22lr cleaning question

[sixpack340]

got a little bet going with my old man. we were out shooting our 10/22's last night and when we were done we went up to his house to clean our guns and bench talk. well i ran a cleaning rod down my bore with a bore brush on the end of it. he said that you shouldnt use a bore brush on a 22. he said only use the swabs. i've never heard of this so i figured i'd ask on here to see what you guys have to say. i think its ok to use a bore brush on a 22...so which is it? yay or nay?

 

[NY700]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

I cant see it being anymore potentially damaging then cleaning any-other rifle with a brush. as long as it is a proper fit. i would imagine in most cases depending on the level of build up in the bore it is probably not necessary, there for not worth the "risk" of damaging the bore. but of an in itself not destructive

 

[Kaisersose]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

I have done both.

You have to worry about damaging the crown with cleaning rods.

However a lot of people do not clean 22 barrels at all

 

[targetterror]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

22lrs generally don't need any cleaning at all. To the extent that they do, a swab should be more than sufficient. An old saying is that people do more damage to their rifles cleaning them than by shooting them (or any other type of abuse for that matter). Where the 22lr doesn't need a heavy denastification, I wouldn't risk using a brush.

 

[DustyJacket]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

Except for certain ammo.

I think one of the Remington bulk pack ammo leads a barrel a lot. Can't remember if it is Yellow Jackets or what. I pretty much avoid Remington these days.

 

[donws2]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

Cheap ammo will lead foul a barrel quickly and should be cleaned as you would a center fire weapon. Reason is in the difference in cheap 22 ammo and target type ammo and how they lubricated. Target ammo's have quality lubricants that protect the bore from leading by keeping a layer grease between the bore and bullet. Cheaper 22 ammo does not have the same level of protection and leaves the raw lead in contact with the steal bore. Any roughness in the bore like machine marks, pitting or even unevenness only adds to the problem.

Now the ammo manufactures I don't think care if your barrel fouls out with lead. They do care if target ammo is accurate or not as it affect sales. The bore protection is more a function of accident then design as a leaded bore is going to be less accurate. If the ammo manufactures were worried about clean bores they surely could have found a better burning powder after 160 years of Rimfire history.


Off my soap box now, hope everyone had a great 4th.

Donald

 

[Rhys]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

One that I just sold had in the vicinity of 500K rounds down it, and only needed cleaning due to leading twice in that time. With good quality ammo it just doesn't seem to make that much difference. Both of those times were after shooting several hundered rounds of some cheaper lead stuff just to see what it was going to do.

 

[frog5215]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

Bore snake or drill the receiver for a rod.
Generally, I don't clean .22s often, only if accuracy drops off.
I REALLY don't like rods through the muzzle.

 

[sixpack340]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

damn...sounds like general concensus says i lost my bet with dad. haha. i'll be sure to pass this on to him and i'll also stop running a brush through the barrel. the usmc has made me such a nut about rifle cleaning that i go nuts on all my rifles after shooting them. i'll try to resist the urge from here on out, at least with my .22's. thanks fellas!

 

[clmayfield]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

I try to run a dry patch down the bore after every range session, but I forget from time to time. Every half a case or so (2,500 rounds), I will hit it with a bore brush only pushing the brush in one direction... this is mainly to spread solvent.

Once you clean with solvent, you delubricate the bore, which means you have to "season" the barrel to get it back... which is usually about 25 - 35 rounds in my rifle. So every time you clean with solvent, you are burning half a box of ammo. You want to do that as rarely as possible.

If I see accuracy degrading, though, I might try cleaning as a last resort.

 

[Tuna921]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

I clean with two wet patches after every 100 rounds or so and I brush every few hundred,you get lead build up and if your using Eley your will get a carbon ring at the chamber. Eley uses ground glass in thier primers. It also depends on the accuracy you want,It might take a half a box to lube the barrel up but I think it's worth it

 

[Buzzsaw]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

I think Boretech makes a rimfire blend for cleaning .22s. I will use a pull through type, like a boresnake but with no brush on my new Kidd auto. I got it at Champions choice. It's like the Otis but with weedeater string. Most of the bench shooters use these. When I had my Cooper .22lr, I had Mike Lucas build a bore guide for it, .17 cal. Tipton rod and jag. Patches and nylon brushes only to clean the bullet tallow and carbon ring out of the barrel. It takes 5-10 shots to bring it back in.

 

[dbush]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

Who ever cleans the boar in a .22?

 

[Buzzsaw]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

accuacy NUTS

 

[Tuna921]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dbush</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Who ever cleans the boar in a .22? </div></div>

I clean the bore as you can get a carbon ring in it .Depend on how well you want to shoot.If you slug your barrel you can feel it. Where do you think the primer and powder wind up ?

