after they were clean.  You don't know, when you put it away at the end of the day, whether you'll shoot it tomorrow, or maybe not for months (or years, for some of mine - but I don't depend on them to feed the family the way my grandpa and great grandpa did).

I don't know what they used for powder solvent or lube oil that far back but I know when I was a kid it was Hoppes' #9 to clean and 3n1 oil for the lube.

Patches were easy to come by (any old worn out piece of cotton clothing could be cut into patches - something I do to this day, I haven't bought a patch for the bore or to use an oily cloth/wipedown rag for a long, long time) but I don't know about brushes.  Brushes have a limited lifetime due to accumulated wear and the way you use them.  Patches get used once and go in the garbage (or the stove back in those days - if it burned it made heat and heat kept you warm in the winter and cooked your food all year).

Regular cleaning helps  keep stuff (crud) from builiding up in the chamber/bore/bolt face/extractor, etc.  You may not be looking for advice on a "super cleaner" if you keep it cleaned/lubed regularly vs. letting it build up.

Some .22's can be damaged by dry firing, so don't dry fire unless is says, somewhere in the owners manual, that dry firing is okay - or if you buy/use snap caps (be aware snap caps wear out and need to be replaced at some point.)  What happens, in dry firing, is with no round in the chamber the tip of the firing pin strikes the corner of the chamber where the cartridge rim would normally be.  That can damage the firing pin or even the chamber.  I used to know a guy who was into dry firing his Ruger Mk1.  It got to the point it wouldn't completely chamber a shell and he finally looked at it good (didn't clean it much) and found the firing pin had dinged up the chamber edge there enough that a round wouldn't full chamber.  He had to send it back to Ruger to get it fixed.  On the other hand, the Ruger manual for the 10/22 specifically says dry firing is okay (or used to) due to the design of the bolt and firing pin.  Read you owner's manual.

Good luck, be safe and have fun.  An afternoon of .22 shooting with friends can make life long memories.

[Old-Duckman]

I?m another one who cleans after every outing but then again I don?t shoot competition and I think many of those shooters clean only when accuracy suffers...at least so I?ve read.

Personally, once I started using bore snakes I seldom use a cleaning rod anymore. I do still use them but the snakes do a nice job quickly, the cleaning rod only comes out when I feel it is needed. I do wash my bore snakes in the washing machine when they have been used a good many times.

I probably spend more time cleaning the receiver, bolt, etc than I do the bore. I do use cleaning rods on handguns. I scrub the bore with a bronze brush and solvent, set it aside then clean the rest of the gun, go back to the barrel, finish that then lube and reassemble.

I do agree that there are more ways to clean and care for firearms as there are shooters.

I enjoy cleaning...sorta Zen-like. The only time it bothers me is if I?ve shot a bunch of guns on one day. 2 hours of cleaning is enough for me, more than that and it goes from enjoyment to drudgery.

[Hat_man]

I guess I thought the back and forth motion would, over time, leave minute scratching in the barrel in a linear fashion counteracting or interfering with the twist grooves.  Not "erasing" them by any means, just hurting them

So much to learn.

[kdog78]

I clean every range trip.  It?s part of the day. Load the truck. Shoot. Unload the truck. Clean guns and equipment.

[The Guardian]

I guess I thought the back and forth motion would, over time, leave minute scratching in the barrel in a linear fashion counteracting or interfering with the twist grooves.  Not "erasing" them by any means, just hurting them

So much to learn.

If you use a brush with material that is harder than the bore's metal it will scratch the bore.......usually brushes are made from copper, a relatively soft metal that will not damage the bore. 

[OMCHamlin]

More .22s have had their accuracy destroyed by over cleaning then by shooting zillions of rounds through them. I use a Bore Snake on my .22s, a GI "tooth brush" on the bolt face and Q-tips for nooks and crannies.

[M1A4ME]

Who here has destroyed a .22 through over cleaning?

I have a couple that have been in my family for 50 to 80 years and both are tack drivers and both were cleaned any time they were shot.

As one of them was used to help feed the family during the depression and WW2 years I'm sure it got shot and cleaned a lot.  The other one was hunted/shot 3 to 4 times a week during squirrel season year after year by my dad and it was an old rifle when he traded a 2 hp outboard for it in 1962 (Savage M29 pre WW2 model).

I read/hear that all the time.  Over cleaning.  Don't use GI cleaning rods.  Don't use metal cleaning rods.  Etc., etc., etc.  I guess I'm breaking the rules just right because none of those "never do" things have damaged my rifles.

I'm sure some people have damaged their firearms while cleaning them.  As my grandma used to say, "Some people could tear up the boogerman." 

[OMCHamlin]

Who here has destroyed a .22 through over cleaning?

I have a couple that have been in my family for 50 to 80 years and both are tack drivers and both were cleaned any time they were shot.

As one of them was used to help feed the family during the depression and WW2 years I'm sure it got shot and cleaned a lot.  The other one was hunted/shot 3 to 4 times a week during squirrel season year after year by my dad and it was an old rifle when he traded a 2 hp outboard for it in 1962 (Savage M29 pre WW2 model).

I read/hear that all the time.  Over cleaning.  Don't use GI cleaning rods.  Don't use metal cleaning rods.  Etc., etc., etc.  I guess I'm breaking the rules just right because none of those "never do" things have damaged my rifles.

I'm sure some people have damaged their firearms while cleaning them.  As my grandma used to say, "Some people could tear up the boogerman."

Okay man, whatever you say...