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Hello chums, I've been looking into cleaning my Target rifles barrel and can't find anything conclusive, both on this site (my apologies if I've missed the obvious thread.) and the internet. Opinions vary from a quick pull through now and then to a full on Chemistry lecture/cleaning regime.

My rifle is a second hand Paramount 7.62mm, Stainless 30 in barrel and I've only ever pulled it through with a Hopes Boresnake (with the bristle brush removed, modified by myself) with no products on it, before and after firing.

So my questions are: 1 What's the best way to clean a T/R barrel ? (Or rifle barrels in general ?)
2 How often should I clean it?
3 Good products and ones to avoid?

Thanks in advance for your answers to what might be considered a numpty question!

I'm no expert but I use Sweets copper solvent as per the bottle. Then I dry off and then wipe with Ballistol which I leave in until my next shoot. I use a nylon brush for preference over a bronze one. I clean every time I shoot. I would avoid a Bore Snake for fear of damaging the muzzle crown.

Hiya Johno,

Is that all you've been doing to the barrel on that lovely rifle!? razz

Personally I think any 'good' barrel shooting jacketed bullets should be cleaned after every use (even just the 24 we put down on a Sunday) - a good TR (or F/TR, F-class etc.) barrel is built to tight and exacting tolerances, so needs to be totally clean to perform the same way each time (will shoot differently as copper builds up)...

...I usually scrub with a solvent (009) after every shoot, and there's also another product called CR2 (sold by a few people on here), which I use occasionally when I think the copper may be building up (it's very good at removing every last bit of copper).

That said, there's many more experienced folk on here when it comes to this stuff (especially TR), so it'll be interesting to see what they say...

Looking forward to next Sunday :cheers:

I use C2R every time , a day at the range can be 50 -80 rounds and there is always copper in the bore . C2R shifts carbon and copper fouling , I generally clean it when I get in , have a cuppa and a sandwich for 10-20 mins while the stuff works it's magic then patch through until it's clean. Then a smear of gun oil on a patch and put it away .Two fouling shots is generally enough to get it back on song .

Ask ten shooters on the best cleaning regime and you'll get eleven different answers.

waterford103 wrote:I use C2R every time , a day at the range can be 50 -80 rounds and there is always copper in the bore . C2R shifts carbon and copper fouling , I generally clean it when I get in , have a cuppa and a sandwich for 10-20 mins while the stuff works it's magic then patch through until it's clean. Then a smear of gun oil on a patch and put it away .Two fouling shots is generally enough to get it back on song .

Ditto however

use a good quality bore guide (I use Shooting shed but other (Inferior) bore guides are available).

This is crucial as you will be putting water etc down your bore in close proximity to your trigger.

Do not use brushes other than nylon bristle (you can find that they hold a lot of solvent and you may prefer to use them for initial application).

Keep water (I use a shallow glass jar) close to hand and unless you have a copper free jag etc, wipe the rod down after use.

The reason for this is 2 fold.

1. C2R is good stuff and hates copper, so it will slowly erode (stick together) your jag/rod etc wherever there is brass/copper content.

2. If you leave activated C2R on the rod (blue) the next time you rod it you will automatically get a false indication of copper.

Personally, because the stuff eats away the surface of the copper, I tend to clean over several hours with 4 ro so cycles then swab the barrel again, plug the breech (a patch up the rod guide until if hits the landes will do) and leave the rifle overnight, than do another couple of sweeps the following evening.

At the end I tend to dry patch again with the guide removed (catches any that has seeped under the front of the guide) and oil the bore.

I clean with an old tea towel under the butt end of the rod guide and a plastic bird food bucket under the muzzle to catch the patches.

Obviously if you are a hand loader, store, handle/use the stuff well away from any reloading equipment. I clean my finished cases in solvent to de-grease and left them to gas on some kitchen paper. this was on something that had C2R dripped on it. I had a nice area of brass eaten away, case buggered, so be warned.

I clean after every shoot but could not say definitively if this is the right thing to do. Some barrels are said not to like being totally de coppered.

I patch the oil out of the bore the night before a shoot with acetone/carb cleaner.

Jabberwocky413 wrote: So my questions are: 1 What's the best way to clean a T/R barrel ? (Or rifle barrels in general ?)
2 How often should I clean it?
3 Good products and ones to avoid?

As mentioned, there are probably as many answers as shooters. Here’s my regime.

Usually I’ll clean after a day at the range, except in major meetings. I thought about cleaning several times during the Imperial but never had the opportunity to properly foul, so I didn’t clean the whole meeting - a whopping 335 rounds between cleans. By the end my groups were as good as at any other point with scores to match.

When I do clean here's what I do:

• Remove loose fouling with a patch and a drop of Ed’s Red, then a dry patch.
• 10 strokes with a phosphor bronze using VMS Nitro Powder Solvent.
• Patch out barrel until patches emerge clean.
• Patch out barrel with a drop of Ed's Red then dry patches until patches emerge clean.
• 10 strokes with a phosphor bronze using VMS Nitro Powder Solvent.
• Clean chamber with a .45 phosphor bronze brush and VMS Nitro Powder Solvent.
• Leave for 20 mins.
• Dry out chamber with a chamber stick & patches.
• Patch out barrel until patches emerge clean.
• Patch out barrel with a drop of Ed’s Red until patches emerge clean.
• Clean the bolt with Ed’s Red. Lube the bolt lugs and cocking cam with moly grease.

Approx every 250 to 500 rounds I’ll have a session with Hoppe's copper terminator or VMS copper product.

Before/After major meetings clean the trigger (soak in petrol then ultrasonic bath).
Before/After major meetings clean the bolt (soak in petrol then ultrasonic bath).

At the end/start of the season I’ll prepare the barrel with C2R and JB Bore compound.

..

C2R is the way to go, do a search for peoples experience with it on here.

My regime is a bit simpler, but I'm a regular cleaner. I'm lucky in that my barrel was perfectly run in and so shows very little coppering no matter how many rounds I fire.

After firing I get some C2R down the barrel and leave it to soak while I wipe down the exterior with a lightly oiled patch. I use a dry patch to wipe the face of my bolt clean of fouling and brass shavings from the extractor, and lubricate the bolt with moly grease on the locking lugs and other surfaces.

Once the bore's had anything between 15 minutes and an hour to stew, depending on how quickly I want to get home, I use the water patch method (anything between two and five, depending on weight of gunk) to swab it out followed by one or two dry patches to be absolutely certain. Once the worst of the gunk's out and the bore is dry I normally oil it with a wool mop for storage.

I'm relaxed about a bit of residual powder fouling after using C2R, especially if I'm going on to shoot the following day. For a thorough clean I use a phosphor bronze brush with powder solvent (009 works well for me) and give it half a dozen strokes up the barrel. I avoid reversing anything except the initial C2R patch so I don't drag crud back into the chamber. Dry out with dry patches, repeat if necessary with a soft nylon brush (I keep use of the phosphor bronze brush to a minimum to avoid wear) and oil for storage.

Cheers fellas, plenty of good advice there to mull over. I was looking at the HPS site and their cleaning advice, has anyone used their Wipe out/patch out product on the following link ?

http://www.hps-tr.com/products/gun-cleaning/

Thanks again.