Seasoning Barrel and Cleaning Rifle

JR924

Senior Member
I clean my gun every time I shoot. I use Hoppes solvent down the barrel, dry patch and then Breakfree CLP on patch. I then saturate and wipe the trigger, bolt, stock and everything except the scope with Breakfree CLP. A guy at the range says he uses a boresnake with Remington gun oil saturated on a bore snake on a new barrel every few shots till maybe 20 shots to season it and then does not clean it further unless a lot of shooting. During hunting season he does not clean the gun till after the season (says he only shoots about 5 shots during hunting season). At the end of hunting season, he uses a solvent and then the remington oil. He says Remington oil dries and still lubricates while Breakfree CLP dries but does not lubricate. Says if you clean the gun with Remington oil soon after you shoot, the carbon does not set up in the barrel and is easy to clean out. Don't need a solvent except maybe once a year after all the shooting is done. He uses Remington gun oil all over the gun including stock, trigger and bolt. I started doing the same thing but using M-Pro 7 gun oil LPX in the barrel with a bore snake and oil all over the gun. Is the M-Pro good stuff???? Not going to use solvent only once a year. I think I will be shooting no more than 200 rounds a year. What do you guys do to season the bore and clean your guns??? Seems everybody now makes a gun oil.
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
In my experience Rem Oil leaves behind a gummy brown gunk a few months after the carrier evaporates. I wouldn't use it anywhere near triggers and I've stopped using it altogether myself. It nearly locked up the internals on 2 S&W stainless 629s.
I use a lot of Weapon Shield myself
 

JR924

Senior Member
Bullethead, do you spray Weapon Shield into the trigger assembly. Do not want to take trigger apart. I sprayed Breakfree CLP into the triggers of my other guns and did not have a problem.
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
Bullethead, do you spray Weapon Shield into the trigger assembly. Do not want to take trigger apart. I sprayed Breakfree CLP into the triggers of my other guns and did not have a problem.
I clean and lubricate trigger assemblies with lighter fluid. It cleans all the stuff off them that should not be there and leaves an extremely small amount of lube behind.
 

earlthegoat2

Senior Member
You might want to take brake cleaner and some low pressure compressed air to that trigger group and lightly relube it.
 

F.A.R.R.

Senior Member
What caliber rifle ?

Most all center fires will leave behind a good bit of copper fouling in the bore. My experience has been the higher the velocity of the bullet the more copper fouling you’ll have. Some rifle barrels foul worse than others. If you shine a light into your bore it’s likely you’ll see streaks of copper in it now.

Over time if you don’t take steps to get it out it will effect accuracy. There are many good copper solvents on the market, but make sure you understand how long you can leave the one you select in the bore , as those with ammonia can’t be left for long - around 15 minutes.

Boretech eliminator does a good job on both carbon and copper fouling, it just takes time for it to work on the copper- have tryed a bunch of different solvents and usually this is what I use now. You’ll also need to use a brass brush some to deal with a stubborn carbon deposits
 

trial&error

Senior Member
So are you asking about breaking in a barrel or cleaning and lubrication opinions? Barrel break in will fine tune your barrel, but even if you don't do it you should still be able to get below moa with ammo adjustments. Cleaning and Lubrication everyone has an opinion and preference about that. If it gets wet or dirty I clean it, while hunting it gets wiped down every time i go home. I shoot so little now days i go ahead and clean after each session of range time.
 

The Rodney

Senior Member
Your stock, wood I suspect, does not need oiled IMO. Trigger, don't drop oil in it nor, if a bolt gun, put oil down the firing pin hole. Eventually you will foul the mechanism. Rem Oil is my least favorite I've used cheap Hoppes all my life. Bore, after zero confirmation no cleaning during hunting unless able to confirm again before the hunt. Every hundred rounds or so copper solvent then bore solvent then oil patch. Shoot two fouling rounds and confirm zero with a five shot string shooting one round every two minutes. Barrel break in..... loads of opinions. Just use copper solvent for sure.
 

Dub

Senior Member
I’ve used Sweets before and the blue never stopped….or at least not before I called it quits and tried to “neutralize” it with a patch of Kroil.


Was wondering if my dang bore was that contaminated or was i getting more than I bargained for.

I sorta stuck with Butch’s after that. Granted, I should look around at some of the other offerings and see…..
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
I've experienced the cleaning brush being responsible for blue on the patches.
I use nylon brushes when on a serious copper removal mission the last few years now.
 

Jester896

Senior Clown
I've experienced the cleaning brush being responsible for blue on the patches.
I use nylon brushes when on a serious copper removal mission the last few years now.

they will most definitely cause a false positive..sometimes a brass jag will too. I use Bore-Tech Proof Positive jags for that reason and nylon brushes.

someone once told me 1 stroke up and back for every round shot with a nylon brush.

I use 91% or better alcohol to stop Sweets
 

Dub

Senior Member
Great tips, gentlemen.


Thank you.



I've experienced the cleaning brush being responsible for blue on the patches.
I use nylon brushes when on a serious copper removal mission the last few years now.

??????


they will most definitely cause a false positive..sometimes a brass jag will too. I use Bore-Tech Proof Positive jags for that reason and nylon brushes.

someone once told me 1 stroke up and back for every round shot with a nylon brush.

I use 91% or better alcohol to stop Sweets
??????
 
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