Interesting rimfire cleaning theory and method

carbonbased

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I like the thinking behind this. Thoughts?
 
Changes my world... I used to clean the entire barrel to sparkly clean. I do the same thing in the article with C4, but I also scrub out all the seasoning in my barrel too. I guess I'll stop doing that and only do the chamber. I also had my rifle tested fully unseasoned at Lapua, I guess I should be testing/tuning when the rifle is seasoned now..
 
Interesting. I use this same method, realitivly speaking, with Boretech C4 in my centerfire hunt rifles as well. Seems to work good, but I also oil the bores after cleaning with Slip2000 EWL.
 
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what he describes sounds good and makes sense, but ...


 
what he describes sounds good and makes sense, but ...


Cleaning is such a personal topic. I certainly think whatever works for a shooter to maintain acceptable accuracy to them is most important.
 
what he describes sounds good and makes sense, but ...



There is definitely a consistency on clean vs dirty. Clean you can predict because you can control it. Dirty is pretty variable... as mentioned 500 rounds dirty, it sucks, and then 1000 rounds dirty it's great. So this seasoning thing is something that's really hard to possibly keep consistent. I run primarily 2 lots of center-x and behave pretty much identical when my rifle is clean. At 500 rounds, one of the ammo does a lot better than the other one. I'm going to season to 1000 and compare again.

For me when cleaning my rifle, groups are pretty solid after like 5 rounds, but under a chrono, I'll go from 1050fps to 1075fps over 50 rounds. Takes me 50 rounds off a clean barrel to get to the peak consistent velocity.
 
Interestingly, the author says that using his method of barrel care not only produces "great groups on paper at 50 and 100 yards. It also produces extremely low ES and SD numbers over the chronograph".

In other words, it's the bore conditioning that matters.

When experienced shooters are using a good barrel, what is the foundation for good accuracy and good chrony numbers? Is it the seasoning condition of the bore or the ammo itself?
 
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There is definitely a consistency on clean vs dirty. Clean you can predict because you can control it. Dirty is pretty variable... as mentioned 500 rounds dirty, it sucks, and then 1000 rounds dirty it's great. So this seasoning thing is something that's really hard to possibly keep consistent. I run primarily 2 lots of center-x and behave pretty much identical when my rifle is clean. At 500 rounds, one of the ammo does a lot better than the other one. I'm going to season to 1000 and compare again.

For me when cleaning my rifle, groups are pretty solid after like 5 rounds, but under a chrono, I'll go from 1050fps to 1075fps over 50 rounds. Takes me 50 rounds off a clean barrel to get to the peak consistent velocity.
Similar for me. I'll clean after a match then leave it be after a practice session before the next match.
Will be giving this method a try.
 

I like the thinking behind this. Thoughts?
Interesting article. I use Rimfire Blend for most cleaning, and then for a major clean, I'll use C4. Maybe I'll try the process and use C4 more frequently, and Rimfire Blend for the major cleaning.

RFS99
 
Very interesting. I use pretty much the same steps Greg outlines, except I (carefully) use CLR instead of C4 for about 5 minutes on the carbon ring followed by two dry patches down the bore followed by 2-3 patches wet with a mild solvent like Hoppes or CLP, then finish with two dry patches.

I'm going to more closely adhere to Greg's process by only using one solvent patch to insure "seasoning" is left intact. I'm confident one solvent patch doesn't touch the seasoning because, in my about-to-be-adjusted routine, the second patch comes out almost clean - but if I follow with a patch wet with a harsh cleaner like Remington 40X, that patch comes out black.

At least I had the carbon ring part correct.
 
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I recall reading many years ago, long before NRL22/rimfire PRS, that rimfire competitors started the season with a clean barrel and then did NOT clean again until the end of the season. This has stuck in my mind since. But because I'm a bit OCD, I like a clean barrel. But I'm also a bit of procrastinator and tend to put off cleaning. I'm going to adopt this method and see. What I'm fairly certain of is that not cleaning the barrel will NOT damage the barrel.

Question is; how does this apply to CF?
 
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That article is basically just repeating the info from this video by Vudoo .

Took 10,000 words to say:
-Clean/soak chamber regularly to stop/reduce carbon ring
-run a few patches through the barrel to remove loose crud

The bolt face and breech of my 22lr are the areas that most get cleaning on my rifles, those areas build up with crap remarkably quickly, that and suppressors.
 
That article is basically just repeating the info from this video by Vudoo .

