i am too scared to

[bruce moulds]

not clean my barrels often.
u.s. shooters of note like jerry tierney report better accuracy when not cleaning for up to 200 shots. i cannot bring myself to try this.
what do you guys feel about this?
another thing i am too scared to do is go shoot a new barrel without running it in. wouldn't life be better if running in was unnecessary?
bruce.

[BATattack]

keep it clean bruce! i let one of mine go to about 95 rounds and i dont think it has been the same since. still shoots well but it just takes longer to clean.

the other barrels that have been run in and cleaned regulary take 1/4 of the time to clean.

[RDavies]

My 7mm gets cleaned before going to a Queens, a few foulers fired, then cleaned at the end of a 5 day Queens shoot. It just starts grouping tighter and tighter the longer I leave it. It wont shoot until it has 10 shots through it. By 200 shots, its starting to go well.
My previous 7mm was exactly like my current 6 Dasher. It shoots well straight from the 1st fouler, but only for 23 shots, no more.

First thing I do before I do much load tuning is learn the barrels personality.

[bobped]

Bruce,
Rod is right. You need to find out about each barrel.

The only way to do this is actually keep shooting without cleaning until you are certain it is beginning to spray shots. That actually takes a certain amount of gritting your teeth if you haven't done it before. You almost have to MAKE yourself do it, but its well worth while knowing. You might be surprised at how long it takes to lose accuracy.

Like Rod, I have barrels that will shoot for ages. I won't clean them through a whole Queens and more than once the barrels have shot 60 at 900yds and 60 at 1000yds to finish a Queens. Treat those barrels like gold, because you don't have to worry about any "settling in" period after cleaning.

I've also had barrels that will only go 36 rounds. You then need to learn their peculiarities when they are starting up again.

Bob

[RAVEN]

Bruce
I nearly won a queens because I dint clean but at the last range I lost because the barrel grouping went AWOL you need to test how long it will go with out cleaning may I suggest 2011 SARA queen would be a good test.

[Paul Janzso]

Bruce, I tried that experiment one weekend.

I shot 4 ranges and then I had a go at the 2009 S.A. Fly Champs.
My sighting in target was great, so was my first score / group target, then it all went belly up and I forgot to bring any cleaning gear. But Stuie helped me out with some salty water, fencing wire and used toilet paper.

In other words my barrel sprayed bullets after 70-75 rounds, not worth me letting the barrel go longer than a day.

Rod are u using a laughton 7mm barrel ?

Cheers
Paul

[williada]

My take on barrel cleanliness, is that barrels are suspect if they take a lot of foulers. They are costly, time consuming, variable s..ts of things. If the barrel is not clean, the residue is hydroscopic and may take on new dimensions due to humidity changes in storage which in itself creates more pressure variables particularly if the firearm is transported by air. You might be lucky in a competition over a couple of days if the atmosphere doesn’t change or if you live in a dry climate. If your cleaning is spasmodic then so is the wear pattern in your barrel over its life and its precision grouping ability. Layers of metal fouling induce electrolysis and barrel pitting over time and are separate from the gas erosion of the throat or a bad throat which a dirty barrel seems to fix for a short period.

I also believe that regular cleaning with a bronze brush makes for a consistent performance for several thousand rounds if the barrel is kept clean from the beginning. With stainless barrels, it takes more than the run in procedure to establish the internal profile of the barrel because the barrel work hardens. Initially, the copper fouling (blue on patch) is evident because the chamber reamer roughens the throat area on a new barrel which has otherwise been lapped prior to chambering, in quality barrels. By keeping the barrel clean for another 300 rounds i.e. free of carbon/ copper buildup allows the barrel to reach its potential as the projectiles themselves do the lapping as the barrel work hardens. Tight spots tend to be lapped out which reduces pressure and vibration variables.

You also don’t want to induce an inconsistent wear pattern by improper cleaning. For the beginners, mop out the bore with a wet patch without dragging it back, until most of the dark powder fouling disappears. Between strokes wipe the residue off the cleaning rod to prevent wearing the bore. Next with a clean bronze brush, (rinsed in kerosene) give one stroke per round fired and keep wiping the residue off the rod on each stroke. This may be between 12 and 24 strokes and then patch out until clean with a wet patch containing solvent. If you want to take this to extremes, clean out the solvent in the bore with metholated spirits on a patch until it is squeaky clean. By slowly drawing back the cleaning rod with a metho patch when you think it is squeaky clean, any resistance felt is a fouled or pitted area which requires more work. Probably with JB Paste. Make sure you wipe out any metho or paste and anoint the bore with your regular oil based solvent to fill the barrel pores. Wipe out before you shoot. Most barrels take 1 to 3 shots to settle the barrel as it warms up after an extreme clean, but in a good barrel these shots are predictable from past plots.
David

[bruce moulds]

a most interesting series of posts.
it seems there are two basic schools of thought.
the christian one is that cleanliness is next to godliness.
the other way is the way of a gentleman with a good woman. always ask the barrel what it likes.
on a more serious note, is there anyone who gets results without running in barrels?
bruce.

[johnk]

Buggered if I know why I bother. Last 2 barrels took 3 & 2 rounds respectively. It would be pure speculation to aver that it was because the projectiles were boron nitrite coated.

Incidently, I didn't answer your first question, but these days I clean both my FS & MR guns after each day's shoot as follows:

Patch out with Subaru upper engine cleaner or injector additive (they reckon it's the same stuff).

Bristle brush five strokes each way loaded with the above repeated twice.

Patch out until dry & clean with precuts on a stab jag ejected at the muzzle, then dry chamber.

Both rifles put the first sighter in the group.

Under peer pressure, to aid cooling as I shoot light & heavy with the same gun & because I have unlimited sighters, I clean after each target for 1000 yard BR. I use my F class gun for this.

Mention AC/DC at your peril!

John