Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Is a bore guide really necessary?

I for one dont believe not using a boreguide will damage your throat, I use a Dewey coated rod for one and I also believe that any lubricity present in the cleaning solvent would help prevent wear much like the oil in your truck engine. Not to mention, you really think the metal in your cleaning rod is harder than your barrel steel?

I clean my 30-30 from the muzzle. I've been doing it for 30 years. I use a wooden dowel rod as a push rod.

The only "damage to a barrel" I may have caused, was from not using a bronze brush to clean carbon, which caused a buildup of carbon in the form of ring at the throat. Here is a pic showing where it used to be.



The muzzle is fine.



It shoots wonderfully! Yesterday's shot;

I would not have cleaned it yesterday but for the rain.


I did make a bore guide of sorts a week ago for my bolt action; just for keeping chemicals out of my lug recesses.

Here is that rifle after 100+ cleanings without a guide.

That one also shoots wonderfully. The last time I shot it;

thats pics of a 30 year old rifle bore ?

The top two pictures are the 30 year old bore. Here are newer pictures.

This sounds like the True Grit.

P

To help keep the rod centered in the bore with bolt action rifles, I use a 20 gauge shotgun shell (already shot/hull), cut down to about 1" long and the primer hole drilled out/enlarged to fit my cleaning rod. It stays on the rod, it pushes snug into the rear ring of all my rifles and stays put.

Easy to do, not sure it's really necessary, but doesn't hurt. I don't fuss over keeping the chamber/lugs dry when cleaning.

Back in the day when I was shooting benchrest comepetitively ....perhaps regularly is a better word than competitively... everyone used a bore guide. The general drill was to fire a group or a relay and then clean. That works out to one cleaning for every 5 to 7 shots. We used to figure those barrels were good for 1500 to maybe 2500 rounds before accuracy began to fall off. So a barrel that had 2000 rounds through it probably got cleaned around three hundred times during its useful life. Figuring two round trip passes of the cleaning rod per shot and 5 patches down the bore to remove solvent and it comes out to 30-35 passes of the cleaning rod per group. If I did the math right thats over 9000 passes of the cleaning rod during that 2000 round barrel life. Thats a lot of scrubbing. Under those conditions a bore guide made sense...especially considering the replacement costs of those exquisitely made Hart and Shillen barrels.

Benchrest shooters tend to be obsessive and I doubt that many hunting rifles need that kind of extensive cleaning. I still use a bore guide on my hunting rifles, not so much to protect the bore but to keep cleaning solvents out of the action. And now that I am switching over to the foam bore cleaners, I use the boreguides almost not at all anymore.

The reason I am for a bore guide, when using aluminum rods is not because of imbedded grit, but because of the oxidation of the aluminum rod.

The oxidation is that kind of white, powdery stuff that forms on aluminum when left out in the weather. It can also get on cleaning rods.

Aluminum oxide is very abrasive. It is what grinding wheels are made from. I want to do everything possible to prevent this stuff from contacting the bore. A stainless steel rod, or a coated rod would be suitable.

If you're going to go to the expense of hiring a guide to take you hunting, he should at least be an interesting person to talk to.

I use a bore guide to keep cleaning liquids out of the action. I use a stainless steel rod that is kept clean. I've had no bore damage I can see.

Wondering if you would shoot that thuty-thuty at a deer or running bear? It would be interesting to know what it's done in the woods and what projectiles you use with it. Thanks

Have you ever seen a used military barrel? When you had to clean from the muzzle, the muzzles were always horribly worn.

I have not seen a used AR barrel from the military but would assume same.

But they are expendable. Just because the military does or doesn't do anything, I sure as hell would not take that data and apply it to a top quality hunting rifle barrel. Especially a custom one.

Jeff

You don`t use a cleaning rod in a AR.They use a nylon coated cable that is pulled through.

they Do reqire it dip &$"^!

I use one on my bolt guns, but mainly so aggressive type solvent etc doesn't seep down into the magazine/lugs. I can't imagine cleaning a rifle so often, that you screw up the throat...you'd have to clean a hell of a lot! Since switching to Wipeout, I hardly ever scrub with a rod, just pushing a few patches.

Rifles are a lot like motorcycles. Some guys shoot/ride a little, and spend more time cleaning and fussing over them. I prefer to shoot/ride often, and clean when needed/as time allows.

Jeff

During my team competition years, the Gunnie at Quantico showed me a match barrel completely destroyed by a jarhead who affixed a cleaning rod to a drill motor in an attempt to speed up cleaning the bore. This underscored how easily a Marine can break most anything. Kinda like the saying, give a Marine two ball bearings in a rubber room, he'll break one and lose the other.

When cleaning from the breech end through the receiver; No matter how often or how little you clean the bore, it is always an easier task if you can seal off the receiver and isolate the bore by using a cleaning rod bore guide. Doesn't matter your choice of solvents, cleaners and oils. It's always an easier task when you have a sealed bore guide as an aid to transition your stuff through the receiver and into the bore.

In addition, where you may get away with neglected bores in dry climates, you may pay the price with pitted bores in wet coastal areas if you routinely ignore soft fouling.

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