Rimfire bore/barrel cleaning?
How often do you guys clean the bore on your 22 rimfire weapons? My Ruger MKII has at least 10 thousand rounds of mostly all lead bullets through it since I cleaned with a OTIS pull trough and cotton patch. My accuracy is still fine, and just wondering what some of your cleaning protocol was.
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When functioning is not reliable, or accuracy starts dropping, clean it. Otherwise, leave it alone. 0 -
Far more .22 rimfire barrels have been worn out by cleaning than by shooting. I ahve been told that a single push through of a brass bore brush through the barrel is equal to firing 500 rounds of .22 lead bullets. While the mechanism of may .22s need regular cleaning to keep the the gun functioning, most barrels need little or no attention until accuracy drops off. When it is time to clean the barrel I never use any sort of metal brush. 0 -
Depends a lot on the ammo you use also. Lately due to the ammo panic, I have been using some of the less desirable types out of necessity. Using a steady diet of Remington Thunder Bolts or Aguila Super Maximums will foul any bore quickly, if not cleaned.
I always take cleaning equipment with me whenever shooting. The best bore brush for .22's, is the GI bronze ones issued for AR's. Because these brushes have a different sized thread then standard commercial brushes, a "Kleen Bore" rod with similar threads has to be used, unless you have the correct size adaptor.0 -
Well I fed my Remington-37 a steady diet of T-22's and "Xpert's" for
many decades...don't think I ever cleaned the bore. (no need)0 -
quote:Originally posted by RobOz
How often do you guys clean the bore on your 22 rimfire weapons? My Ruger MKII has at least 10 thousand rounds of mostly all lead bullets through it since I cleaned with a OTIS pull trough and cotton patch. My accuracy is still fine, and just wondering what some of your cleaning protocol was.
Depends on gun.
My high standard match pistol will start to occasionally malfunction if I don't swab out the breech area every 2-3 boxes of ammo, so I typically do.
Other guns. . .I found a good rule of thumb is that the more difficult it is to clean the gun, the less I clean it. [;)]
Bore? Eh. . .
Sometimes I'll alternate a wet then dry patch through it.
I'll do that after I fire the primer only "colibri" rounds because I'm worried about priming salts in there.
But no brushing, unless I really really think the bore is fouled.
As mentioned, .22s fire a relatively low velocity soft lead projectile with little powder behind it. They say that the soft lead just polishes the bore!0 -
So you guys saying the .22LR barrels are soft? A single pull of a bronze brush is like 500 rounds?
I clean with Hoppes and bronze brush every time I come of the range. Since I don't know when I'll go out again I'll do a complete break down and clean.0 -
quote:Originally posted by yoshmyster
So you guys saying the .22LR barrels are soft? A single pull of a bronze brush is like 500 rounds?
Some 22s nowadays just have "liners" for barrels, but no, I don't believe proper .22LR bores are any softer than any other steel barrels. The rifling is shallower, but they're basically the same.
The main reason I don't clean mine very often is that I haven't seen any need to. I just haven't noticed any decrement in accuracy by not doing so. So its a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it".
A pull of a brush very may be like 500 rounds. . .with the understanding that unlike centerfire rifle barrels, the lifespan of .22LR barrels is probably measured up in the range of hundreds of thousands of rounds, not tens or individual thousands.
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I clean with Hoppes and bronze brush every time I come of the range. Since I don't know when I'll go out again I'll do a complete break down and clean.
You can do this. . .don't know if you "have to".
IMO cleaning/lubing the action and keeping the rust off the gun, is much more important than the bore, because you will see problems if you don't keep the moving parts clean and rustproofed.
With my Marlin 60, I've noticed that if I don't clean it out every couple thousand rounds or so it starts to get a little bit less reliable. Don't think I've EVER cleaned the bore, and haven't seen any decrement in accuracy that I can tell.
But I'm mostly firing crap through this gun (on purpose). Its not a match gun, I'm not a match shooter, and I'm not using match ammo. Maybe if all three of those things were true, I'd notice some effect from cleanliness. . .don't know.
I do know that "real" .22 match shooters also clean their bores VERY sparingly. If it "works" for them, it should probably work for me. . .that's my opinion.0 -
When I was a younger gent my best buddy and I had HellFire trigger things on our 1022's. Well my buddy got his so hot that the barrel leaded up. The only reason that we figured that out is his rifle started sounding like a suppressed weapon. He didn't come from a gun type family so we let my dad look at it. After he got the barrel off he showed us that you could barely see daylight through it. We got a little butt chewing and my bud got his 1022 back in working order. He still has that rifle and we still laugh at the story. That one needed a cleaning. 0 -
Just shoot it. Cleaning a 22 LR barrel is a waste of time unless you are an anal BR shooter and they are half-nuts to boot. [:D]
Once a year is fine as long as you shot it at least 1,000 rounds, if not go two years.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bpost
Just shoot it. Cleaning a 22 LR barrel is a waste of time unless you are an anal BR shooter and they are half-nuts to boot. [:D]
Once a year is fine as long as you shot it at least 1,000 rounds, if not go two years.
Right on! "anal BR shooter and they are half-nuts to boot." We only clean the Anschutz & Winchester 52's when Tenex seems to be spitting fliers & we don't know why.. Cleaning the barrel is an absolute NO-NO when they are shooting good!0 -
I don't cleam mine as often as I do high-powered rifles (After every shooting session for the HPR at least), but if it looks or shoots crummy I will clean them up. Often just a patch with some Hoppes, then several dry, then one with gun oil will clean up the loose stuff, and keep a bit of protection in place for the bore (they rust, too). If it REALLY needs it, a light bore brushing with solvent.
I don't like brushing rimfire barrels with anything other than plastic bristle brushes, and I make sure I use a bore guide to keep the rod from scraping the sides.0 -
Quite right. It takes an untold amount of 'fowling' shots to get a 22 back to it's sweet spot. Of course most of us are talking about bolt/match rifles/firearms. Semi-autos are a different story.
As posted, a high rate of fire may heat the barrel to the point where it starts to 'lead'.
While I wipe my S&W Mdl 41 down each and every time I handle it, I usually only need to clean the face of the slide and chamber from time to time.
Another good time to clean the barrel is when you switch brands of ammo.
quote:Originally posted by MG1890
quote:Originally posted by bpost
Just shoot it. Cleaning a 22 LR barrel is a waste of time unless you are an anal BR shooter and they are half-nuts to boot. [:D]
Once a year is fine as long as you shot it at least 1,000 rounds, if not go two years.
Right on! "anal BR shooter and they are half-nuts to boot." We only clean the Anschutz & Winchester 52's when Tenex seems to be spitting fliers & we don't know why.. Cleaning the barrel is an absolute NO-NO when they are shooting good!0
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