Clean burning .22 LR ammo?

[Frozen North]

My oldest boy and I have been burning through the .22 ammo like mad lately. We have great fun shooting, but are growing tired of scrubbing the gunk out of our barrels and actions. We went through a brick of Blazer that was AWFUL, and a brick of Remington that was a little better.

Is there a better, cleaner burning brick ammo out there? I know the premium stuff is better but brick price is better. lol

I don't remember cheap rimfire ammo burning this dirty when I was a kid!

Any suggestions to help save us on Hoppes no. 9 and elbow grease are greatly appreciated.

 

[Remo223]

expensive stuff. Winchester. I havn't bought 22 ammo in over ten years. I probably still have a 20 year supply...40 year at the rate I've been using it lately.

 

[KodeFore]

I do not have an answer to your question, but it sure sounds like an awful good excuse to buy a couple more 22's to save the cleaning for days you're not shootin!

 

[russ69]

My favorite and most accurate ammo, is not clean burning and has lots of wax on the bullets, but it so good, that's what I run.

Thanx, Russ

 

[doc2rn]

It really depends on your price range. I normally shoot Elli but that is gonna run more than either of the ones your shooting. CCI is somewhere in between Elli and Winchester. But for the most part why keep scrubbing I just use a spray cleaner in the action with a quick rag wipe down and keep going. I never clean a .22lr barrel that is shooting right.

 

[Sport45]

Any suggestions to help save us on Hoppes no. 9 and elbow grease are greatly appreciated.

Ed's Red.

And quit cleaning your .22's barrel every time you shoot it. You'll wear the thing out. Put a liberal amount of Ed's Red in the action and let it soak for 10 to 30 minutes. Hose the crud out of the action with some brake cleaner (don't get on wood and check on plastic parts first), oil, and reassemble.

The barrels of my .22LR guns only get cleaned if the accuracy degrades.

 

[garymc]

My most accurate .22 was the one my Dad bought me when I was 12. I'm 60 now. I never cleaned the barrel and it's accuracy didn't degrade. But I have noticed all of the ammo I'm using now is nasty. I don't recall it being that way when I was a kid. I haven't tried anything expensive. I remember Remington had the word "cleanbore" on their boxes. It and WW ammo were clean back in the 60's.

edited to add: That rifle was used when I got it in '62

 

[bhk]

Don't clean that barrel unless you need to. Twenty-two ammo is lubed, the barrel is well protected against rust and leading in normal conditions, and the fouling doesn't hurt a thing. I read that Eley, the maker of the finest target ammo in the world, shoots tens of thousands of rounds through their test barrels for accuracy testing without cleaning.

I have some highly accurate .22s and rarely clean the barrels. They are fine. I wipe off the outside of the barrel and action. I also occassionally clean reachable parts of the inside of the action with Q-tips. When doing so I pay particular attention to the bolt face and extractor.

 

[xcgates]

Clean a .22LR?

What are you talking about? Is it a bolt action? Then really what are you tallking about?!?

My bolt action is giving me training for running an AR-15, IOW, drip in some more oil if it doesn't feel good. Scrub the bolt once in a blue moon.

 

[kingpin008]

Like a few of the others, I'd suggest a little laxity in your cleaning routines rather than cleaner ammo. I had a Ruger MK III that I sold with a little over 7k rounds down the barrel. I cleaned it twice in it's lifetime, and never had an issue except some FTE's which arose from an extractor issue.

I think you'll find that many .22 firearms get better witha little use and a light hand in regards to cleaning.

 

[RimfireChris]

I'm with everyone else about maybe relaxing your cleaning a bit. I don't clean either my of mine until the action gets too sticky on the semi-say 500-700 rounds, or I get tired of looking at the filthy bolt action. Also, don't overdo it on the barrel. The manuals for mine-both Marlins-say you'll probably never have to clean the barrel, but I do mine whenever I clean them, but only lightly, spray some clp in there and one pass with a bore snake, good to go.

