22 caliber cleaning rods, Whats good?

juniour · Post by **juniour** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:56 pm

Well now that I have a S&W model 41 and a Ruger MKII and a Marlin Lever action rifle to be takeing care of I'd like to get some good cleaning rods for cleaning them. What good and the Pro's and Con's? And tips on useing them? The old rods I got with the guns are the cheap aluminum ones and the rifle one is 3 piece. what really bugs Me is the rods aren't much smaller then the bore. It's practically impossible to not bang it around in the bore useing them. there's got to be something better.
thanks,
Juniour

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:09 am

Skip the rod entirely and go with an Otis cleaning cable. It will let you easily clean from the chamber end.
If you must use a rod, opinions abound, some worry about embedded crud on brass/Al, some worry about steel-on-steel galling, some think plastic won't wear anything ... I just keep brass screw-together rods clean and only use them if I have to.

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:13 am

If your concern about the rod hitting the bore go with a Bore Snake. I very ever clean the bore on my 22's. I do on my carry guns. If you have the cone on the cleaning rod to protect the crown that the best you can expect if your using a rod. But you should always clean from the chamber to crown direction when ever possiable. This way your pulling and do not have the chance of impacting the crown and damaging it. When you run a jag through just remove it when you pull the rod out if your concern about damage. As far as the rod being near the same size as the bore, that does not present any problems. Because it will be sliding, it can not gouge the bore unless it has a nick in it. If it does throw it out. Smooth against the bore provides minimal friction/damage. It's when you concentrate all the force on 1 point is when damage can accour.

Don't over think the process. Don't clean the bore on a 22 unless you really like re-conditioning/seasoning the barrel before use.

ruger22 · Post by **ruger22** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:10 am

I don't have any problem with the Hoppe's aluminum rods, what I've used my entire life. I just give 'em a full wipe with a No.9 soaked patch before I start. I make sure the handle bearing gets an occasional drop of oil. (Hint: With a 10/22, you don't need the center section. Just two pieces.)

I found an eight inch rod to be a pain cleaning 2.5 inch Bobcat barrels, so I found and like Dewey's four inch brass loop rod. It also fits my new Bearcats nicely. It's just a military style rod, one piece with a loop handle. No swivel, so I just screw in the brush or jag one turn short of tight. It's available in 4, 6, 9 and 24 inch. I just ordered two 6 inch ones for my bigger Rugers. Will take up less space in my range tote.

With any rod, use two. Saves a lot of time and hassle changing the tip. One for the brush, one for the jag or patch loop. I rarely use a loop.

juniour · Post by **juniour** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:57 am

OK Makes sense I might be thinking of cleaning too much then. So it sounds like I don't need to be cleaning the brrel after every outing. But Wouldn't I at least want to run an oily patch thru the barrel for rust prevention after every outing??? What do you guys do? And how often then wold you do a thorough cleaning?
Juniour

Coach1 · Post by **Coach1** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:15 pm

I will second David's recommendation of a bore snake. The builr-in brass bristles do a great job cleaning the barrel rifling and the cloth part clears the rest. Pull it through 3 times and that is all it take. But start at the chamber end as recommended. We all know .22 ammo is notoriously "dirty" and lead round nose rounds can add to powder / GSR build up. But most good quality .22s are tolerant and can handle 2 or 3 range trips between cleaning if one is so inclined. I like to finish off a cleaning session by wiping the gun with a Hoppe's silicon cloth. Clears off any finger prints, hand oils and leaves the slide / frame (& barrel for long guns) looking great and protected.

Georgezilla · Post by **Georgezilla** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:36 am

As far as frequency of cleaning, I concur with what was said above. Unless the firearm is going through its break in, I very rarely clean .22 RF barrels.

When I do clean .22 RF barrels, I don't use a cleaning rod. I use a boresnake type device I made out of weed eater line and a bic mechanical pencil.

In the past, Bullseye has recommended only using a nylon bore brush and patches in rimfires. The reason is because rimfires tend to be made out of softer steels than centerfires, thus prolonged use of a bronze/brass brush can be detrimental to a rimfires accuracy. Something to think about.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:15 am

I almost never use a metal brush, and only occasionally even use a plastic brush in .22lr guns.

