Bore damage from guns sitting uncleaned?

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

ny32182

Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2003
Messages
5,838
Location
Clemson, SC
Lets just say I'm the only person I know that is really consistent about cleaning guns right after a range session. If I'm looking at buying a gun that has undergone the following, is there any chance that the bore has sustained damage of any kind:

-rifle with non-chrome bore
-fired at the range
-non-corrosive ammo
-taken home, placed in safe, not cleaned for quite a while
-safe is indoors, so no excessive humidity or temperature swings, etc.
 
Man, my Mini 14 has been treated that way since 1984.......no worse for the wear. It spent 10 years on the floorboard of a pickup and the bore still looks great.
 
I'd be more concerned about a weapon that was obsessively cleaned. Barring complete abuse and neglect, more damage is done to firearms by compulsive cleaning than by shooting and storing.
 
I agree. Once, a whole night's shooting (about 5 weapons) went uncleaned for several weeks. Only thing that bothered me was simply that it just wasn't me. I never let my weapons sit for more than mere hours, after a range session, without cleaning. I was working a lot of overtime back then; that was the reason, but it wasn't an excuse. They weren't any harder to clean when I did get to them, and there was no ill effects.
 
Since I am looking into USPSA, I have asked a bunch of questions here and there. A very helpful fellow told me to find the ammo that works best in my gun by firing 1000 rounds through it without cleaning it, then I'll find the round that works. I'm not sure the frequency he was referring to, but if I fire 80 rounds today, and its 4 months later before I shoot again, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to damage anything by not cleaning it.

FWIW though, the best advice I ever got on cleaning guns was when I had to have a casing removed from my .22. Imagine if you will a 6 foot bald dude who spent and hour in July talking guns outside his house, and he was only in tighty-whiteys!! I know it's not pretty. Anyway, the only thing he said the day of the removal was "You wouldn't stick your D!(& in a dirty P#$$% would you?" I heard that when I was 14 and I still hear it every time I put off cleaning. Food for thought.
 
Acolyte said:
those segmented rods are bad?
Click to expand...
Well if they're steel they are. Some will say aluminum is bad too - I'm on the fence about that.

Can't go wrong with segmented graphite though.
 
The aluminum segmented rods are IMO not anything like rigid enough and will probably deposit aluminum in a bore.

I personally favor good quality (one piece) brass rods, or even better the graphites.
 
In my materials test engineering classes in college, we would section (cut) metal samples we wanted to view in magification, and then imbed them in a thermoplastic the size of a hockey puck, for a nice, convenient sample to store and view. The exposed metal surface would be polished with aluminum oxide. It would abrade practically any hardness of metal.

Well, guess whats on the outside of your aluminum rod? Thats right, aluminum oxide.
 
R.H. Lee said:
I'd be more concerned about a weapon that was obsessively cleaned. Barring complete abuse and neglect, more damage is done to firearms by compulsive cleaning than by shooting and storing.
Click to expand...
I am what you would classify as someone who "over-cleans" their guns. I always clean my guns after shooting, no matter how many rounds I shot. I am obsessive about the cleanliness of the barrel... I try to remove every molecule of powder and copper from the barrel before storage.

When cleaning a gun, I only use the following:

- One piece coated rod (Dewey)
- Phosphor bronze brush w/ brass core
- Nylon brush w/ brass core
- Brass jag w/ cotton patches
- Brass eyelet w/ cotton patches
- Hoppes and Shooter's Choice solvents (and I carefully follow their directions)
- Hoppes oil (used as a protectant after cleaning)

By what mechanism am I ruining my guns through "over-cleaning"? :confused:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top