I have always used just plain Jane cleaning rods and such for cleaning all my rifles but I'm seeing folks using Bore tech and other companies cleaning tools. Just curious as to what everyone was using on their nicer rifles as well as everything else.
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Rimfire cleaning
- Thread starter Jon
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Wiley
Well-Known Member
These days when buying a cleaning rod for a 22 RIMFIRE it's mandatory that it be a rod for 22 RIMFIRE. If you buy one that says .22 caliber it will likely be close to .224 in diameter and it intended to be used in 22 centerfire calibers. Other than that I always use a bore guide in the action, clean only from the breech and use Bore Tech C4 on a Q Tip to soften/remove the carbon ring that forms at the mouth of a 22LR round after a few hundred rounds. As for cleaning the bore, I don't until accuracy falls off and pretty much everybody has their own method on that. I have 3 or 4 different bore cleaners and can't tell any difference from one to another. I'll add that quality products usually give quality results.
Edited to add....... Once I start competing I'll very likely start a new routine of bore cleaning.
Edited to add....... Once I start competing I'll very likely start a new routine of bore cleaning.
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I use a Tipton 17 cal rod and a 20 cal jag with 22 cal patches.
I wet brush, wet patch and then dry patch it out after every card if I'm in a match. My scores stay much more consist cleaning that way. A guy I shoot with cleans when accuracy falls off, it's cost him a few matches because his has fell on its face during a match before.
If it's a 22 I'll plink/hunt/bum around they'll get cleaned about every 100yrs lol.
I wet brush, wet patch and then dry patch it out after every card if I'm in a match. My scores stay much more consist cleaning that way. A guy I shoot with cleans when accuracy falls off, it's cost him a few matches because his has fell on its face during a match before.
If it's a 22 I'll plink/hunt/bum around they'll get cleaned about every 100yrs lol.
mike243
Well-Known Member
Bore snake once in a blue moon, action very couple hundred rounds with some gun blaster, all the rifles are different, typically if I switch ammo messing around it might take 15-50 to settle back down, not sure if its the lube or lead or what, about the same when I clean them also, mine are semi auto so that's the reason for the spray, I have to be careful to not get much on the buffer as it will deteriorate it on the Marlin. Always put something on the snake for lube, my worst fear is string snapping, The 17hmr is tiny and not sure how bad it would be to punch out a broken bore snake end.
I clean thoroughly after every range session, match or practice. Chamber and bore, and I'll shoot to re-season the barrel before the next match. I've never cleaned during a match, mainly bc my rifle seems to shoot well as it reaches it's seasoned state and lasts for a couple hundred rounds, at least, enough that I don't worry about accuracy falling off during the match. Boretec products for me as well. Rimfire blend and C4 carbon cleaner.
I too thoroughly clean after every use. I use the same things on my nicer rifles that I use on my POS rifles. Brass or carbon fiber cleaning rods and M-Pro 7 cleaner. I've never had the need for a bore guide.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) is very real with hunting and gun collecting. I have fallen victim to it many times, as many of us here have. Here are some things I've learned over the decades. This advice is worth exactly what you are paying for it. Most of the top gun cleaning solutions will work fine. I used regular old Hoppes #9 with great results for many years until I married my wife. She gets migraines brought on by smells, so she said I had to do that in the garage. Heck with that it's either too cold or too hot in my garage, so I switched to M-Pro 7 because it doesn't smell. It does every bit as good as Hoppes and she doesn't know when I'm cleaning guns. I get it, Hoppes smells great to most of us, and it works as well as anything out there.
Name brand oils are all the same. Or at least if you clean your gun all the time they are. But if you want the latest super oil that's cool. WD-40 is not an oil and should never be used on a gun. Especially a gun that is going to be stored for a long time. You will regret it.
Never dry fire your nicer guns after cleaning without snaps caps. Its okay with your POS guns, because they are well… a POS already. I'll go ahead and tell you that's argued as much as the caliber wars. Do your research…wanting something to be true doesn't make it happen.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) is very real with hunting and gun collecting. I have fallen victim to it many times, as many of us here have. Here are some things I've learned over the decades. This advice is worth exactly what you are paying for it. Most of the top gun cleaning solutions will work fine. I used regular old Hoppes #9 with great results for many years until I married my wife. She gets migraines brought on by smells, so she said I had to do that in the garage. Heck with that it's either too cold or too hot in my garage, so I switched to M-Pro 7 because it doesn't smell. It does every bit as good as Hoppes and she doesn't know when I'm cleaning guns. I get it, Hoppes smells great to most of us, and it works as well as anything out there.
Name brand oils are all the same. Or at least if you clean your gun all the time they are. But if you want the latest super oil that's cool. WD-40 is not an oil and should never be used on a gun. Especially a gun that is going to be stored for a long time. You will regret it.
Never dry fire your nicer guns after cleaning without snaps caps. Its okay with your POS guns, because they are well… a POS already. I'll go ahead and tell you that's argued as much as the caliber wars. Do your research…wanting something to be true doesn't make it happen.
GumbyGuy
Well-Known Member
Bore snake
Thanks to @mr.big and @TiminTN I saw what I was literally missing after using regular gun cleaning solvents over the years. Using Boretec C4 copper cleaner opened my eyes, at least on my CF rifles, to the fact that I wasn't really cleaning at all. When you run 75-100 patches thru and they keep coming out turquoise colored (copper fouling) you'll see what you've been missing all those years. 
