How can a cleaning rod damage the crown if it isn't steel?

[30Cal]

Barrels are not soft.
...

A hardness on the order of 25 on the Rockwell C scale. Fairly soft.

 

[re223]

Okay, let's remember that a copper or even brass jacketed bullet is being tightly fitted and forced down a grooved bore every time a bullet is fired out of a gun. So much hype over this subject. Just be careful and don't use steel ramrods.

 

[FlyinBryan]

A hardness on the order of 25 on the Rockwell C scale. Fairly soft.

scott duff, clint mckee, and walt kulek would all agree.

 

[jdowney]

+1

And not only M1s, many, many milsurps show the evidence of muzzle wear from cleaning rods. Yet some people refuse to believe that cleaning rods cause wear.

Milsurps were generally not babied they way rifles are in the peacetime civilian world. Corrosive primers, continual exposure to the elements, lack of cleaning, many thousands of rounds fired all contribute to bore wear. Wear is pronounced at the muzzle end because that's where the chemistry and physics undergo rapid changes as the bullet leaves the bore. Suddenly there's more available oxygen, pressure is suddenly a lot lower, there's all sorts of crazy eddies in the exhaust gasses, etc.

It never ceases to amaze me that such a big deal is made of this subject. There tends to be siliceous grit on everything (as others have pointed out, that's what made the Grand Canyon), so by all means wipe down the rod as often as you feel compelled to do so, and avoid it's rubbing the bore as much as possible. Other than that, I suspect its all a combination of internet talk and the marketing of fancy new rods to replace the ubiquitous aluminum ones we all have three or more of and haven't managed to wear out.

 

[Ruger GP100 fan]

Hope there's no objections to dragging this post over here since it got no response on a similar thread.

Ruger GP100 fan
Member

Thanks. My Ruger GP100 6" SS came with chatter where the crown meets the rifling. I can't hit a darn thing with it. If it was yours would you send it back to Ruger? Or is it as simple as this seems to make it? In the 2nd video he cuts a few inches off of a rifle barrel and it does not appear that he's too careful about the cut being exactly perpendicular to the barrel. If how the gas pressures exit the barrel are critical to achieve accuracy,why such a relaxed mindset as to whether or not they begin exiting equally around the full circumference of the barrel? I'd think that using a hand file wouldn't even get you close to a cut that's exactly 90* to the barrel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OorpZ...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b43od...eature=related

My pic did not come along with the post,so it's here: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=561165&page=2

 

[benEzra]

Any relatively soft cleaning rod can become contaminated with embedded grit. I suspect the biggest problem isn't metal shavings, but airborne dust, primarily silicates (from soil/sand/clay), which are harder than steel. Obviously, this problem is going to be worse in Iraq or Afghanistan than it is stateside, but dust is everywhere to varying degrees. It's probably not a bad idea to wipe the cleaning rod with a lightly oiled cloth before each use to remove the dust.

The worst ones are segmented aluminum rods, though. Aluminum oxidizes quickly upon contact with oxygen, forming a hard aluminum oxide layer that is far more abrasive than aluminum metal.

As to using steel-jacketed ammunition, the alloy used is very soft and not abrasive. Habitually shooting dirty/dusty ammunition could potentially increase wear, though.

 

[taliv]

guys, don't forget all but the last few posts on this thread are 2 years old.

re223, welcome to THR, but check the dates on stuff before you respond

 

[Art Eatman]

Arrrgghhh! Necrothreadia! Run away! Run away!