Cleaning bore of a Garand

[ping]

I always clean the bore when I come back from shooting but was wondering if I should use the wire brush everytime or sometimes or what. Lately I have been just pushing a patch down the bore several times with cleaner than using a clean patch to clean it up. Than light coat of oil on patch. Just have been wondering if using a metal brush everytime wears on the rifling/lands etc. I am shooting sierra 168 hpbt in the rifle. I wonder how much cleaning the Garand really needs. I am prepared to do whatever but normally the bore and clean some in the breach. Never have i totally disassembled. I do check the gas tube for tightness etc. That is about it. I do reload using imr 4895. I shoot about 40 rounds about every other weekend.

I know this is a pretty basic question but it has been bugging me. Would hate to be doing damage and not ask someone.

Thanks

 

[Steve in PA]

A brass brush is much softer than the metal of the barrel. You won't hurt it. Besides, do you have any idea how many brushes have been down the bore of a Garand in its life time???????

 

[Sleeping Dog]

I use a brass wire brush once in a while, usually just a patch on a jag seems good enough.

I like cleaning from the breech toward the muzzle, so I use an Otis pull-through. A bit of a PITA, but I'll keep doing that.

One of my Garands has probably seen a bunch of brushes, jointed rods, cleaned from the muzzle. The other came with a "brand new" Danish VAR barrel, so possibly the only brush it's seen is the Otis. It's still hard to predict which will shoot better on any day.

 

[Grumulkin]

If you use the right solvents, a barrel can be meticulously cleaned without any brushes. That said, it would be hard to believe that a brush would be any harder on a barrel than a bullet streaking down it at 2,500+ fps.

 

[Bad Flynch]

Many Garands suffer from muzzle damage induced by agressive, but careless, cleaning. Get yourself a cleaning rod guide.

Many Garands do not need to be cleaned regularly; indeed, many shoot better "dirty." These rifles seem to resent a clean bore and "settle down" into a pattern of consistent accuracy while dirty until they reach a point where the accuracy falls off. Your job is to find how long it will maintain acceptable accuracy with your particular load (some are dirtier than others) and then learn to clean at that point. Many, with a good load, will go a complete course of fire (NM course) before cleaning is needed.

 

[ping]

Thanks for all the good information guys. I was concerned about the brush and I guess it is not a problem. I do use a bore guide so that is cool. They are such good rifles just want to make sure I take good care of it.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

ping,

The composition of the rod is usually considered more of a concern than the brush. The military issue rods were steel and careless use is considered one of the big factors in degraded performance from surplus rifles.