Cleaning centerfire rifle bores?

[MC37493]

Hey all i just got a savage axis in 30-06, it is my first rifle and i want to take really good care of it so it will be a good gun for years to come. I have been looking up on there interenet how people clean their rifles and it is extremely confusing with all the different ways and solvents etc. What is a good basic way of cleaning your rifles bore? I bought the 30 cal kit from cabelas but have not opened it to use it because it has a cable and i have read that you always want to use rod?

[Feanix]

I use Hoppes Elite solvent and rem or hoppes oil. Every 4 or 5 sessions i will break out the rod and give it a thorough cleaning. After each individual session it gets the bore snake 3 or 4 times with the final pass using oil (or each evening at elk camp).

Thorough cleanings consist or 1 wet patch with solvent followed by 5 to 6 dry patches. Repeat as necessary until dry patches come out clean. I use a Tipton 1 piece carbon fiber rod. I try to stay away from steel rods because they can eventually erode your rifling ( worst case scenario)

[Fisherdave10]

Get a good solvent, oil and a Boresnake.  The carbon and filth is usually just contained in the barrel and chamber of a bolt action, so you don't need a ton of tools to clean one.

All my rifles see when cleaning is CLP, Q-tips and Boresnakes.  After cleaning, I re-lubricate moving parts with Superlube synthetic grease.

I don't think it really matters much in the grand scheme of things, but multi-piece rods are discouraged because the rod segment ends may scratch your barrel.  Use a single piece rod, a cable system or a Boresnake if you care that much.

[Easy-E]

How you clean will also depend on how much you shoot and what you shoot. For years I used Hoppes solvent in the standard way: wet, scrub, dry patch, etc.

Then I went to a Remington bore scrub product that did pretty good.

Eventually copper fouling became an issue, especially in my magnum, so had to use a good copper removing solvent. Rather than buying more gun chemicals I just picked up some high strength janitorial ammonia from Ace hardware. Seems to work great. When no more color comes out on a wetted ammonia patch, I go back to the powder solvent and back and forth between the two until its sparkly clean. Then dry it out real good and run a patch with Rem Oil as the finish.

If you're shooting solid unjacketed lead bullets, then I'm not sure what to use to get lead out of a bore, but a quick Internet search should turn up something.

Cheers!

[follow maggie]

I do the same as the others. Start with a brush, then wet patches then dry patches. I like to use Brake Free for CLP

[Buzz2401]

I don't think I seen it mentioned so i will.  One of the most important things is to get a bore guide and always clean your gun starting at the bore rather then starting at end of barrel.  Starting at end of barrel can damage the crown of your barrel and it also pushes all of the contaminates back into action. 

[jay.sharkbait]

I use a bore snake (dry) and every once in a while push a couple patches with Hoppes.

Be careful about removing copper. The only time I would remove copper is if the rifle refuses to shoot well.

This guy knows stuff    Todd Hodnett- shooting on a clean bore

[jeffro]

I just had this conversation with Kelly Blachand last week.(Top Shot season 1 and All-Stars)
He doesn't clean his competition guns for 10,000+ rounds.
And when he does, he'll put 100 rounds down the pipe prior to using it in competition again.
This changed the way I think about cleaning my hunting rifles.
Usually I would take it to the range "to check zero", and my first shot was always high right.
After 2-3 shots it would start to group where i was aiming.
Now I haven't cleaned it for 100 rounds and it's spot on, first shot to last, every time I go to the range.
I'll be cleaning it after the season for the winter but when I start shooting again in the spring, it won't get cleaned again until I'm done hunting.

[Rick]

I just had this conversation with Kelly Blachand last week.(Top Shot season 1 and All-Stars)
He doesn't clean his competition guns for 10,000+ rounds.

I have a couple rifles I haven't cleaned in 4-5 years now. I don't clean them until they quit shooting as well as I know they're capable of.

I guarantee more barrels are ruined by poor cleaning techniques than not being cleaned enough.