Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What are your favorite cleaning solvents, oils ,and tools?

Coated rod or stainless? Which cleaning solvent? Do you use a bore guide? Brass bore brush? Any particular brand? Protective finish? Oil preference?

Just interested in other's methods.

Coated
Foam
Yes
Yes
Cheap
No
Tri-flo, M1 0-40, CLP, moly/graphite assembly grease.. Depends on application.

Graphite Tipton, or coated Tipton, JB/Bore Paste, Kroil, Eliminator, Wipe-out/Accelerator. Always a bore guide (3 sizes, small, medium, large). Brass for chrome-moly. Nylon for Stainless. Cotton patches. Lemon oil to wipe down wood. Kroil.

Use J/B bore paste/kroil with brushes for barrel break-in and cleaning to bare metal when fouled. Check for copper with Eliminator or Wipe-out.
Lemon-oil on the wood followed by wipe down with Kroil on all metal
Kroil through the bore on a patch for storage.

Clean receiver and chamber with cotton mop with light coating of Kroil.
Wipe down the bolt with Kroil.
Grease along the races.

Store in humidity controlled environment.

Best,

GWB

Dewey
Wipeout, MPro7, Hoppes #9
Yes
No
DBC and DGS
PowerUp Gunmate

Boretech proof positive coated rods
Boretech proof positive jags
Dewey copper eliminator series rods
Dewey and Sinclair bore guides
Nylon Bore Brushs
Boretech Eliminator
Boretech CU2 copper remover
Montana extreme patches
FP10 for the trigger mechanism
Sinclair Bolt grease for the lugs and ramp
clenzzoil or Eesox for other exterior metal

Bore tech Eliminator
Butches bore shine
Dewey rods
Lucas bore guides
Dewey aluminum jags
Nylon brushes
CLP and EEzox
Ronson lighter fluid for triggers.

Wipe Out
Eezox
Hoppes 9
Dewey 1pc rod
brass jags
cotton patches

I've been following this advice for a long time, seems to work great for cleaning and break in.Proper Barrel Break-in
ensures long Barrel Life


Proper barrel break-in procedures are crucial for top accuracy and performance. More barrels are damaged by cleaning rods than by any amount of regular shooting a person may do. If not done correctly, one can do more harm than good.

The barrel break-in technique we endorse, is the �Speedy Method� named after Speedy Gonzalez, owner of S.G.& Y Rifles.Speedy is well known in Benchrest disciplines; national champion, world record holder, and Hall of Fame inductee in the National Benchrest Shooters Association (NBRSA). He has given permission to share with you, his expert advice on the correct method of barrel break-in and cleaning.

Rifle Cleaning the Right Way

Barrel break-in. Many of our customers upon taking delivery of their new rifle or barrel are in a quandary as how to go about breaking in their rifle for maximum life and accuracy. With so much written in magazines these days stating use this, don�t use that, brush, don�t brush...what�s a person to do?? At S.G.& Y. Rifles, we have a unique opportunity to inspect many rifle barrels on a daily basis with our video borescope. Consequently, we see the results of a variety of barrel break-in and cleaning procedures, and most of them leave the rifle owners with their mouth agape when they see the fruits of their misinformed labor on our color monitor. We have seen practically new barrels ruined with less than a hundred rounds shot through them by some of the crazy and sometimes humorous barrel break-in methods. Anyway here goes for what it�s worth.

A. Bore guides- If you don�t have one, get one! Without a good bore guide you are just wasting your time trying to break-in a barrel or cleaning it for that matter. More rifle barrels are destroyed by cleaning without a bore guide than by shooting! There are many types and brands of bore guides available on the market and range in price from $5.00 to $50.00. The only onewe recommend is the Lucas two-piece bore guide. They are the best insurance you can buy for that new barrel. All other boreguides in my opinion are only good for keeping the solvents out of the trigger and action.

B. Solvents - We recommend Sweets 7.62 for copper and a *solvent mix of our own (Actually Pat McMillan gave me this formula)for powder fouling and for cleaning/storing your rifle for the next match or season. This Speedy Formula is made as follows:

Mix 2/3 rds. Hoppes No. 9 Plus Black Powder solvent with 1/3rd. Regular Hoppes No. 9 Nitro solvent. Let this mixture set overnight and it will form a sort of gel that adheres very well to the brush and cuts powder fouling to a minimum.

* Note: Butches Boreshine may be substituted for this Speedy formula.

C. Procedure for �Break-in� - Before firing that first shot, clean the barrel as if it had been shot by following these simple steps.

Step 1. Insert Lucas bore guide into receiver and chamber. If you don�t have one stop here and get one, if not, just shoot your rifle and forget trying to take any care of your barrel at all. If you do have one, proceed, and give yourself one �At-A-Boy� for being astute enough to have purchased the proper tools for the job.

Note: One �Aw-Sh*t� wipes out ALL �At-A-Boys�.