Brass jag with patch and/or Otis patching do the job just fine, I think people obsess over the bore and forget to clean what really matters - the moving parts.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:05 am

Never touch the bore other than a wet patch and a dry patch with CLP on a new or new to me barrel and from the breech with a one piece rod and a tapered bushing. Should I have accuracy problems, I would look at the bore. Clean the moving parts if the gun is not operating as it should. Other than that wipe down with a silicone cloth and shoot the guns. Really not a cleaner but just love to shoot.

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:35 am

On my 22's I only wipe them down and put them away. I do not clean the bore very often, every 2000 rounds on my MKIII. And only then when the LCI starts sticking. I do remove the bolt and clean the receiver area after every outing. On my rifles maybe once a year, an then I use a nylon brush. Unless you live in a very humid enviroment I would not run an oil patch down the barrel unless I was planning on long term storage. If your storing you guns in a safe use the wonderods, desiccant packs and silicone treated socks if your concern about rust.

The bad part of cleaning the bore is that you have to shoot at least 1 mag through it again to get the accuracy back.

stork · Post by **stork** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:10 pm

I've long been a proponent of never cleaning the bore. I had read a Precision Shooting article back in the 80's about one of the writers visiting the Ely ammunition plant and reporting the fact that they rarely if ever cleaned their test barrels because of the need to recondition the bore afterwards. I took that to heart and stopped cleaning 22LR bores. The chamber and bolt must be clean and oiled but not the bore.

For the last 5 months I've been recovering from surgery on my right shoulder and as a result I haven't been shooting often or in any great quantities (usually 30-50 rounds & my shoulder is done).

Last week I was noticing my shots just weren't on call. 1-1.5" from where I thought they should be. I benched my Ruger and shot a 10 shot group 2 handed from a padded rest with CCI stnd velocity ammo at 50 feet. I was amazed at the group, nearly 1.75" from a gun that historically shoots that and better at 50 yards. I started thinking about maybe the bore was getting neglected, after all it's seen somewhere between 50-75000 rounds since I last cleaned it. I went back to the work room and scrubbed the bejabbers out of the bore and retested it with the same box of ammo. 10 rounds under 3/8" with a few shakey shots. Whoda thunk it. Lesson learned.

So now I intend on making sure my bore is brushed out at least every 10000 rounds (no need to overdo it, right. Don't want to wear out the rifling with over cleaning).

Live and learn.

FWIW

PS: finally got around to bringing the targets into the office to get pics. Now we'll see if I can work a link to the photobucket account.

http://s838.photobucket.com/albums/zz30 ... %20fouled/

ruger22 · Post by **ruger22** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:02 pm

Georgezilla wrote: In the past, Bullseye has recommended only using a nylon bore brush and patches in rimfires. The reason is because rimfires tend to be made out of softer steels than centerfires, thus prolonged use of a bronze/brass brush can be detrimental to a rimfires accuracy.

I don't know that I ever heard of rimfire barrels being softer (?). I know even one metal brush use can hurt accuracy for competition.

I do know stainless bores tend to be rougher when new. So after a few hundred rounds, you'll begin to need a lot fewer patches. After that, I limit my brass brush use to a few passes at the beginning of cleaning. I sometimes use nylon brushes after a light session, but I usually do 200-300 rounds through a gun.

I always clean the bore. I'm not looking for spotless, just a little gray on the patch instead of black.

Just look out for the guy who chucks his cleaning rod into an electric drill to clean a gun fast........

stork · Post by **stork** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:01 pm

Added link to photo's of the actual targets. If I hadn't done it myself I'd have a very hard time believing such a drastic change.

FWIW

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:15 pm

I clen a new gun or barrel with CLP on a jag, one wet and one dry, and that is it. After tha only iof ther is a noticeable decrease in accuracy or a bad round.

Post by **Bullseye** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:58 pm

Many rimfire barrels are are made of mild steel vice high carbon.

R,
Bullseye

GunTalk-Online.com

22 caliber cleaning rods, Whats good?

22 caliber cleaning rods, Whats good?

Barrel cleaning