[Murkes]

Hi All,

I am basically a newbie level shooter (though I have owned firearms for a few years) who has few local contacts to ask about various shooting questions. With that in mind, I have a competition rifle that the manufacturer strongly suggests you clean with "Jim Brobst's Personal Formula". I purchased a couple of vials of this cleaner and was surprised when I opened it as it appears to be a paste.

My stupid question is........"how should I best apply this cleaner to my rifle. Do stand patches and brushes still apply or is there a more special method". There were no instructions with/on the container so I thought to ask the good folks here before I went ahead and experimented on my own.

Good Cheer,
Rick

[Steve Smith]

Skeery.

I'm assuming that the stuff you have is JB Bore Shine. Can be good in some cases, but can also be bad.

Could you give a little more info on the manufacturer? My money says you'll say Armalite.

[Murkes]

Howdy,

Yep its an armalite rifle in .308. The rifle is several years old but has never been fired for reasons not worth mentioning. I would now like to go ahead and "break the rifle in" as per armalite's instructions which are:

1) Fire one round, clean bore. Rinse, repeat until you have fired
30 rounds.

2) fire 10 rounds, clean bore, rinse repeat until you have fired
100 rounds.

I am just not certain how to best use the paste to clean the bore
especially during the "break-in" period.

Good Cheer,
Rick

[Steve Smith]

My suggestion is to:

#1 search here and TFL for "break in"

#2 consult the armalite site for newer info

#3 Just shoot the darn thing. Clean it often at the beginning.

[Fatelvis]

I agree with Steve. Just shoot it, and clean after every range session. Dont bother with the paste, just use Shooter`s Choice, Hoppe`s #9, etc. to clean with.

[freedomlover]

Murkes, when you go to the TFL archives and do a search under "break in," pay specific attention to Gale McMillan's posts on barrel break-in. There are some words of wisdom there from someone who knew whereof he spoke...

[dfariswheel]

The directions for actual cleaning with the various bore paste's are fairly similar.

Get a button-type tip for the cleaning rod.
Apply a thin coat of the paste to entire surface of a tight-fitting patch, and put it on the end of the cleaning rod tip.

Cleaning from the breech end, push the rod down the bore, about 6-8 inches, and pull back to the chamber, but not out.
"Pump" the rod back and forth 3-4 times, then to the muzzle once. This focuses the cleaning on the first several inches of the bore where most of the fouling is.

Do this about 10 cycles, then remove the patch, WIPE THE ROD OFF, and run 2-3 dry patches down the bore.

Inspect it, and if it still looks dirty, repeat.

After you're sure it's clean, run a couple of patches wet with bore solvent down, and let soak for however long the directions say is Ok, (about an hour). Wet a patch with more solvent and run through the bore in one pass. When it comes out the muzzle, if it's green or blue, there's still fouling in the bore.

[Murkes]

Thanks Everyone! I will do a search on break in Freedomloverand I appreciate the specific info Dfariswheel.

Good Cheer,

[swingset]

Before you read McMillan's hamfisted and arrogant rant about Break-In, go to a benchrester's forum and ask around.

Chances are you'll find that some of the best shooters in the world break their barrels in.



McMillan argues that it doesn't improve accuracy. Well, duh. I don't know what his beef with it is, but I think he's being narrow minded about it. Breaking in doesn't "wear out" a barrel as he claims, unless you clean it rough or wrong.

What it does do is mildly lap the bore, which is no different from just shooting from the get go, but it also works it's magic in a way that has a great influence on accuracy, and that's the barrel's tendency to foul. I've found, through years of doing it both ways, that broke-in barrels don't foul as fast, and don't require as much work to clean.

I'm not a scientist and don't pretend to know what exactly the bore responds to by the cleaning/shooting of the break in cycle, but I know 100% that it works, 100% that there's a difference because I've owned identical rifles that were both broke in and not broke in and seen the results with my own eyes.

[Steve Smith]

Gale's problem with it was that when he turned out a barrel, you could be sure that it was hand lapped with far greater care than a duffer with a can of grit would do. He was proud of what he'd done and he didn't want you screwing with it.


That said, I have some mighty fine barrels on my match guns, and I have found that I should use a little JB every 300 rounds or so to keep my throat buildup down. I use it basicaly as dfariswheel detailed.