Thread: Barrel cleaning

A quick question.... I recently bought a 303 rifle. The barrel is super clean; cleaner than I've ever been able to get any barrel ever! I asked the previous owner how he cleaned it and he said he used a pull through with a wire brush and sprayed a heap of CRC 556 into it. Then use a cloth swab soaked with 3 in 1 oil through it. Will the CRC have any detrimental effect? It's sure done a helluva job at keeping it clean. I do use the CRC Long Life on the outside of the steelwork on all my rifles. Thanks!

its all good,just keep it well away from the scope,it will eat into seals and scope will fog... been there n done that..... his cleaning system has a lot of merit.

Bumblefoot-

when you say it's "super clean", have you actually looked with a borescope?

The barrel was absolutely spotless!

Originally Posted by 6x47

Bumblefoot- when you say it's "super clean", have you actually looked with a borescope?

No; it just looked nice and shiny and there was absolutely no residue on the cleaning cloth I put through it. Cheers

Makes you feel good but believe me, it could still have significant fouling. Glazed carbon rings in the throat can look shiny and clean just peering down the bore. Patches will show no evidence.

Originally Posted by 6x47

Makes you feel good but believe me, it could still have significant fouling. Glazed carbon rings in the throat can look shiny and clean just peering down the bore. Patches will show no evidence.

Ok; good to know

FFS...JUST LIKE CHRONICGRAPHS have ruined many a great load...borescopes have made many folks paranoid about how well they clean a rifle.... I run three or four patches with breakfree clp on it...then a couple of dry patches then another clp and call it done...once every 100 or so shots ,the barrel gets copper brush treatment and then same as before.....seems to work,my .270w and my .223 have only ever had this treatment and neither dropped the accuracy in the slightest with 25 plus years of the same treatment.

I think part of the reason why the barrel and rifle is so good is that it hasn't been used much since it got the FTR treatment. It's super tidy, no slop in the action etc.

Clearly there are two grades of barrel cleaning- the "feel good" grade and "real coz I need serious accuracy" grade. There's a reason target shooters pay close attention to this and it's not because they've got nothing better to do.

I use carb cleaner haha great for any carbon and any powder residue. I once thought I'd do a good thing for a new tikka win mag I had and gave it a scrub with the bore brush and hoppes bore cleaner after 20 rounds or so. Worse idea ever took another 20 rounds down the tube to get it back in line. So now just clean for carbon and powder residue with patches an that's it.

If you are shooting old surplus ammo, boil out the barrel first (i do that to all my 303's), if you are using modern hunting ammo clean it as you normally would. I'd steer clear of oils not made for firearms.

I usually use ballistol as the final wipe through. And only modern ammo. I was just unsure of the CRC and 3 in 1

Originally Posted by Kimber 7mm-08

If you are shooting old surplus ammo, boil out the barrel first (i do that to all my 303's), if you are using modern hunting ammo clean it as you normally would. I'd steer clear of oils not made for firearms.

I remember reading in question n answer section about 35-40 years ago..... young fella asked about using engine oil...it says on bottle,cleans and protects metal...answer was,it will do no harm and will work.
for years I used Dads 2 stroke oil to clean the .410 shotgun we had at family farm in holiday batch...cause it was all I had on hand,Ive used oil off dipstick of landcruiser on my hanky when caught out with nothing else available and a wet rifle.
bottom line is this....anything oil is better than nothing.

not sure if cod liver oil smelling rifle would be best idea however.....it would stop rust .

wd40 is basically kero/terps crc type stuff is slightly better than petrol if its for metal...well a rifle is metal...3n1 oil is made for fine machinery like sewing machines so is perfectly suited to rifles n shotguns.... breakfree is better once things get wet....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

FFS...JUST LIKE CHRONICGRAPHS have ruined many a great load...borescopes have made many folks paranoid about how well they clean a rifle.... I run three or four patches with breakfree clp on it...then a couple of dry patches then another clp and call it done...once every 100 or so shots ,the barrel gets copper brush treatment and then same as before.....seems to work,my .270w and my .223 have only ever had this treatment and neither dropped the accuracy in the slightest with 25 plus years of the same treatment.

You’re not wrong about the bore scope, mates .264 Winchester has fire cracking pretty much the entire length of the barrel and some of the rifling nearly gone in places, still shoots these groups.