Step 2. Run one wet patch of Sweets through the bore and let soak for approximately 30 seconds. Do not patch this out.

Step 3. Next, run the brush through the barrel only enough to expose the entire brush. Yes, I know that you still have12 more inches of cleaning rod you could push out the end of your barrel but we want to protect that new crown.Also, if that rod hangs out that far, you will eventually start wearing down the rifling at the crown from about 4 to 7 o�clock. This is very bad �JU-JU� for accuracy. OK, back to our next step. Once the brush is exposed, saturate it well with our Speedy Formula or Butch�s Boreshine and SLOWLY run the brush through the barrel 10 complete back and forth passes while keeping the rod as straight as possible. This is when the Lucas bore guide really pays for itself! Remember, the key word is slowly. We are not trying to break any land speed records today. Let this sit a minute or two and proceed to the next step.

Step 4. After you have let the barrel soak for a few moments, saturate a patch with the Speedy Formula or Butch�s Boreshine and pass it through the bore. Follow this with 2 dry patches and then dry the chamber with Brake Kleen or lighter fluid. Next, gently wipe the crown off with a soft cloth and lube your bolt (lets not gall the lugs just yet). Now, your ready to shoot your first shot. Then follow the schedule below to complete your barrel break-in.

1. Clean barrel / lube bolt / 1 shot.

2. Clean barrel / lube bolt / 5 shots.

3. Clean barrel / lube bolt / 10 shots.

4. Clean barrel / lube bolt / 10 to 15 shots and clean again.

D. Additional Barrel Break-in and Cleaning Tips -

1. Each time you clean you may also follow the last dry patch with a patch soaked with LOCK-EEZ. This is a graphite powder suspended in a quick evaporating carrier that coats the bore slightly before passing that first round through a completely dry bore.

2. We are always asked about powder fouling and how to remove it. The only product that we have seen that really doesa good job on powder fouling, especially on the carbon ring that forms just ahead of where the neck ends in the chamber, is IOSSO Bore Paste. This is used with a Pro-Shot nylon bristle brush and worked slowly in the neck and throat areas, then slowly down the entire bore. Follow this up with a few wet patches, then dry the bore as usual, and your ready to shoot.


E. Follow the outline above for your regular cleaning program and I promise that your rifle barrels will deliver their greatest accuracy and life without a lot of grief and hours of wondering if they are clean.

Good Shooting,

Speedy Gonzalez




Here is an BoreScope video Comparing the Differences between a Quality, Custom Rifle Barrel, and that of a Mass Produced, Factory Barrel.
LILJA CUSTOM BARREL VS FACTORY BARREL

REVIEW OF LUCAS BORE GUIDE



Go To Home Page From Rifle Barrel Break-In

Proshot
Kroil
Butches
JB
Moly

Dewey Rod
Brass Brush
Barnes CR-10
Butches
Hoppes Patches
Claning Jag

I recently bought/used a bunch of KG products to add to my cleaning arsenal. Man, that is some good stuff, especially the KG1 carbon remover. But, there are other good products out there, Dewey rods...yes!

Tried and True Sweets 7.62...........Bore Tech cleaning Rods!

Wood handled Parker Hale steel rods from the 60s, bore guides, TM solution, OLD military formula Break-free, JB bore paste.

And for chambers I use a short rod with a split end that will take a folded paper towel in the split, then I roll the rod so the paper towel wraps around it...insert into chamber and turn to remove residue.

What about Boresnakes, anybody using them or are they junk??

Stainless rods
Patch out
Kroil
Shooters Choice
Eezox
Butches Boreshine
bore guides
nylon brushes (for centerfire)
bronze brushes for rimfire and handguns if shooting lead bullets
chamber brushes
mops

I like bore snakes for shotguns. It'd be nice if you could thread one through a 10/22

I lke G96. Been using it forever. Keep trying new stuff but always go back to G96. Great for tight 1911's and never let me down with my hunting riles in the wet weather. I use it on everything. One piece SS guid rod is also a good idea.
Oils and grease I like Slip 2000 EWL for my handguns.

Graphite rods
Bore guides
Bronze brush
Jags
CLP

I got frustrated with the false positive signs of copper that result from using a rod with brass tip or jags and brushes with brass in them. My bore tech proof positive products should be delivered tomorrow. Their solvents seem to work great also. Really like Butch's as well.
Once copper has been removed I run several dry patches down the bore to remove as much of the copper solvent as possible. Then, I always run a few patches saturated with alcohol to neutralize and remove any copper solvent remaining. A few dry patches and a little Rem Oil.

Otis Elite Cleaning Kit is all that is needed to clean everything from 17 to 50 calibers along with all shotgun gauges. If you have lead or copper fouling issues, you can other solvents with this system but, the Otis solvent works well for most all general cleaning. It is a bit pricy but worth every penny IMHO.