Took 10,000 words to say:
-Clean/soak chamber regularly to stop/reduce carbon ring
-run a few patches through the barrel to remove loose crud

The bolt face and breech of my 22lr are the areas that most get cleaning on my rifles, those areas build up with crap remarkably quickly, that and suppressors.

I stopped shooting suppressed, at matches, exclusively for this reason. All the debris would fall into the breach/chamber/bolt face when racking the rifle between stages. Which is unfortunate as I really enjoy shooting subsonic ammo suppressed.
 


2 years ago.… and I’d been advocating to not clean 22lr for at least 7 years prior to that. Hopefully more people will continue to understand the truth of this. Every time I dared post it on a forum, all anyone did was claim I didn’t know what I was talking about. It’s unfortunate it takes so long for truth to be adopted.
 


2 years ago.… and I’d been advocating to not clean 22lr for at least 7 years prior to that. Hopefully more people will continue to understand the truth of this. Every time I dared post it on a forum, all anyone did was claim I didn’t know what I was talking about. It’s unfortunate it takes so long for truth to be adopted.

If anyone thinks the article linked above in the OP supports the idea that not cleaning .22LR rifles is the way to go, they are mistaken. More mistaken is a long and continuing history of advocating to not clean a .22LR bore. It's not a credential of expertise.

Regualr cleaning with safe and effective methods is advocated not only by virtually all serious rimfire shooters looking for best performance but also by the manufacturers of top tier rimfire rifles, including Vudoo, Bleiker, Grünig & Elmiger, Anschutz, Walther, and others.

 
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Lol ask any rimfire br shooter how they clean. Wouldn't be after 500 or 1000 rounds. We clean after every card wich is somewhere between 25 to 50 shots give or take a few. We also shoot hand lapped barrels and these

Whats the truth orkan? What is it that you know that the top br shooters in the world don't know? Keep your guns clean period
Not to be argumentative, but is that because those top shooters have actually tested it into several thousand rounds of not cleaning the bore or is it that they get to the point where accuracy starts to drop a little and get scared and go back to cleaning? Echo chambers work on both sides of this perspective and Benchrest shooters are no different than any other shooting discipline, meaning there is some superstition / resistance to truly fleshing out concepts that go against what the winners are doing.

Not to speak for Greg but I have tested both methods and once a quality barrel gets deep into a round count with only cleaning the chamber accuracy and more importantly consistency starts getting really good. Maybe not better than a regularly cleaned bore, but definitely as good (from my experience).

Here is the main thing to consider, some rimfire disciplines do not allow for cleaning at a very low round count like Benchrest. This is where the chamber only cleaning method becomes the way to go. Different horses for different courses…
 
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My guns are consistent when they are cleaned. I would never ever push a gun beyond 100 rounds period. I don't know a br shooter that would push their guns beyond 2 cards of shooting. Clean is consistent, dirty will never ever be consistent. But hey orkan has shot for how many years shooting br matches with a .22? Nawww I'll stick to what works and has been proven to work for well over 10 years for me. Proven experience is what I rely on not a guessing game if my gun is clean or not.
Turbo, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying you are doing it wrong at all, I am just saying there can be more than one way in achieving the same results. If you haven’t tested it yourself how can you say it’s not a viable method?

If you would “never push a gun beyond 100 rounds period“ how would you shoot a 3P match?
 
Whats the truth orkan?
Truth is, I'm not going to sit here and argue with people on the internet. People that only want to tear others down. Truth is, I'm not talking about benchrest. The article noted above from vudoo, has more aligned with what I've been saying for the last decade, than what benchresters have said. Square range shooters simply aren't qualified to give advice to field shooters. Our discipline doesn't get sighters folks. Theirs does. That's where this whole discussion ends.

Anyone that does what I'm suggesting will likely see the same results I am able to demonstrate, stream after stream, video after video, pic after pic, year after year.

I just grabbed my rifle and shot this target. All 5-shot groups, except that first one, fired left to right, top to bottom. First round at the X, cold after not being fired for 4 months. Then I adjusted zero so the rounds would hit up in the circle, held center x on all shots, and fired. This is in a 12mph tail wind. Over 13,000 rounds on my rifle since it last had its bore cleaned. I haven't touched the chamber with anything in the last 10,000 rounds. A steady diet of RWS R50. When the winds straightened out, she pounded some knots, just like always! Couldn't get a proper "1 hole" group, but in these conditions, I wouldn't expect to.

