Fr. Frog’s Proper Procedure to Clean a Rifle Barrel

Ah! Cleaning barrels. More blood has been spilled on this topic than on politics and religion combined.

Every “expert” seems to have their own special and often complicated procedure for cleaning but when it comes down to scientific tests more barrels have been ruined by over cleaning than by shooting. As far as accuracy goes, there may be some advantages to special cleaning procedures for the bench rest shooter with a finely made barrel, and where hundredths of a inch can make or break a match. But for everybody else extremely complicated procedures are probably a waste. I have never seen any scientific documentation showing the superiority of a particular cleaning method, just unfounded opinions. The biggest problem with barrels is usually copper fouling and not general crud. If your accuracy starts to drop off try removing the copper fouling.

I recommend the following guidelines for barrel care.

General Cleaning
Unless the gun is brand new I use the following procedure to remove powder or moly residue. (Note: If you are using a jag rather than a slotted patch tip you won’t be able to pull the patches back through the barrel. Just take it off the jag, pull out the rod, and reinsert it.)

  1. Run a thoroughly solvent wetted (but not drippy) patch through the bore once. (Push it through the bore and out - do not pull it back through - to prevent any loose “gunk” from getting in the breech.)
  2. Wet a bore brush and push it completely through the bore and then pull it fully back. (Don’t reverse while the brush is in the bore.) Repeat about 5 times. Let it sit for about a minute.
  3. Run a dry patch through the bore once. (Push it through the bore and out and do not pull it back through.)
  4. Run a thoroughly solvent wetted (but not drippy) patch completely through the bore and then pull it fully back, 5 - 10 times.
  5. Repeat step 4, until patch comes out clean and then push a dry patch through the bore and dry the chamber area.

There is no need to oil the bore for storage unless it is undergoing long term storage or conditions are severe.

For a brand new gun, before I fire it I run a very lightly dampened patch through the bore and chamber, followed by several dry patches to remove any residual oils.

Copper Removal
The procedure for removing cooper fouling is similar. After removing powder fouling, etc. as described above, proceed as follows. Warning! Use a nylon brush with copper solvents. Do not use a bronze bore brush!

  1. Run a patch thoroughly wetted (but not sloppy drippy) with copper removal solvent through the bore once. (Push it through the bore and out - do not pull it back through to keep copper solvent out of the action.) For gas operated semi autos keep the gas port on top to prevent copper solvent from getting into the system. Repeat with a second wet patch and then let it sit for 5 - 10 minutes.
  2. Run a nylon brush wetted with copper solvent through the bore several times taking care not to get the solvent in the action or gas system.
  3. Run a dry patch through the bore once. (Push it through the bore and out and do not pull it back through.)
  4. Repeat steps 1, 2, & 3 until the patch comes out clean and free from green copper fouling. Remember - with ammonia solvents, if the patch is green, it ain’t clean.
  5. Run a a couple of regular bore cleaning solvent wetted (but not drippy) patches completely through the bore several times to remove any copper solvent.
  6. Run a dry patch through the bore once or twice.

There is no need to oil the bore for storage unless it is undergoing long term storage or conditions are severe.

For really badly copper fouled barrels you might want to try Outers “Foul Out” electrical system or the homemade equivalent which removes copper and moly fouling by a reverse plating process. This little device is fantastic. You won’t believe the crud that will come out.

As long as you don’t do a “Rambo rattle battle” while shooting, normal cleaning at the end of each shooting session should do just fine and there is no reason to have to clean the bore after “×” number of rounds unless accuracy is suffering.

from Fr. Frog’s Pad