Cleaning Day

[Wildwillalaska]

Waiting patiently...there are an even dozen to try and get thru this weekend.

Not sure I’ve seen the Circle PWF marking before. Do you know what it denotes or pertains to?

 

[Wildwillalaska]

I definitely don’t clean every gun every year. I know I have probably 35-50 handguns I haven’t held in two years, and many of those I moved from vault drawers when I moved and into safes at the new home. Most rifles that aren’t used regularly, I put up properly into vault or now safes, which is climate controlled controlled, but I know there are a few dozen that haven’t been shot nor cleaned in 5-10+ plus years.

For guns I shoot for fun or hunting regularly, I clean when accuracy falls. I do shoot enough where I’ll clean them before a hunt, usually with 1-2 range trips for practice and fully foul barrels before departing. If hunting in Alaska, I tape muzzle and put extra electrical tape on my scope and left trekking pole. Dry off any excess oil that would attract fine dust/sand from glacial areas. All my Alaskan hunting rifles are coated stainless synthetic rifles.

For African rifles, same clean before I depart, 1-2 shooting/practice sessions to properly foul, then I disassemble, do a good coat of renaissance wax, buff and repeat, buff pack. When I return from hunt I’ll clean them of any dirt, dust, debris, clp patch the bores, give any hot weather hut weapon a solid CLP wipedown to remove/neutralize salts, ensure not blood specks, etc.

For solid bore cleaning session, knock carbon down first with shooters choice, brush, wet patch again, and then dry patch a few times. Then use bore tech eliminator till most blue is gone…if real persistent, will dry patch clean, then turn to Barnes CR10 or Sweets to really get at the copper. Most my custom rifles don’t copper foul much unless shooting TSX, my Heym’s certainly pick up more copper, but clean up quickly. For most my doubles, which I shoot regularly, I think I likely clean the barrels every 100-150 rounds. Cleaned my new 500 today for the 3rd time.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

I definitely don’t clean every gun every year. I know I have probably 35-50 handguns I haven’t held in two years, and many of those I moved from vault drawers when I moved and into safes at the new home. Most rifles that aren’t used regularly, I put up properly into vault or now safes, which is climate controlled controlled, but I know there are a few dozen that haven’t been shot nor cleaned in 5-10+ plus years.

For guns I shoot for fun or hunting regularly, I clean when accuracy falls. I do shoot enough where I’ll clean them before a hunt, usually with 1-2 range trips for practice and fully foul barrels before departing. If hunting in Alaska, I tape muzzle and put extra electrical tape on my scope and left trekking pole. Dry off any excess oil that would attract fine dust/sand from glacial areas. All my Alaskan hunting rifles are coated stainless synthetic rifles.

For African rifles, same clean before I depart, 1-2 shooting/practice sessions to properly foul, then I disassemble, do a good coat of renaissance wax, buff and repeat, buff pack. When I return from hunt I’ll clean them of any dirt, dust, debris, clp patch the bores, give any hot weather hut weapon a solid CLP wipedown to remove/neutralize salts, ensure not blood specks, etc.

For solid bore cleaning session, knock carbon down first with shooters choice, brush, wet patch again, and then dry patch a few times. Then use bore tech eliminator till most blue is gone…if real persistent, will dry patch clean, then turn to Barnes CR10 or Sweets to really get at the copper. Most my custom rifles don’t copper foul much unless shooting TSX, my Heym’s certainly pick up more copper, but clean up quickly. For most my doubles, which I shoot regularly, I think I likely clean the barrels every 100-150 rounds. Cleaned my new 500 today for the 3rd time.

The amount of copper fouling i got out of the .416 rigby was shocking. The doubles cleaned up quickly. I couldn't get eliminator to get a non-blue patch out of her. I eventually went to Wipeout and let sit for 2 hours and then started again. Never got totally clean patches but damn near. My every day carey on the ranches is the Steyr Scout in a 7mm-08 and she needed a good swabbing for sure. My old BAR was pretty dirty.

For sure all these rifles will need multiple shots to re-foul them.

 

[Wildwillalaska]

The amount of copper fouling i got out of the .416 rigby was shocking. The doubles cleaned up quickly. I couldn't get eliminator to get a non-blue patch out of her. I eventually went to Wipeout and let sit for 2 hours and then started again. Never got totally clean patches but damn near. My every day carey on the ranches is the Steyr Scout in a 7mm-08 and she needed a good swabbing for sure. My old BAR was pretty dirty.

For sure all these rifles will need multiple shots to re-foul them.

I have no idea when that Rigby was last cleaned. Clayton is religious about cleaning his weapons, but had it such a short time I’m not even sure he ever shot it, if I had to bet, I’d say no.

The new generation of Rigbys with the barreled actions from Mauser, the throats and bores are amazing, like looking down a fresh custom Krieger barrel. Since I shoot TSX out of that rifle, I clean it more often, and get tons of copper out, but it cleans quickly.

The barrels on the Heym doubles are wonderful and shoot amazing, but they have more tooling/cutting marks than you’d ever see in a Krieger or Bartlein barrel. I think they grab a bit more copper, and also settle in a shoot better after several fouling shots per tune. Not 1 or 2, but like 5-7 at least. Thats what I’ve seen in prior guns, in my present 375, 450/400, and 450. For whatever reason, the 500 seems to shoot amazing from a cold, squeaky clean bore…

 

[Wildwillalaska]

I honestly do not know if Wipe Out or Boretech is stronger…but I think it’s Bore Tech just from my antidotal experience. I was using wipe out a lot, and only slowed as I’m almost out, and I cannot find it locally…plus places don’t want to ship it to me, so went back to starting after copper with the bore tech again.

Anyway, on barrels with more copper, once the blue lost intensity but was still blue, I’d dry patch out the wipe out, and then switch to Bore Tech eliminator. The couple times I did this, was shocked at how much more blue, and additional black/grey carbon I got out after lots of wet patches and soaking with wipe out.

Made me think the Eliminator was stronger than Wipe Out. You can absolutely let the Bore Tech Eliminator and Bore Tech Cu+2 soak for longer periods without harm. They have no ammonia and are not supposed to etch or harm your barrel steel even if you leave it in overnight or extended periods. Both are also supposed to have slight anti corrosion properties.

With Bore Tech, I always let it soak for a while between getting after it. So will do a couple or three at a time, or so loading or other things while letting it soak.

Once I’ve done quite a few longer soaks (hour-ish or two apiece) and still getting fair amount of blue…I go ahead and turn to at least a few passes with Barns CR10 or Sweets to get that truly stubborn copper out. Most custom rifles I don’t have to turn to those, at least after the first couple cleanings, but I have at times on others. Stuff works wonders, but sure stinks and I won’t leave it in the barrel, so it’s always the last step in cleaning if at all, dry patch and spray scrub out to ensure it’s all gone before CLP patches.

 

[Ray B]

The old saying is don't get into an argument with a newspaper that buys ink by the barrel-
To that I add, don't try to out-old-school someone who buys Hoppe's #9 by the gallon