Do you bother cleaning your barrels?.

[lugnut]

I've been shooting my Glock 34 for a long time.. but honestly- I don't clean the barrel much at all. I only shoot plated or CMJ. I do check the chamber and clean that but the barrel- no so much at all! Maybe every several thousand rounds or so... maybe. Just started shooting my 686... same thing.

I will say that I DO clean everything else on a regular basis and keep the gun lubed.

[fastarget]

I have read info from Shuemann barrels regarding the cleaning of barrels for longevity, so I started going by their advice( pretty much what you are doing).

clean the chamber , then with a cotton swabs on a plastic bruch I push it all out through the muzzle until the cotton is clean then swab the barrel with Kroil. No problems.

There maybe more wear from heating barrels up using fast powders like TG in repeated drills than anything else.

[G-ManBart]

I'm keeping a round count log on my newest Open gun. It's at a bit over 14K now, and has never had a brush down it. Every 1-2K, or before a big match, I'll run patches with solvent, followed by dry patches down it, but that's all. I can see a bit of bronze coloring in the rifling, which matches the MG bullets, but it's very slight, and doesn't seem to make any difference in accuracy (which is excellent). R,

[PJ BAD]

I agree with G-Man Bart. A patch every once in a long while and all I can see is a little bronze color from the MG's.

[Jaxshooter]

I never clean the barrels in my handguns. Only clean the chamber and run a clean dry patch down the barrel to clean up anything from the chamber.

[cletus9mm]

ive done a ton of reading on this subject in this forum and others. the more i try to track down fact, rather than opinion, i find a growing number of people are not brushing their barrels. without trying to muddy the waters i will say that i've gone 5 or 6k rounds in my cz tactical sport without cleaning the barrel. last time i shot off a rest at 30 yards, the gun still shot a ragged hole with a flier albeit touching the others in a 5 shot grouping. i've shot a combination of cmj and fmj (exposed lead base) bullets, and all are were maximum book loads using power pistol. the barrel still looks shiny and clean with nothing discernable in the lands or grooves using my naked eye. im going to continue just shooting the gun until i recognize a difference in accuracy and see if brushing it brings it back. i used to clean religiously but i'm going to try and shoot the rifling out of this gun before i brush mostly out of curiosity.

[spanky]

I snake mine every once in a while but all I shoot is factory (WWB, Blazer, etc) or AA147s.

[jaredr]

i still shoot a lot of lead 200 gr semi-wadcutters through my favorite 1911, and use a bit of copper chore-boy around a brush to get the lead out every 500-1000 rounds. my M&P and glock 9mm's get no real cleaning of any sort, barrel or otherwise...

[Sean Gaines]

one of the greatest inventions ever "Boresnake"

[lugnut]

You know... a bore snake wouldn't be a bad idea... at least once a year. I use them for .22 or .223.

[Sean Gaines]

You know... a bore snake wouldn't be a bad idea... at least once a year. I use them for .22 or .223.

Boresnakes are freakin awesome! 2 passes and I have a bright bore! add a little lube and watch it really shine.

[bassochist]

i clean my barrel once every 1500 rounds with boretech eliminator.

[Gary1911A1]

Back in the early days of IPSC when we all shot lead bullets most of us use to clean our barrel after every match, but now with most shooting plated and jacket bullets it isn't needed as much, but some still do. Me, I don't worry about cleaning them as much and on some like Glock Barrels with jacketed bullets hardly ever.

[Gunner5607]

+1 on Eliminator. I clean after each range session. It keeps me out of the wife's hair.

[Corey]

A little hoppes on a boresnake and a couple pulls is all I do.

[want2race]

When I shoot lead bullets I clean my barrel every other match and before big matches. I de-lead and de-goop (bullet lube) the gun and barrel.

The lead builds up at the throat and will eventually lead to jams. From experience.

Jacketed is much more forgiving. I still like a clean gun but I bore snake it a couple times.

[anilson]

I clean lead out of my guns with FMJs. No chemicals or brushes in the barrels. I clean the feed ramp when i clean the gun, every 5k or so. Just switched to this method last year and seems to work just fine.

[MoNsTeR]

Ramp, chamber, and locking surfaces get cleaned. The bore gets a wet and a dry patch if I'm feeling like it, but I prefer to send only bullets down the bore.

[blaster113]

I shoot moly/lead bullets out of my Limited gun for practice/local matches. Depending what powder I use, the bore will look like the inside of a sewer pipe after a few hundered rounds so I do a real light brushing with some cleaner and then run dry patches every other session. With the Open gun I use only jhps so I'll do a couple of passes with a brush once in a while. Usually I'll just run wet/dry patches.

[benos]

With jacketed bullets, I never cleaned anything but the chamber on any of my competition pistols.

be

[G34 CORDY]

I clean mine after every use and I think its due to my O.C.D lol. Since the gun is already apart I run some solvent and a boresnake down the barrel. It only takes a few extra mins and never hurts to be nice and clean.

Edited May 1, 2011 by G34 CORDY

[latech15]

Not to sound too much like an advertisement but.........

Since I started shooting bayou bullets, I just clean the outside of the barrel. That gator snot leaves a barrel cleaner than I care to worry about.

[jmorris]

Outside of lead bullets the only thing I run down the bore are bullets.

[GSWEAR]

Not to sound too much like an advertisement but.........

Since I started shooting bayou bullets, I just clean the outside of the barrel. That gator snot leaves a barrel cleaner than I care to worry about.

I've been running the 230rn in my 625's and just tried the 160rn in some 38's, so far so good!

Greg

[hovbuild]

I shoot heavy and hot .45 acp Lead all the time a hundred or after a 60+ round match I go at the bore with a nylon brush wrapped in choir boy strands of copper..A dozen back and forth strokes, then a wet patch, light bronze brushing and then a dry patch...have done this for 45000+ on my open pin gun. I fitted a new ewg bushing to the open gun and today checked the dots zero at 30'. Off a rest I put 10 in a 1" hole! My primer II gets the same treatment as well as a 625....They all shoot the same as when they were new. they see nothing but lead and the 625 gets a feeding of 255 swc at 920+ fps. I stroke the you know what out of them with that nylon brush and copper strands and it has not affect accuracy in any way that I can see. Got 15000 down the LB and 20000+ down the 625....Like to make sure no lead left over will malfunction during an event so they start all shoots clean.