N/A How much to clean barrel?

CanMike

Member
Aug 7, 2024
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So this is 4 patches and 10 passes. Accuracy was fine but it’s so dirty. Do I go until completely clean?

Mike

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When and if I get around to cleaning a barrel I go until the patches are a light gray color. I don‘t want all the fouling out of the barrel. You can scrub until you get the white patch and it wont shoot a dang bit better than it did with the gray patch. Otherwise the OCD among us would be cleaning every 50 shots.

Maybe some do 😳
 
Yeah, just keep going until the patches come out...clean ! Then...run another patch... one more time.

Reminds me of a Smith and Wesson Mod 59 (9mm), that I bought, MANY years ago. I bought it from a city cop.
I took it apart to give it a good cleaning. The barrel was SO...full of lead, that you could NOT see see the rifling in the barrel. None of it. It took a LOT of scrubbing to get that thing clean, and I never was SURE...that I got ALL of the lead out of there.

Mike
 
If "accuracy was fine", you shouldn't know that you have a dirty barrel! But, if your goal is a clean barrel and you continuously get dirty patches, remove the barrel and clean with a rod and brush with solvent. That doesn't look like leading on the patches, so my guess, either the patches aren't sufficiently snug, or your cleaning agent isn't adequate.
 
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Experience will tell. Some guns like clean or fairly clean, others, maybe yours, likes dirty. It's not a problem, just have to find out which your gun likes.
My Impact shoots pretty darn good no matter what, but I cleaned the barrel the other day and it shot stellar, so there you go, it must like clean just a tad better. On my other guns, for instance, my Katran, I don't clean it til it stops shooting good, which hasn't happened yet, but every once in a while, I clean it for storage to fight rust, so who knows.
You'll find a "procedure" that works for your guns and you.
 
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If "accuracy was fine", you shouldn't know that you have a dirty barrel! But, if your goal is a clean barrel and you continuously get dirty patches, remove the barrel and clean with a rod and brush with solvent. That doesn't look like leading on the patches, so my guess, either the patches aren't sufficiently snug, or your cleaning agent isn't adequate.

No Brushes!
 
Brushes are fine as long as the barrel is off and any O ring removed. Neither a bronze nor nylon brush will damage a barrel.

Not so.

The worry is not about causing gouges or groves, its the fine abrasion that brushes leave on soft metals. Rods are also notorious for contacting the bore and damaging the lands.

Patches alone are sufficient to clean barrels.

Abrasions = accelerated leading build up.
 
I had a stainless steel powder burner,it was the gun powder that got the gun dirty,I did not clean the barrel in my R-7 for twenty years,cleaning it did not make it better.My take is to clean a new gun barrel to get all the gunk out,then leave it alone .Another lazy thought ; lead helps protect the barrel:unsure::ROFLMAO:
 
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