How clean should the barrel be?

[E-Texan Shooter]

My normal cleaning procedure is to soak a bronze brush with Hoppes #9, run it through the barrel ten (10) times, run a patch soaked with Hoppes #9 through the barrel and dry the barrel with dry patches. I usually repeat this three (3) times. I use a one-piece steel plastic coated rod and a bore guide. However, sometimes this does not clean the barrel and ever time I use the brush I get a very dirty patch. How clean should the barrel be? Should I repeat the process until I get a clean patch after using the brush? I also sometimes use Sweets for removing the copper. What about using J.B. Paste to assist in removal of powder residue? Thanks for any assistance.

[jo191145]

Tex
Welcome to the forum.

Unless your soaking/cleaning your brushes in alcohol or other solvent you'll always get a dirty patch after using it. They might look clean but they're not. Personally I do not bother cleaning mine.
Nothing wrong with using JB. Note, You'll never ever get a clean patch with JB. JB turns black on the patch no matter if the barrel is spotless inside or not.

[acloco]

Actually, you will never, ever, never, ever...get a clean patch using the combination of that brush and hoppes (or any other chemical that removes copper).

The chemical reaction of the Hoppe's is breaking down the brush that you are using.

You can use a fine wire brush....and hoppe's, but don't pay attention to the color of the patch.

I switched to using plastic brushes for this reason.

[josebd2006]

i dont even use brushes anymore.just butches bore shine,sweets 7.62,the best way to get the copper out.

[skipper]

I just responded to another thread about this subject. I really think that you need to use a good bore brush if you really expect to get the carbon build up out of a barrel. Patches just won't cut the carbon. Here's what I wrote on the other thread.

Skipper wrote:

My experience is to keep the bore as clean of carbon as possible. This usually requires a good scrubbing with a bore brush and moderate solvent. I'm really surprised at how much soot comes out of the barrel. I usually have to scrub one or two stroke for each shot. If I shoot 50 rounds at the range, that's a lot of scrubbing. The point is that I don't think Wipe Out or any other cleaner left to soak overnight will get all the carbon out of a barrel. If you aren't scrubbing with a bore brush you are probably letting carbon build up at the throat where it accumulates the most naturally. If you're in doubt, soak a patch in bore cleaner and insert it just into the throat area and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then push it on out of the muzzle and take a look. If it's black, you need to scrub some more. I've done that test on barrels that I thought were clean and found that they weren't as clean as I had thought. If accuracy is falling off, try a good scrubbing first. You might save yourself a lot of grief.

I have also found that some powders have a tendency of building up more than others. While RE-10X is one of my favorite powders, it builds up in the throat area really bad in my 204s. On the other hand Benchmark and Vihta Vouri clean up really easily. The others I use like H4895, H335, H322 and Varget fall somewhere in between those extremes. Try a different powder.

If you only have 150 rounds down the tube, she may not be broken in good yet. Factory reamers might be a little on the dull side and have left a burr on the leade to the lands. Another good range trip should help if that's the problem.

[Bayou City Boy]

To insure that a barrel is clean, you need to make sure that both the copper and the powder fouling have been removed. Using a solvent that only handles one of them well does not insure a clean barrel. Unfortunately, that's what most of the more popular solvents do; they handle one of the tasks very well and the other to a lesser extent.

And use a good brush on both the copper and the powder fouling or in about a year you'll be complaining about bullets key-holing and terrible accuracy coming from your perfectly clean small caliber barrel.... A good brass brush used with a good bore guide and a good one piece rod is going to do a lot less damage (read none) to a high dollar barrel than a ceramic hard coating of powder fouling in the throat area will.

JMO - BCB

[skipper]

To insure that a barrel is clean, you need to make sure that both the copper and the powder fouling have been removed. Using a solvent that only handles one of them well does not insure a clean barrel. Unfortunately, that's what most of the more popular solvents do; they handle one of the tasks very well and the other to a lesser extent.

And use a good brush on both the copper and the powder fouling or in about a year you'll be complaining about bullets key-holing and terrible accuracy coming from your perfectly clean small caliber barrel.... A good brass brush used with a good bore guide and a good one piece rod is going to do a lot less damage (read none) to a high dollar barrel than a ceramic hard coating of powder fouling in the throat area will.

JMO - BCB

I couldn't agree more! Well said.