Folks, don't let the square range people confuse you. Don't do it.

cecaW9Bh.jpg


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I never considered just cleaning the chamber as my rifle when clean shoots very consistently and reliably up until about 300 rounds when I start getting first round flyers due to the carbon ring. As mentioned we don't get sighters, my first shot of the stage is for score, and dropping points is huge. I haven't gone 1000 rounds w/o cleaning but I'll give it a try, and only clean the chamber.

Orkan's video about not touching the chamber is interesting. In my personal experience once the carbon ring forms, it takes 1-3 shots to warm up and get back to consistent groupings. I had a theory that you can shoot SO much that the carbon ring is so hardened/thick that it doesn't get soft after shooting a few shots, and also is so thick that it isn't getting any bigger because rounds will scrape off anything too big. This also will introduce a consistent / repeatable state, but this also means that you probably need a good 2000-5000+ rounds to probably get to this permanent hardened state.

I'll probably keep cleaning my chamber as I am not going to burn 5000 rounds w/o cleaning just to test out this theory..
 
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I think it's barrel and ammo dependant. I will go a few thousand rounds, notice a flyer or two, push a patch of c4 and several dry, and it'll go another few thousand.

I fully cleaned it once and it was erratic for several hundred rounds.

I let it tell me when it needs cleaning, rather than wasting time scrubbing it constantly. Ain't nobody got time for that!
 
I can control how clean a barrel gets, but I cant control how dirty they get.

So I clean mine. Often.

Get them clean and they stay clean with minimal work.

The benchrest shooters that are incredibly anal about accuracy clean all the time.
 
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I can control how clean a barrel gets, but I cant control how dirty they get.

So I clean mine. Often.

Get them clean and they stay clean with minimal work.
I agree with this 100%. And I have done it both ways, several thousand rounds without cleaning anything but the action, chamber, and crown and also cleaning thoroughly after every outing. Both ways have proven to be very repeatable even to the point of knowing within 1-3 shots how many rounds it takes a particular barrel to settle in with a particular ammo after a thoroughly cleaned bore. Some barrels I absolutely will not put away for more than like 2 weeks fouled, like factory Anschutz or my Sauer barrel both being a carbon steel. I have seen those start to rust & pit under the fouling

I personally tend to trend on the clean often side of things and normally do not go thousands of rounds without cleaning the whole bore only because I feel (maybe hope…?) like cleaning extends the “razors edge accuracy“ of a barrel. I am talking over the life of the barrel, by hopefully extending the number of rounds it takes to frost a bore from the rimfire priming material. As seen with a bore scope from new to micro pitted the length of the bore at 6 o’clock. But this is so difficult (maybe impossible) to definitively prove. I have worn out a few rimfire barrels, meaning a slight but noticeable decrease in accuracy but have never been diligent enough to record how many rounds it took. So I don’t have the data to back up my thoughts on this.

I have just been trying to say i don’t subscribe to the “there is only 2 ways of doing things, the right way or the wrong way”. I have been proven wrong enough times in my life about so many things to know that there are usually several ways to get to the same place.
 
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To add to what I just said. The last 5-7 years I have been shooting mostly stainless barrels and have been going back to less cleaning as I feel like stainless is harder than carbon (well perhaps not harder on a Rockwell scale, but more resistant to the micro pitting from fouling) and more rust resistant.

I think the real answer to this question is: do whatever gives you the most confidence in your equipment. Because it does not matter at all how accurate or consistent your rifle is if there is a loose nut behind the trigger.
 
I really appreciated this thread. But I'm wondering how to keep any cleaner/cleaning residue from traveling down the barrel either as this process is followed - or afterward by the 1st few shots. Or it would be minimal so it doesn't matter ?
 
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So it seems to come down to a few more questions:
How many “rounds/wins” on the top accuracy barrels vs cleaning methods or lack thereof. How often are the winners changing barrels?

I recall reading of a centerfire benchrest shooter who cleaned with valve grinding compound, and was winning with a factory bore, but for only 1 or 2 matches.
 
This is basically what I do with my 22's, and if you do air rifles again about the same.

For me I will usually clean what I call the "ass end" of the rifle and leave the barrel alone. I think I came up with it myself to tell the truth. Being the lazy bastage I am, I don't clean very often. Now some guns demand to be clean, like a GSG 1911 22, it will flat stop working at about 200 rounds, so it wants to be clean.

With the rifle I generally clean its "ass", and do my best to leave the barrel alone. This is on all my 22 rifles. Some have gone a very long time without cleaning.

