Too Much Cleaning

[ecuFishbowl]

15-22 is my first weapon. I was wondering of I should do anything to the exterior of the rifle during cleaning? Should I run anything on the rails/grip/barrel exterior/ect.?

 

[Aceman58]

Note, I think the only harmful way of over cleaning a gun would be not letting the gun break itself in, so it is cleaned so well and lub'ed so good, it's running tight for ever... That to me would be a harmful event for any weapon... Break that sucker in first, then when it's good and running in it's grove, clean, oil, and shoot.. To me a winning combination when done this way.

 

[Texashunter]

a bore snake doesnt clean anything, if you want to remove carbon fouling and lead fouling a bore brush and a cleaner designed for carbon, lead and copper is the only way. a bore snake with rem oil is only oiling the carbon fouling its not even getting to the metal

 

[RedBaronRX7]

I like my guns, like I like my women, clean & wet.

 

[CrazyFingers]

a bore snake doesnt clean anything, if you want to remove carbon fouling and lead fouling a bore brush and a cleaner designed for carbon, lead and copper is the only way. a bore snake with rem oil is only oiling the carbon fouling its not even getting to the metal

You...DO know that boresnakes have 2 brushes embedded in the fabric about 6 inches apart, right?
Put a few drops of CLP on the first brush, run the snake through 3 times, you're done. And yes, it does clean the barrel quite well.

 

[Texashunter]

You...DO know that boresnakes have 2 brushes embedded in the fabric about 6 inches apart, right?
Put a few drops of CLP on the first brush, run the snake through 3 times, you're done. And yes, it does clean the barrel quite well.

depends on what you call clean, takes me on average 30-60 strokes of wet patches and bore brushing to get a barrel clean.
heavy fouling will take even more with a couple of foamings mixed in there as well.
how do you clean the bore snake, cause i dont run dirty patches back through a barrel, or even a dirty bore brush.

 

[J22LR1der]

Some tips here too, I clean almost everytime I take here out. but I put about 1000 through at a time also, if not 300-500 at a short indoor session.

Another cleaning thread.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-wesson-m-p-15-22/222709-cleaning-s-w-m-p-15-22-a.html

a bore snake doesnt clean anything,

I'd say it does a good enough job for me.
Next time I do it I'll run a few wet patches through to show you what's left. I usually pass it through from breach to barrel 2-3 times w a drop of cleaner and The thing Bling when I'm done. I used to the patches and rod provided in the cleaning kit and just knew there had to be a better way. Then all of a sudden I stumble on the Best Barrel Cleaning Tool ever. I believe it was called a BORESNAKE.

 

[Texashunter]

Some tips here too, I clean almost everytime I take here out. but I put about 1000 through at a time also, if not 300-500 at a short indoor session.

Another cleaning thread.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-wesson-m-p-15-22/222709-cleaning-s-w-m-p-15-22-a.html




I'd say it does a good enough job for me.
Next time I do it I'll run a few wet patches through to show you what's left. I usually pass it through from breach to barrel 2-3 times w a drop of cleaner and The thing Bling when I'm done. I used to the patches and rod provided in the cleaning kit and just knew there had to be a better way. Then all of a sudden I stumble on the Best Barrel Cleaning Tool ever. I believe it was called a BORESNAKE.

for a 22lr it might very well be good enough, for my deer rifle uh uh no way, it takes me a very long time to get the copper fouling out of it.
this is my first 22 in a very long time, i will soon find out how bad it fouls.
but i find it hard to believe you can get carbon and lead or copper fouling out in 3 passes with a boresnake

 

[CrazyFingers]

depends on what you call clean, takes me on average 30-60 strokes of wet patches and bore brushing to get a barrel clean.

30-60 patches to clean your barrel??????

How many thousands of rounds are you putting through it between cleanings?
Are you sure you're not going overboard just a bit?

 

[Texashunter]

30-60 patches to clean your barrel??????

How many thousands of rounds are you putting through it between cleanings?
Are you sure you're not going overboard just a bit?

bout 40 rounds through my deer rifle requires at least 60 strokes of a bore brush, thats not counting the wet and dry patching in between, to get all the copper fouling out of the barrell. sometimes a bore foam helps speed that up.
I dont have a bore scope but i do look in the end of the barell with magnifying glass and flash light and i dont stop untill the copper is gone.
barrel was properly broke in, and poi is within an inch off a clean barell first shot at 100 yds.
heres a 3 shot group @ 100yds on another gun i load for thats meticulously cleaned as well, by me. (.243)

heres a 3 shot group on my gun @200 yds (7-08)
roughly 3/4" group

 

[PapaChop]

15-22 is my first weapon. I was wondering of I should do anything to the exterior of the rifle during cleaning? Should I run anything on the rails/grip/barrel exterior/ect.?