[GlennGTR]

Not being a long time member or a 204 shooter till lately my humble opinion is this.One I dont use a rod I use the Ottis cleaning system wich is a cable that is pulled through rather than a rod that is pushed through.I have used this system on ARs ,bolt action hunting rifles and handguns.The key thing is to work from the breach to the muzzle pulling all the power and other barrel nasties with it out of the dangerous end of the gun.Pulling on a cable vs pushing a rod allows me to use tighter patches for final steps in cleaning.I start with a wet patch of powder solvent pull the cable into the chamber and twist it in a circular motion once the patch is in there. Then I pull the patch the rest of the way out and down the barrell.I usualy wait 5 to 10 minutes to soak in the barrell. I take the second wet patch and repeat step 1 without the wait.That is followed by a tight dry clean patch dont forget to turn the patch in the chamber befor proceeding down the barrell.Repeat 3 to 5 times,this will pull most of the grunge out. Pull another patch of wet solvent through the barrell then put on a brush,dip brush in solvent and start to pull it through the barrell until brush is in chamber spin brush several times befor pulling down the barrell.Pull brush down barrell 5 to 8 times per shot fired replenishing solvent every time you start a new cycle.So if you shot 10 rounds the brush will travel down the barrell 50 to 80 times.Then switch to dry tight patches until they come out clean and dry.Then Ill switch over to using wet patches of Breakfree.Pull the patch through wet 4 to 5 times saturating the barrell.I then start with the brush again but a brush that I only use with Breakfree.Ill run it down the barrell around 20 times then start with dry tight patches until they come out clean and dry.Then wet Breakfree patches again followed by tight dry patches untill dry and clean.Sometimes I let Breakfree sit in the barrell for one or two days to really penitrate befor my very final cleaning.....At least this works for me.I use a copper remover every other cleaning mostly because I shoot a walking Varminter and dont do alot of high volume shooting.When I do I add one more step in the middle where I use the cleaner ,brushes and dry patches befor i start my Breakfree final cleaning conditioning....Wheeeew .Have fun.

[Hotshot]

GTR,

With all due respect, I'd quit shooting if I had to go through all that work. 80 passes after shooting 10 rounds???? There are better ways!

[Rick65Cat]

Sry GTR, but I have to agree. 8 to 10 passes per bullet? Man..I go on a gopher blast with my .22 semi it ain`t hard AT ALL to go thru 400 500 shells in a days shoot.
lets see....500 x 8...uhh 8 x 0 = 0,...8 x the next 0 = 0, 5 x 8 = 40, + the first and second zeros...hmm...4000 passes to clean my gun?
The friggen brush wires would be just nubs b4 I was done

[Bayou City Boy]

Wow....

My head and my elbow hurts... and I think my barrel is "shot out"...

-BCB

[cshooter]

What about these foaming spray-in bore cleaners ? I've used that Outer stuff a few times and it seems to clean things alright, at least the bore looks like polished glass when I'm done. I don't know maybe it does'nt. The groups seem to get somewhat tighter after useing it. I clean my gun now every box of shells I shoot or 50 rounds. Any opinions ?

[Hotshot]

There are a number of ways to get a barrel clean. The bottom line is to get 'em clean somehow.

I recently got my 6-06 back from loan to my son-in-law in Wyoming for the season and it was a little too dirty for my liking. Life expectancy of barrels for this cartridge is short so we don't shoot it a lot, but it sure is a nice showin' off gun.

I hit it with Shooters choice and didn't get it clean so I tried Sweets and still wasn't satisfied. I ran some JB on a tight patch with short back and forth strokes and it looked good but I couldn't get a clean patch so I tried the foaming bore cleaner. The patches are clean now. This barrel is surgical operating room clean. I think the combination of every chemical doing its specialty was the key. I usually don't have to work that hard on a barrel because I don't let 'em get that dirty in the first place. It really didn't take too long of time and I sure didn't have to do 8 passes per shot fired!

[GlennGTR]

I know it sounds liike alot of work but the cable system makes it real fast because you dont have to remove the brush its all going in one direction. It only takes about 2 seconds to insert the cable and pull the brush through.By the time most folks can push a rod through take of the brush reinstall it for the next run Ive already been down that bore 10 times.

[shooter1952]

You guys will proability drum me out of the shooting sports when I tell you what I clean my rifles with,carberator cleaner,and does it work good. Hey it removes carbon. I had an old WW2 Vet told me this about 25 years ago an have done it ever since. Real easy, use the little plastic hose and shoot just a small amount down the barrel and let it set for a couple of minutes. BUT make sure that you don't get any on the stock. It will take off finish. Wire your barrel from front to back,trigger to muzzel. 4 to 5 patches work good to clean and then one patch with light oil to coat the inside. I have done this for years and it works great. My sons and I Prarie Dog every year and haven't shot out a barrel yet. BUT some powders are harder to clean than others. When we clean after about 30 to 40 shots. Any way it works good for me and it is cheeper than some of them cleaners that you pay big $ for. Jerry