Advice: Does one 15 22 Barrell Ever Get "Patch Clean?"

[S&WGuns]

Good Moring Everyone: Is it normal to always have cotton patches come out dirty even after a through barrel cleaning? I have a M&P 15 22 rifle, FDE, with 2,000 on first barrel and 1,000 rounds on second barrel. (S&W was king enough to replace the 1st one after I had a brush stuck in it. At no charge.) With both barrel the patches never come out completely clean. After shooting 500 rounds of Winchester Super X I clean the gun 3 times. Today using a Tippon rod I ran a brush through the barrel 90 times. After every 10 runs I again soaked the brush in CLP. Then I ran a bore snake through the barrel 3 times. I then bunched together 3 .22 patches and rand through dozens of them. I have also tried using bore solvent but that does not produce a much different effect than CLP.

Using the same methodology but different sized brushes my 9mm come out with clean patches.

Am I doing anything wrong?

 

[REARSPROCKET]

IDK it seems you may be going a little over board with cleaning the bore?
I use a patchworm with patches, basically weed wacker line with round cotton patches. It is easy to do damage if your not careful with a cleaning rod around the crown. I use Dewey rods when the bore needs a little scrubbing.
https://deweyrods.com/

 

[GhostMutt]

Most of the guys (ex military) that i shoot with at the range in league comps, recommend to me that a 22lr barrel really doesn't need cleaning that often, certainly not after a few thousand rounds, i run a bore snake through my 15-22 at the end of each season....my Annie bolt rifle i have never cleaned the barrel.....EVER! and it is as accurate as the first round through it and has performed much better than the operator. She is good to me
The 15-22 gets a lot more ammo down it but still, unless i see clear blockage, twice a year seems fine to me.

I'll duck and cover now, awaiting the barrage from the clean freaks
But to clarify i clean the bolt after each range session, 10 rounds or 500.

 

[little_airwolf]

Wow. A brush stuck in a barrel?
Solvent and a bore snake is all you need for the barrel!
A brush, qtips and rags is what I use for the rest.
I think people forget this rifle is 50m and under plinker trainer. Its not a bench gun.
Buy a Cooper or CZ if your going to OCD clean

 

[arjay]

Seems fairly normal for a 22.All you really need to clean is the chamber and another inch or so.Leave the bullet lube in the barrel.I suspect the gray you're seeing is blueing.

 

[micocyco]

Seems you do know how to clean it :roll eyes:
The question is have I ever had a patch go through the barrel & come out clean. Well almost .
Before I got the bore snake I counted over 500 rds. & was going to do a real detail cleaning I started with soaking the inside a couple of times letting it run out in a 5 gl. bucket , no not that much , just because the upper would stand up in it. I let it soak while I took my time cleaning the bolt & rails , wiped out the lower with a dry paper towel did not think that was long enough so I had a beer.
Then I started with a copper brush , next a bore mop then finished with 1 inch patches I cut out of old teeshirt, I lost count of patches but never did get one to come out completely clean.
,
After that I got a snake & I run it through 3 or 4 times after about 1000 rds.
What I do pay more attention to is the bolt face , the build up there bothers me + not sure if it could cause a problem with going into battery

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I never clean a .22 RF barrel unless it gets wet. Only the breech face & chamber.

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

First off, (as stated earlier) you don't need to clean a rimfire barrel near this much. Second, CLP is not meant for bore cleaning; use a bore solvent(Hoppe's#9, Shooter's Choice, etc.) if you want to clean a rifle bore. I never use a brush in my rimfire barrels.

 

[S&WGuns]

First off, (as stated earlier) you don't need to clean a rimfire barrel near this much. Second, CLP is not meant for bore cleaning; use a bore solvent(Hoppe's#9, Shooter's Choice, etc.) if you want to clean a rifle bore. I never use a brush in my rimfire barrels.

Thanks for the reply. 2 Questions please. 1) Why do you never use a brush in a rimfire barrel? 2) Do you also recommend using Bore solvent in a pistol barrel? Thanks.

 

[Majorlk]

Thanks for the reply. 2 Questions please. 1) Why do you never use a brush in a rimfire barrel? 2) Do you also recommend using Bore solvent in a pistol barrel? Thanks.

I'll answer the last question with another question: why would you treat a pistol any differently than a rifle barrel?

I use CLP on every firearm I have, but MAY switch to a dedicated bore solvent for a particularly dirty barrel. This is more of a possibility with hot, jacketed pistol rounds than with .22 rim fire.

Unless one is shooting several thousand rounds between cleaning, two or three passes through the barrel with a BoreSnake and CLP is more than sufficient.

For the first question, unless one is shooting actual jacketed ammunition and need to remove copper fouling, a metal brush is overkill. Nylon brushes are a better choice. Note that there is NO jacketed .22 LR ammunition.

 

[Majorlk]

First off, (as stated earlier) you don't need to clean a rimfire barrel near this much. Second, CLP is not meant for bore cleaning; use a bore solvent(Hoppe's#9, Shooter's Choice, etc.) if you want to clean a rifle bore. I never use a brush in my rimfire barrels.

Actually, CLP IS meant for barrel cleaning, as far as removing powder residue is concerned. That's what the "C" in Clean-Lubricate-Protect stands for. For copper fouling, you are correct.

 

[RedNeck Jim]

I only use a bore snake on my 15-22 & take advantage of the design to use both a solvent and a lubricant. I put a few drops of Hoppe's #9 ahead of the built in brush and a few drops of lubricant after the brush. Then the long tail wipes it mostly dry. I do this twice every 500 rounds or so.

I too am more concerned with the gunk on the bolt face and chamber. I use much more solvent there with pics & brushes.

 

[little_airwolf]

An old toothbrush works great

 

[CrazyFingers]

Today using a Tippon rod I ran a brush through the barrel 90 times. After every 10 runs I again soaked the brush in CLP. Then I ran a bore snake through the barrel 3 times. I then bunched together 3 .22 patches and rand through dozens of them.

Am I doing anything wrong?

Wow. Yes, you are.
In my experience, if you really want to wear out your barrel, erode the throat, and destroy the crown, you need a Dremel tool. Brushes, patches, and bore snakes are a very slow and inefficient way to wear out your .22 rimfire firearms.
You could save a lot of time and frustration by just using a Dremel with a ceramic grinding wheel to wear the rifling down smooth.


OK, joking aside, you're going completely bugnuts on the cleaning. As others have mentioned, your rifle does not require 1/30 of the effort you're putting into cleaning. I run 3 passes with a CLP-soaked .22 boresnake after each range trip, period. Mine has over 16,000 rounds through it and the rifling still looks brand new. And it will for many many years, unless I attack it with a brush like you have.

Just some quick math says you're basically changing the oil in your car every 100 miles. Does that sound reasonable?