For ammo, from what I've seen, Winchester High Speed or CCI Minimags seem to be about the cleanest.

 

[rodregier]

I think most .22LR ammunition is dirty, just a matter of degree.

Yup - clean the chamber and the action as necessary, go easy on a .22LR barrel.

I tend to brush mine out with a nylon brush just to get the big chunks out
You can get them from Brownells and others.

 

[Furncliff]

If you insist on cleaning the bores frequently (.22 rimfires don't need it very often) get a Hoppes Bore Snake for 22 caliber. You'll be done in under a30 seconds.

You did't say what type actions.




Maybe it's just me, but I remember rimfire ammo being dirtier 50 years go?

 

[Frozen North]

Thanks guys.... The one that gets gunk in the action is a Buckmark. The rifle is a Winchester model 150 lever.

After the last two times we shot, I just blew the actions out with my air compressor regulated down to about 30psi. I think this last batch of CCI may have been a little dirtier than usual too. After shooting the buckmark, my right hand was black with residue.

I picked up a brick of Winchester, we shall see...

I can already see that part of the trick is keeping the action dry....

 

[straitnate14]

Have you tried federal? It's seems to work the best for me.

 

[withdrawn34]

The Federal bulk stuff is fairly dirty as well, although I don't know if its dirtier than what the OP has been using, since Federal bulk is all I've ever used in my .22 (Ruger MK III).

 

[243winxb]

Standard Velocity like Rem. Win. Fed. 22lr ammo will be the cleanest, but more costly then the High Velocity (bulk) brands. The PMC High Velocity is not to bad.

 

[Kurt S.]

As someone else mentioned, for me "standard velocity" seems to be the cleanest (I prefer CCI). I have also used Remington Subsonic which is fairly clean and functions all my semiautos well, including a Buckmark.

 

[KingTiger]

I concur with Kurt S.

 

[double bogey]

I clean .22's at these round counts, or sooner if they malfunction:
10-22 1K+
MKIII 1K
mod 60 500 rds.

The actions will be dirty, the chambers may be, but the barrels are hardly ever dirty enough to clean, but I will if the gun is apart.
Oh, I use mostly Federal bulk and 510B.

 

[k4swb]

I just tested some Aguilla Golden Eagle Target in my Ruger MKII and found it to be much cleaner than I expected, and very accurate. Also tested some Aguilla Super Extra and sone Match Rifle and found them better than expected all around.

I keep my .22 chambers fairly clean but seldom worry with the bbls. i have found that if I clean the barrels it takes quite a few rounds before the guns start to shoot well again. Also found that when switching from copper splashed to lead ( or the other way around) it takes a few shots before the gun settles in again.

GOOD ammo is seldom cheap.

 

[xcgates]

My realization of the pointlessness of cleaning the barrel was the lack of difference noticed from looking down the barrel. I couldn't tell if I had put 50 rounds through it, or 500 rounds through it. Heck, a bunch of us put more than 2 bricks through it in one day one time, and never bothered cleaning/lubing anything.

End of the day I boresnaked it, scrubbed the bold, and put a bit of oil on it. And the bore has NEVER seen a patch.

 

[bannockburn]

The cleanest .22LR ammo I've ever found is Wolf Match Target. There's some sort of slippery lube on the bullet that seems to help keep the barrel really clean. Also there's never very much powder residue. Sometimes I feel that the gun is actually cleaner after I'm done shooting Wolf through it, than when I started. The next cleanest ammo I use would have to be CCI MiniMags.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

yeah man as some have said relax a bit. maybe once a year is fine. I use kero in a small squirt bottle drench the action good and let it set awhile. repeat and work the bolt back and forth several or many times adding some kero. then flush again, use small paint brush or parts brush too. a bore snake wet with kero is all the bore should need.

 

[jerkface11]

I don't clean an auto till it starts jamming.