Others after they start to fall off, are a MAJOR pain to get clean again, the Marlin 60 comes to mind and I think it is that micro groove they liked so much. I also have a lever 38/357 that has the micro groove and I take care of it the same way. It just likes to be a bit "dirty".

My thoughts on the entire thing, is you really need to play around with it and see just what your specific rifle.....or hand gun for that matter, likes and do that.
 
Remember as you shoot a lube star forms and all is well till a chunk blows off during shooting
Instant flyer - until the new star becomes uniform you have an uneven crown - so how many
would put up with an uneven crown?
Until it forms you give up points which I believe is not the goal of the game.
How many points you want to give up is totally up to you - if you want too run a case between
cleanings I don't care - In fact I hope you do if your shooting against me as I'll take any help
I can get - It's really tuff to win when everyone on the line is better than pretty good.
Of course when only a clank and not a point system maybe it's no big deal.
I only scrub the carbon ring with nylon and carbon remover, dry patch twice and clean the
tuner and crown between cards.
Free country treat your ride anyway you like.
 
The article makes sense and he backs it up with real world performance in competition. I've been gravitating towards his technique slowly over time. I've been using less and less of rimfire blend and just using C4 and letting it sit to get a good chamber clean....and not really cleaning the barrel much. I loved that picture with the cutout of the barrel/chamber with a round in it.

My problem is a I need to quit playing around with so many brands and types of ammo...in one session.

One stash of good performing ammo in my guns is some Eley Club Xtra (came in boxed from Killough), and man, it is very waxy...literally like candle wax. I wonder what that does to my accuracy.
 
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Just a couple points I want to make. First, I clean the bore completely after every range day and run patches thru between brands to remove most lube. And use a Teslong often. None of my rifles cost over $7-800 but I do use SK ammo in the 'good ones'. Average around MOA for the 2-3 'good ones' I own.
Second, the Vudoo article is by a NRL shooter - steels not paper 0.300s - tho he may also have success on papers.
Third, he made a point that many here should note and perhaps question -
"We get a lot of questions about Bore Tech Rimfire Blend at Vudoo. I used to use it a lot, until I discovered the real theory behind C4. Rimfire blend will attack everything in the bore including lead, bullet lube and carbon. When we completed my previous match rifle, I started cleaning from the beginning with Rimfire Blend. The result was a rifle that shot well when new, but accuracy diminished and never came back." (my italics) Does this mean most of our rifles we've been cleaning are now SOL ? Especially when considering he was talking about NRL 'accuracy'. What does this mean for 'sub-moa' accuracy?
Fourth, I do agree with the C4 process, I've been using that for about 3-years on all my rifles. Especially helpful with my SKS and Surplus that's very dirty with Carbon thru the whole bore. I use the C4 at about 1-200 rounds in my 22s (which is usually each trip).
Finally, I only shoot at a small club with few people to compete with so I don't have a huge 'data base' to compare, just my own frequent outings. I'm retired so I go out whenever the weather allows - sub-10mph and NO rain or Snow.
 
he made a point that many here should note and perhaps question -
"We get a lot of questions about Bore Tech Rimfire Blend at Vudoo. I used to use it a lot, until I discovered the real theory behind C4. Rimfire blend will attack everything in the bore including lead, bullet lube and carbon. When we completed my previous match rifle, I started cleaning from the beginning with Rimfire Blend. The result was a rifle that shot well when new, but accuracy diminished and never came back." (my italics) Does this mean most of our rifles we've been cleaning are now SOL ?
An interesting question, Fasteddie.

It's an overstatement to criticize Rimfire Blend as a solvent that's too good at it's job because it attacks lead, lube, and carbon. This implies that it eradicates or eliminates these fouling components quickly and altogther. Plenty of serious and successful shooters use RB without degrading or compromising accuracy.

Furthermore, it's difficult to understand the article's contention that it's the cleaning method that "produces extremely low ES and SD numbers over the chronograph". Surely the ammo itself has more to do with chronograph results than one cleaning method rather than another.
 
I used Rimfire Blend and it did not remove the carbon, and I ended up having to switch to C4. Also while we are shooting NRL, our target sizes are very small when in stable supported positions. We had 1/4" steel at 72 yards, and 1" steel at 125 yards. So yes we are expecting to keep sub moa through 150 yards or so.