 

[cmh2007]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

just drill the back of the receiver with a .25" bit and be done with it. makes cleaning a dream.

 

[HotIce]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

I use nylon brushes when I have to clean the bore, but I believe that a bronze one, if properly used, won't create any damage to the rifling.
The rod is more critical, and especially its interaction with the muzzle.

 

[dbush]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

Most small bore shooters never clean there boars so that kills the accuracy nut thery.

 

[clmayfield]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: dbush</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Most small bore shooters never clean there boars so that kills the accuracy nut thery.</div></div>

I don't know how right that is. For the rimfire benchresters, many of them go crazy cleaning their barrels. A dry patch every session is on the low end of the what the benchresters do.

What happens is that with a clean bore, after a few foulers, you get consistent groups, then after 25 shots or so, you start walking. After you get the barrel good and seasoned again, the groups start tightening back up.

For me, I would rather be on the other side of dirty, but for some benchrest folks, they prefer clean because it is predictable. With a dirty bore, you don't know when accuracy will start to degrade again. With a clean bore, you pretty much know how many shots you have until accuracy degrades.

I prefer undercleaning because it is just a fact that in a rimfire, you are more likely to "clean" your barrel out than "shoot" your barrel out.

 

[donws2]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

Not meant as an attack but most small bore shooters are plinkers and not competitive shooters. Most 22 shooters have no idea how accurate a 22 can be. For that matter most shooters of any kind don’t believe that the level of accuracy that the members of this forum expect is even possible. God love them all for exercising their 2nd Amendment rights but most shooter in the US don't even care about the level of accuracy that the members here expect. Minute of Deer is good enough for most shooters and their probably a much happier group than the likes of us as their goals are easier to reach than mine or most of the shooters here.

But, to get more or less back on subject. I shoot 22's competitively and have for over twenty years. I've got to know many excellent 22 BR and 3P guys and they all clean their rifles. Some do it after each match. Some do it if they switch ammo types. Some do it only once a year or if accuracy falls off. Most do it somewhere in between.

I only clean at the end of the year now as I do not shoot as much 22 as I use to. Well less than a case of ammo per rifle.
Back when I was shooting as much as two cases of ammo per gun I cleaned more often as there is a area just forward of the chamber that forms a hard layer of lead and carbon. The "Carbon Ring" that so many speak about. The quality of the barrel has allot to do with how fast the ring forms but from my experience all rifles will form one after it's been shot allot. A good barrel will release the ring with little effort. I prefer to soak the bore over night with Kroil and then just wrap a tight patch around a 17 cal brush. The ring will push out the other end as a little grey doughnut. The ring forms a choke about 1/2 to 1 inch into the rifling and will cause accuracy to fall off well before you can detect it with your eyes. I have seen rifles with carbon rings so pronounced that the rifling was obscured. Many of the CMP rifles were completely packed with carbon and lead. I've turned allot of these old 22's around by just taking a day or two to clean and soak and clean again. You can often take a 1 inch 50 yard rifle and make a 1/4 to 1/2 inch rifle out of it just by a good cleaning.

If nothing else a good cleaning is a quick, cheap and easy way to try and improve accuracy. It won't fix a bad rifle. But it won't hurt one either.

Donald

 

[cmh2007]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

My 10/22 that i used to use for rimfire silhouette loves to be shot fairly clean, but i also use all eley ammo, which shoots clean anyway.

 

[mouse07410]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

Why would you be concerned about <span style="text-decoration: underline">carefully</span> pushing a bronze or copper cleaning rod down from the muzzle end? The crown is sensitive - but it's not china, is it?

 

[frog5215]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

China's harder than barrel steel.

 

[frog5215]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

China's harder than barrel steel. The core of most brushes is pretty hard steel, too, much harder than a barrel.

 

[Roasted Turkey]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

i use both and have never heard not to use a brush on a 22 which if u cant use it on a 22 why are other barrels of different calibers ok because a 22 is only .003 of a an inch different than your 223 or 5.56 and as far as i know the barrels and grooves should be made mostly the same material wise

 

[shooter65]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

Not many on this site know more about rimfires and their maint. than I. If you want to shoot tiny groups than the barrel needs to be cleaned. I have shot with some of the BEST rimfire shooters in the country. NEVER put the cleaning rod down the muzzle end. Drill a hole in the receiver and clean from the chamber end. Protect your crown. Or completely disassemble your 10/22 for cleaning.

 

[mouse07410]

Re: 22lr cleaning question

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The core of most brushes is pretty hard steel, too, much harder than a barrel.</div></div>
Sure - but unless one gets very careless or his brushes are worn to the point of exposing the core - it seems next to impossible to <span style="text-decoration: underline">deliberately</span> make the brush core touch the crown (let alone have it happen by accident).

???