How do y’all clean yer lever guns

I do pull the bolt on my marlin. It’s easy enough that it just doesn’t make sense not to. As far as generally cleaning guns though, I clean from the breach if there is any realistic way to do it. Bolt actions are generally easy to pull the bolt. The marlin bolt is easy to remove. Shotgun barrels come off easily. AR barrels tip up easily. Essentially the only thing that’s not easy to clean from the breach is a semiauto 22. I use bore snakes for the 22s and I don’t really pay much mind to which way it goes because the rope works as a bore guide to keep the muzzle from being banged up unless somebody goes to violently jerking the boresnake through the gun.

When I've had levers they got foamed and a pull thru.
The actions never got real dirty, but I'd spray them full of clp, let it soak over night then blast it out with brake clean when they did get grungy.

My BLR gets cleaned from the muzzle. I drilled out the primer pocket on a 12ga hull and use it as a bore guide

I’ve always been a muzzle-end cleaner if lever guns as well. I use a bore guide to protect the rifling and clean carefully. So far, so good I guess.
Stay safe.

Breech. Marlins are much easier to pull the bolt from than Winchesters.

I remove the lever and pull the bolt out and clean from the breach. I have the quick takedown screw in several of my Marlin rifles but in any case it is quick and easy to remove the lever on a Marlin for cleaning from the breach.

My Rossi 92 gets pulled apart. I get the action cleaned out while I'm in there. I'm not too anal about keeping that rifle squeaky clean.

LoonWulf said:

When I've had levers they got foamed and a pull thru.
The actions never got real dirty, but I'd spray them full of clp, let it soak over night then blast it out with brake clean when they did get grungy.

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How do you manage to not harm the wood when you clean this way w/ CLP and Brakekleen? This is my worry.

I have a Henry lever 22 mag that gets its bore cleaned from the muzzle end. I detail strip and clean the action only about every third cleaning. It just doesn't seem to get dirty nearly as fast as most rimfire firearms.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY carrying a can of brake cleaner gets anywhere within spraying distance of my Henry!!

mine shoot lead and use an old dirty powder. I take the whole gun down every couple thousand rounds and clean it. I wrap chore boy around a brush and use it to scrub the lead out. I set the action muzzle down on a piece of cardboard and scrub it from the breech. That way all the lead residue falls out the muzzle instead of the action.

NorthBorder said:

How do you manage to not harm the wood when you clean this way w/ CLP and Brakekleen? This is my worry.

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Oil finished stocks don't really care, just wipe away any drips or runs of clp when you see them and be sparing with the break clean.
I think I cleaned the guts of my lever guns once or twice over the few years of ownership. Never saw any real need unless they got drenched.

I should also add I've never had real nice lever guns, and only newish one I had was my r92 in .357, and that one I stripped the stocks on an refinished in teak oil. Not sure what clp or brake clean would do to factory finish on other guns.....tho again, I've gotten both on my bolt gun stocks and only had an issue with painted or soft finished synthetics.

Tagging in to follow.

Anyone have a good You Tube video to strip and clean a Henry lever gun they can recommend?

Thanks!

The Marlins and Rossi '92 get the lever off, bolt pulled etc. JMB should have been totured for the Winchester 1895 design. That is an absolute pig. That gets a pull-through.

I pull the bolt on my Marlins and clean through the breech.

I have no problem cleaning from the muzzle though. It is a process pulling the barrel off of a Remington 7600 so it gets cleaned infrequently from the muzzle.

My Henry big boy, pull the bolt and use hoppes #9 with a bore snake after every range session. Every other/every 3rd range session ill pull out the trigger assembly and give it a cleaning. Hoppes oil as well.

I shoot mostly cast lead rounds from choice ammo. It's never super filthy but enjoy the cleaning process and also enjoy seeing how the parts all wear together.

DocRock said:

JMB should have been totured for the Winchester 1895 design.

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Really? Maybe I should just assume you are exaggerating for hyperbole and after a second thought maybe you can agree Browning was a genius even if you have to clean some of his designs from the muzzle? Do you realize most (maybe all) people cleaned through the muzzle for a hundred years before someone imagined a fix to a problem nobody was having?

I’ve heard it repeated many time how muzzle cleaning will destroy a lever guns accuracy, but I’ve not seen any data or evidence of this. I have a couple lever guns at the century mark in age, always cleaned through the muzzle, and they are accurate as heck.

Muzzle cleaning equals bad accuracy in lever guns is pure BS. I subscribe to cleaning from the breech if I can, and if I can’t, not a big deal to clean from them muzzle.

I very carefully clean from the muzzle. It the action is filthy. Then I clean from the back.
I don't like taking lever actions apart besides the initial trigger job.

Clean, what is this clean you speak of? Just add oil as needed and keep shooting.

If you can protect the muzzle it's no big deal to clean from that end. It isn't the muzzle cleaning per se, but rubbing the steel rod against the inside of the barrel which eventually hurts the rifling. A coated rod, or muzzle protector works great.

My 336 gets cleaned from the breech.

Ru4real said:

Really? Maybe I should just assume you are exaggerating for hyperbole and after a second thought maybe you can agree Browning was a genius even if you have to clean some of his designs from the muzzle? Do you realize most (maybe all) people cleaned through the muzzle for a hundred years before someone imagined a fix to a problem nobody was having?

I’ve heard it repeated many time how muzzle cleaning will destroy a lever guns accuracy, but I’ve not seen any data or evidence of this. I have a couple lever guns at the century mark in age, always cleaned through the muzzle, and they are accurate as heck.

Muzzle cleaning equals bad accuracy is pure BS. I subscribe to cleaning from the breech if I can, and if I can’t, not a big deal to clean from them muzzle.

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Are you seriously having a little hissy because somebody criticized the asinine design of the 1895 by your close personal friend, John Browning? That's hysterical. Party on, Garth.

DocRock said:

Are you seriously having a little hissy because somebody criticized the asinine design of the 1895 by your close personal friend, John Browning? That's hysterical. Party on, Garth.

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I simply asked you some questions, giving you a chance to rethink your assertion about Browning. Instead, you doubled down and revealed you are logged in on your Dad’s account. Go to bed, son.

Ru4real said:

Really? Maybe I should just assume you are exaggerating for hyperbole and after a second thought maybe you can agree Browning was a genius even if you have to clean some of his designs from the muzzle? Do you realize most (maybe all) people cleaned through the muzzle for a hundred years before someone imagined a fix to a problem nobody was having?

I’ve heard it repeated many time how muzzle cleaning will destroy a lever guns accuracy, but I’ve not seen any data or evidence of this. I have a couple lever guns at the century mark in age, always cleaned through the muzzle, and they are accurate as heck.

Muzzle cleaning equals bad accuracy is pure BS. I subscribe to cleaning from the breech if I can, and if I can’t, not a big deal to clean from them muzzle.

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Cleaning from the muzzle on any firearm can put a burr on the crown which can and quite often does adversely affect accuracy.

Muzzle cleaning per se doesn’t negatively affect accuracy.

How accurate is “accurate as heck” in a 100 year old lever gun?

“I subscribe to cleaning from the breech if I can, and if I can’t, not a big deal to clean from them muzzle”. I’m with you on that.