I experienced what the author said, around 500 rounds my accuracy did drop and I went ahead and cleaned the entire bore. Yesterday I hit 500 rounds and kept going and it was pretty ugly between 500-800 rounds. At the end of my session I noticed my groups tightening back up. I'm going to clean the chamber only and do another session to push past 1000 and keep track of how it's doing.

My bore is seasoned with different ammo types and I'm curious how much harm that'll be in this seasoning... I have a mix of Eley Tenex, Match, and then also some of the lower Eley ammo, Club and Target (not sure if they use different lube). I noticed when switching between different Eley ammo, that there was fouling that had to be done. When I switch between Lapua ammo, it was always consistent w/o any sort of refouling. I'm not sure if Eley ammo has diff lube per ammo, or maybe my observations were just coincidence. I noticed when I went from Match to Tenex, my first 10 rounds of Tenex were a bit all over, and then tightened up dramatically.
 
An interesting question, Fasteddie.

It's an overstatement to criticize Rimfire Blend as a solvent that's too good at it's job because it attacks lead, lube, and carbon. This implies that it eradicates or eliminates these fouling components quickly and altogther. Plenty of serious and successful shooters use RB without degrading or compromising accuracy.

Furthermore, it's difficult to understand the article's contention that it's the cleaning method that "produces extremely low ES and SD numbers over the chronograph". Surely the ammo itself has more to do with chronograph results than one cleaning method rather than another.

From reading another thread about chambering, there's some things that can be done to account for the inconsistencies of the bullets / ammo to allow for normalizing the pressures, which would thus reduce SD. I would assume similar if your bore is half seasoned/lubed, then it's possible that going down the bore becomes inconsistent so the SD would increase.
 
Littlepod ,
I went down the ole rabbit hole a year or two ago on rimfire bullets , lube , erosion, etc etc , iirc Eley changed a few or several years ago from using tallow and bees wax on everything to just the high end match ammo , the lower end I can’t remember what the consensus was but it was different
 
An interesting question, Fasteddie.

It's an overstatement to criticize Rimfire Blend as a solvent that's too good at it's job because it attacks lead, lube, and carbon. This implies that it eradicates or eliminates these fouling components quickly and altogther. Plenty of serious and successful shooters use RB without degrading or compromising accuracy.

Furthermore, it's difficult to understand the article's contention that it's the cleaning method that "produces extremely low ES and SD numbers over the chronograph". Surely the ammo itself has more to do with chronograph results than one cleaning method rather than another.
Well said, I agree totally with grauhanens reply. I believe some of you shooters are overthinking this cleaning/ seasoning deal. I have no idea what seasoning is when applied to remfire! You can't remove imperfections in a steel barrel with a soft lead 22round. You can fill in imperfections and that's what the lube does. A quality remfire barrel will shoot right out of the box. It will shoot it's best clean after a few fouling shots to relube the bore. If you have to shoot your barrel dirty or shoot a box of ammo after cleaning before it comes back in. Well, I wont say it's a bad barrel but it's not a quality one either.
 
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Well said, I agree totally with grauhanens reply. I believe some of you shooters are overthinking this cleaning/ seasoning deal. I have no idea what seasoning is when applied to remfire! You can't remove imperfections in a steel barrel with a soft lead 22round. You can fill in imperfections and that's what the lube does. A quality remfire barrel will shoot right out of the box. It will shoot it's best clean after a few fouling shots to relube the bore. If you have to shoot your barrel dirty or shoot a box of ammo after cleaning before it comes back in. Well, I wont say it's a bad barrel but it's not a quality one either.
I agree a good barrel chambered correctly will shoot, for some within the first few rounds.
1658058770511.jpeg

As for not cleaning here is the flipside by someone highly regarded in the rimfire circles-

Lee
 
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Maybe a silly question, but I've seen people talk about .22 cal chamber mops not fitting in the Vudoo chamber. So rather than buy a bunch of different ones can someone tell me what they're using? Time to clean out that carbon ring!

No photo description available.
 
Maybe a silly question, but I've seen people talk about .22 cal chamber mops not fitting in the Vudoo chamber. So rather than buy a bunch of different ones can someone tell me what they're using? Time to clean out that carbon ring!
One method to use to get at the carbon ring is to take a .22 cal bore mop. It will fit. Soak it in cleaning solvent or, better still, a carbon remover like Bore Tech C4 Carbon remover or something similar. Push the bore mop fully into the chamber and let it sit there for a while. Cleaning with a bronze brush from breech to muzzle should follow. Use an appropriate bore guide at all times.