Educational Zone #48 - Cleaning a Rifle Barrel

The Box O' Truth - Educational Zone - Buick O' Truth - Curios & Relics - Product Evaluation - Forums

Bio - Disclaimer - Safety Rules - Newsletter - Donations - Advertising - Links - Contact - Use - Privacy - Sitemap

Educational Zone #48 - Cleaning a Rifle Barrel - Page 1

Today, we will discuss how to properly clean a high power rifle barrel.

Just a word before we start... Recent installments about how to clean other firearms caused some confusion.

I am demonstrating one way to clean a rifle barrel. This is the way I do it. It is not the only way, it is just one way.
It works very well for me and has for many years.

I will be cleaning a Mosin Nagant M-44. It is a C&R rifle, with a "gray" bore, meaning that it was shot sometime in the past with corrosive ammo and it wasn't cleaned properly.

That made the rifling a little "rough", or slightly pitted. It still shoots fine, but it is a little harder to clean, as the rough bore picks up more fouling.

To see how to properly do a field cleaning of the bore immediately after shooting corrosive ammo, look at this.

We will now discuss what to do after we get home from the range.

Rifle barrels are more difficult to clean than most pistol barrels. The main reason is that rifles work at much higher pressures and shoot copper jacketed bullets at high velocity. This can cause some of the bullet metal to be "scraped" off and deposited on the rifling. This fouling must be removed and requires some special procedures.

We start by making sure the rifle is empty of cartridges and then removing the bolt.

I spray the bolt with solvent (WD-40) and set it aside until later.

I use a coated Dewey Bore Rod in the appropriate caliber and I also use a patch-piercing jag, both in .30 caliber.

I like to use fairly tight fitting patch, and for this caliber I use a 2 inch round patch.

The fouling is best removed by using a little chemical help.

I use a mixture I learned about from Precision Shooting Magazine, that many top benchrest shooters use.

It is a half & half mixture of Kroil and Shooter's Choice.

I keep it in a small plastic bottle for ease of application.

I place the patch on the jag and then apply the mixture on the patch.

I run this through the bore from the chamber end.

This is especially important in high quality rifles, so as not to damage the crown on the breach end of the barrel.

On this rifle it isn't quite as important, but I simply have a habit of cleaning from the chamber and always do it that way if possible.