I use this:

http://www.hoppes.com/products/ca_silicone_cloths.html

I just wipe down all the exterior parts with it. It seems to leave a fairly effective coating that's not slick or slippery.

a bore snake doesnt clean anything, if you want to remove carbon fouling and lead fouling a bore brush and a cleaner designed for carbon, lead and copper is the only way. a bore snake with rem oil is only oiling the carbon fouling its not even getting to the metal

You probably shouldn't knock a product until you've tried it. A few months ago the Boresnake saved me (and some peers) a TON of time cleaning M249 SAWs that had several THOUSAND rounds put through them. And for anyone that's ever tried to turn in weapons at Fort Benning, you know how picky they are...

For particularly dirty barrels, I'll usually get some CLP setting in the barrel for a few minutes to help break things up before using the Boresnake. After that, I'll run a clean patch through to see if I'm good or not.

 

[CoreyT]

My 5.56 AR15 I use a Dewey's rod and patches, and good old CLP.

Since I got the 15-22, I ran across some vids on boresnakes, and I bought this one with the built in brushes.
Amazon.com: Hoppe's Boresnake Viper Rifle Bore Cleaner (Choose Your Caliber): Sports & Outdoors

I used it last Friday after running 225 flawless rounds of American Eagle through it, and it worked great.
I put some CLP over the brushes (three of them) on it and ran it through once, then ran it a second time with some CLP near the end of it so it would leave a light coating in the barrel.

First time I ran the snake through it I could barely pull it through, but the second time it was much easier.

I will try the same on my big AR when I get a chance to shoot it again.
I feel the snake does a better job.

And when they get dirty, they say to just through it the wash machine.

I watched Brett's video online, and here is another one I watched before I ordered mine from Amazon.

Hoppe's BoreSnake Viper - YouTube

 

[C-Fish]

FACT-You will most likely do more damage (accelerate wear) cleaning than shooting!!

Cleaning is overrated for a combat type weapon.

As mentioned earlier in this thread the .22lr doesn't need much if any attention. Small bore shooters will go the whole season without cleaning (after they season the barrel).

I run a (dry) snake (once) through my .22's after (almost) every outing, then they are put in the safe...Annually I break them down and clean.

Have a friend who never cleaned his Ruger Mark2 in 15 years. NO snake, nothing, added oil as needed to keep it lubed. Was just as accurate as new...What a mess when he did finally break it down though.


Be safe...

 

[lkout4trucks]

i went out and shot about 200rds of federal bulk pack last week, no FTF at all. didnt bother to clean it since hadnt shot a ton and all looked fairly clean. took it back out today, fired off the rest of the box. about 10 FTFs. the gun was more gunked up than normal, but nothing super extreme. hoping it was just a fluke, thing has yet to give me any other issues at all. Plus, was sighting in my new scope and was still able to get 3-4" groups at 80yards VERY consistently. If it takes a thorough cleaning each time out for that to be the case i'll gladly keep cleaning!

 

[CrazyFingers]

A few months ago the Boresnake saved me (and some peers) a TON of time cleaning M249 SAWs that had several THOUSAND rounds put through them.

Wow, if "bout 40 rounds through my deer rifle requires at least 60 strokes of a bore brush...to get all the copper fouling out of the barrell", then after 2000 rounds of M855 at a 1:1.5 ratio of rounds to brush strokes, you'd need about 3,000 brush strokes to clean those M249s. I guess the bore snake did save you some time, eh?

 

[Aceman58]

Based on what Texashunter had stated, I did a test and I'm going to have to agree with him. I cleaned the M&P at about 1200 rounds with a boresnake, I ran the long rod with patch after to see if there were still buildup. Low and behold, it came out pretty dark, a 2nd and 3rd pass and it became light gray.

I came to the conclusion, the boresnake is good for quick cleaning after shooting, and can delay the through cleaning for maybe around the 1500 to 2500 round range. The barrel does look clean when viewed after the boresnake, but it did not capture every inch as the patch and rod did. Thanks, a test I always wanted to try, and a lesson learned. Thanks Texashunter for pointing that out...

 

[rojodiablo]

Ask small bore target shooters how often they clean the bore of their .22's.

We cleaned them no more than every 25 rounds. But in most cases, every 10.

 

[Majorlk]

Based on what Texashunter had stated, I did a test and I'm going to have to agree with him. I cleaned the M&P at about 1200 rounds with a boresnake, I ran the long rod with patch after to see if there were still buildup. Low and behold, it came out pretty dark, a 2nd and 3rd pass and it became light gray.

I came to the conclusion, the boresnake is good for quick cleaning after shooting, and can delay the through cleaning for maybe around the 1500 to 2500 round range. The barrel does look clean when viewed after the boresnake, but it did not capture every inch as the patch and rod did. Thanks, a test I always wanted to try, and a lesson learned. Thanks Texashunter for pointing that out...

Keep in mind, BoreSnakes get dirty just like patches do. A dirty BS does no more good than a dirty patch does. They need to be washed frequently to keep them useful.

 

[mud king]

I clean mine almost every 500 to 750 rounds. Just the way I was brought up. Keep it clean and it won't give you any troubles.

 

[crracer_712]

I cleaned mine for the first time in about a year, maybe 5000 rounds worth of shooting in that years. Wasn't all the dirty. Had a little caking on the face of the action