Does anyone ever really get their bore clean?

[Bill_Rights]

I am in agreement with the respondents who say that a bore need not be so clean that a patch comes through lily white. And the same folks, usually, point out that the gun shoots tighter groups once a clean bore gets a few rounds through it. I would go a step farther and state (assert or guess, actually) that even just the film of oil left on the surface of the bore, whether the underlying bore is clean to bare metal or not, disrupts accuracy. The oil needs to be burned off or turned to "char" coating the inside of the bore for the bore to be in its "normal" (best shooting) state. Or not. The burned residue from the gun powder will provide the same "char", or better.

You also hear about the folks who haven't swabbed their bore(s) for years, and the firearm shoots just fine.

Look, the MAIN THING is that the bore does not have abrasive particles on its surface. By abrasive, I mean the hardness of the debris must be near to or greater than the hardness of the gun steel of the bore. If there are abrasive particles on the bore, the passing bullet can drag them along and scratch the finish of the bore steel. Nothing in gun powder residue, or even in unburned gun powder, or even even in the bullet is anywhere near hard enough to scratch the barrel.

On the other hand, dust from a dirt road or plowed field certainly contains abrasive particles, like SiO2 (quartz) or even harder minerals. Sometimes even random dust from indoor room air could have abrasive particles, if nothing else those "tracked in" from outdoors. True, most dust is non-abrasive. But some is abrasive. This is the main reason we keep guns in gun cabinets - to keep dust out of the bore and receiver mechanisms.

THEREFORE, it pays to drag a damp patch through any bore that may have dust in it, BEFORE SHOOTING. Or even DURING SHOOTING, if you are in a dusty environment. You decide when the bore may have been exposed to dust and what a dusty environment is. That's all. That's it. That's all you need to do. [NOTE: This all assume that there are no chemically corrosive agents present, like corrosive primers, corrosive gun powder or salt water.]

By the way, many of the most damaging abrasive particles are clear, translucent or nearly white (like quartz, most feldspars, glass, beach sand, many minerals and many ceramics). Often substances which have a distinct color in bulk form (clay --> orange) will look nearly white in fine-particulate form. This means that a dragged-through patch will not appear "dirty", as in grey or black. Nevertheless, the potentially-damaging particles will have been dragged out with the patch(es). So there is an element of BLIND FAITH here. You do the patch pull procedure because it is known to work, and you do it (sometimes) even when you're not sure it's needed, to be on the safe side. [This is not totally blind faith - you could get a microscope and actually see the abrasive particles, but it is not worth it, normally.]

The other factor is rust. We know that residues from modern gun powder and primers do not promote rust formation, even if stored for a long time in humid conditions. I think, in fact, these residues inhibit rust formation. However, there are hundreds of types of alien particles that do promote rust, some of which would not cause damage as abrasive particles. Dried salt water spray is an example.

So this is why we clean a gun AFTER taking it out into the field or shooting it. If not for that, it would be better to always, ONLY "clean" your gun BEFORE shooting it. (In fact, I will do a quick one-pull wipe of the bore BEFORE shooting a gun if it has been handled or stored out of the gun cabinet for any length of time, EVEN IF IT HAS NOT BEEN SHOT.)

Then we could get into the perennial controversy of whether the oil film left behind after a typical cleaning procedure actually PREVENTS RUST. The evidence seems mixed, but I venture a guess that the well-burned powder residue left from shooting prevents rust better than most films of most oils. Which is another reason NOT to clean out all of this powder residue, because then you get the rust-protection of both it and the oil.

 

[akodo]

I've been using outers foaming bore cleaner, it works great with rifle calibers.

However, I'd love to use it for 22LR and shotguns, but the hose is too big for the 22LR and too small for the shotguns, are there any adapters or do other foam cleaners have different size hoses?

 

[mustang_steve]

I personally find that my pistol, when spotlessly clean is more likely to have copper fouling.

That said, I don't even go for nearly clean...I just go for "not fouled". Usually it gets a dry brush and a flashlight through it now and then. It gets a good cleaning every 400 or so rounds (usually about 3 months).

And for it, copper fouling matters, as it's not just a little, after a 100-150 rd range session, it has massive pieces of copper on the lands...this takes one, sometimes two overnight KG12 soaks to remove. Honestly, it's easier to keep a dirty, but smoothly operating pistol than a clean but annoying pistol.

 

[alsaqr]

Unless they were fired with corrosive ammo; my guns get a patch wetted with Hoppes run through the bore followed by three or four clean patches: That's it. If the gun is not going to be fired for awhile it gets a patch wetted with Militec 1 run through the bore.

If the bore looks like there is a buildup of copper fouling or if accuracy goes south the bore gets a workout with a wire brush and Hoppe's Benchrest.

 

[Flea]

For the corrosive MilSurp guns, They get an ammonia bath at the range following shooting, followed up by a patch of WD-40 until I get home.

At home, they get a gentle scrubbing using a bore brush loaded with Hoppe's. Follow that with a few more patches of WD-40, then a dry patch before the WD-40 has a chance to dry. Boresnake once, then an oiled patch to preserve the bore.

It's worked for me for years, and I've had no loss of accuracy to report yet.

 

[Straight Shooter]

"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien."

The perfect is the enemy of the good

 

[mljdeckard]

(Thanks, I hate trying to remember when the du/de la replaces 'the'.)

 

[Zack]

Modern commercial ammo is noncorrosive, so you could leave your GP100 uncleaned and dirty for 30 years in a drawer, and it probably wouldn't rust at all (or at least, not from the dirt, carbon and powder residue).

What?? I got a old revolver thats 30+ years old and it was never shot, pitting and rusty now

 

[General Geoff]

Zack, your anecdote proves that it was not dirt, carbon or powder residue which rusted it.

 

[mugsie]

Whew - now I feel a lot better!

 

[Werewolf]

I used to be OCD about cleaning. Life is too short. Don't waste your time in overcleaning. Just shoot more often and you won't feel so bad.

Yep!

Thanks to my Dad and a number of Army Drill Sgts - me too.

Took darn near 30 years for that indoctrination to wear off.

 

[hemiram]

I chuckled when I read this and remembered when a friend of mine and I went shooting years ago. He had his only gun, an S&W 686, and I had 4 of mine, 2 Dan Wesson Model 15's, an Astra A-80, and an Beretta 84. When we were done, I dropped him off at home, and I cleaned all 4 of my guns and put them back in their storage cases. I called him to ask him about something, and I mentioned I had just finished cleaning my guns. He says, "How could you be finished already?. I haven't even finished cleaning my one yet!!" I said, "What are you doing, taking it apart and putting it back together again?"
Dead silence. I said, "What are you doing, taking it apart and putting it back together again?". He said, "Well how else am I supposed to clean it?". He had seen me take down one of my Model 15's, but he didn't understand I did that because it was a gun I had just bought, and I did that to check for anything that needed to be replaced, and thought that was how you cleaned a gun, period. I felt sorry for him, trying to put all the little parts of the 686 back together again every time he shot it. No wonder he almost never shot it.