Proper Barrel Cleaning

M

Mirage416

New member
I have a new Shilen 6-groove 6.5-284 barrel I have been cleaning, and this thing has me stumped as to why it takes so many patches to clean. I'm wondering if my technique is possibly wrong.

(I know 6 grooves could be part of it, but a smith provided the gun at a very good price with brand new barrel so I grabbed it.)

Since it isn't cleaning up easy yet, I am treating it with a break-in procedure, 5 shots then clean.

I start by pushing maybe 4-5 soaked patches of Butch's bore shine through. Just enough until carbon is gone and blue copper residue lessens quite a bit. I do not run the jag back and forward, only foward once, then dispose the patch.

Next I use a clean Bore-Tech 6.5mm brush pushed through once, removed at the end of barrel.

Now the next patch is like starting over again. I get some carbon and a lot more copper fouling. So I repeat the 3-5 wet patches. Then I push the brush through again and cycle repeats. I find that I can probably repeat the cycle until maybe 20 wet patches have gone through, and I am still getting mild blue coloring on the patches.

I finally give in when the blue is minimal but still there, running 2 dry patches, then a wet patch of Kroil.

Any suggestions on how to improve upon what is going on here?
 
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3-4 Wet patches....let soak a couple of minutes. One more wet patch and then ten strokes with the bore brush back and forth. If your worried about pulling a dirty brushed back down the barrel...then using butches in a dropper bottle, rinse the brush when it passes the crown. Push 3-4 wet patches through and repeat brushing. Then wet patch until the patch looks clean....wait a few minutes and run a wet patch through. If this patch comes out blue...then copper is still present. If it comes out with some black on it, then carbon is present. Remember one thing, a brass brush or jag can give false copper signs. I always wipe my jag down well before checking for copper.

The single brush stroke thing is going to take forever to get the barrel clean. Especially with the amount of powder your cartriage burns.

Hovis
 
What Kevin Said

Anytime you use a bronze brush, it will leave a LOT of blue in the bore. That is the result of the Butches disolving a minute portion of the brush.

This is of no consequence. When I clean my Competition Barrels, I simply run about 3-4 wet patches with Butches, this will get most of the "black" out, then I brush at least 10 strokes with Butches. The first two wet patches after this will be all blue, but after about three more, they are darned near white.

I then let it soak while I am re-loading for the next relay, and patch it out with another wet patch, and how ever many dry patches it takes to get it resonably dry.

I doubt there is much wrong with what you have,you are simply confusing "brush blue" with copper that is left after shooting.

Also, as Kevin said, you probably need to brush quite a bit more to break loose that residue.

Remember when cleaning, use a good bore guide, and stop that jag and brush the instant it clears the muzzle so that rod does not lay on your crown while in motion. Too much cleaning will not hurt a barrel. IMPROPER CLEANING, mainly not using a good bore guide and letting that rod lay on that bore as you make those long swinging strokes, can ruin a barrel.........jackie
 
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Thanks for the responses.

So my problem is not enough brushing. I wasn't sure about coming back in the crown end with the brush. I have heard some say that they only will go from breech to muzzle and not back in, so I wasn't sure if I should do it or not.

I have been using a cheap bore guide, just one of the plastic MTM guides which stop at the beginning of the chamber. I will gladly buy a better bore guide if you think I could harm my barrel with this one. Any recommendations which guide to use?

And now if I get a bore guide that goes all the way into the chamber, is there a method I should be using to clean the chamber itself every so often?
 
I have to admit, I am not highly knowledgeable about the barrel cleaning thing.

I don't have a Shilen either, just a Savage off-the-shelf.

However, I got so bent out of shape by advice requiring extreme cleaning, it was getting almost so I was spending more time cleaning than shooting.

I finally reached a point where I just won't do it any more.

I swab my rifle with copper solvent, let it sit about two hours. Then I take out the solvent with patches and go through it good with a brand named nitro solvent.

Every couple of times at the range, I will do the brass brush thing for four or five strokes before the final cleaning with nitro solvent.

I suspect there are more people out there like me. I believe in cleaning my rifle, as my dad taught me. But this extreme cleaning, going through a pile of patches and about 100 strokes with the cleaning rod, and maybe 45 minutes of pumping that cleaning rod -- sorry, life is too short. I just won't do it.

Just my opinion. Maybe if I had a Shilen barrel I would worry about it more.

Best to all --
 
Time consuming? Takes me about 10min to do the procedure I mentioned. Now, of course, a factory barrel is going to normally take a lot more and I would be looking into one of the bore foams. I've tried a couple and they didn't work for me but I'm sure not all those who love it is wrong.

As far as a bore guide. I recommend a lucas or TK Nolan. The lucas is about 35.00 with two sleeves and the TK is around 120.00

Hovis
 
you need a bore guide first thing. that MTM rig will ruin a barrel real quick. and like kevin said 10 minutes max- and that's with soak time. using an actual benchrest technique will work well and fast and any of the other 2 day methods are just a waste of time. it pays to have the right stuff to properly clean your barrel- remember only cry once- and it'll actually pay for itself in barrels that dont get ruined.
 
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