tips for cleaning your .22lr

[beenjammin]

OK, I got in from the range with my new 10/22 and mk3. They shot great and it was too much fun, but when I sat down to clean them, I realized what a pain it is to get swabs in theat tiny hole.

Any tips on what to use to make things any easier. The 40x has a long barrel and is going to be a REAl pain.

 

[TonyA]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

Well, I don't know how it goes over here but there's a lot of opinions on cleaning. I like to keep them clean myself. I'll keep it brief.

I'm not real fond of Boresnakes but that's the quickest, easiest way to clean semis. That or a Patchworm which is basically just a piece of weedeater line with a knot on one end to keep a patch from slipping off. If by MK3 you mean a Ruger pistol then fieldstripping and cleaning from the breech with a rod is pretty easy. On a 10/22 I drill a hole in the back of the receiver to run a rod through. But of course you have to tear it down to do that, you just don't have to pull the barrel to be able to use a rod. The 40X is easy, pull the bolt and run a rod through it. May want to get a bore guide though. The biggest thing with any of them is cleaning the action and on the semis, the chamber. You can take a rifle brush and put a 90 degree bend in it to reach in through the ejection port and give the chamber a quick scrub if you want.

On the other hand, I use to always clean my rimfire semis from the muzzle using one of those little brass guides and never had a problem. Unless you let one go for a long time it doesn't take much to clean a rimfire.

Tony

 

[Phylodog]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

As far as the 40X goes, wipe down the bolt and relube it, then put it away. Unless you are changing to a different type of ammo you don't need to worry about the bore. It'll go thousands of rounds before you need to worry about it. Seriously.

 

[krw]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

Order a 17Cal rod with a 17cal jag, Use Butch's Bore shine and follow it up with Kroil. Depending on your bbl, most 22's like to be "fouled" up before they really start shooting. On lots of Custom bbl's shooters shoot 100's if not 1000's of rounds between cleanings. krw

 

[Larry Burchfield]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

For the bolt gun you need a good bore guide and for the 10/22 you can dolike I did and drill the back of the receiver and cleanit from the muzzle end but it still has to be taken apart. Midway makes a guide that goes over the muzzle end of the 10/22 and push the rod through that way. If you use the pull through type please be careful as they have been known to breal into.
larryj

 

[3wide]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

I don't clean my 10/22 barrel but maybe a couple times a year, per reasons already stated. The action maybe every 300 to 500 rounds, using CLP to lube each time at the range. To do a fairly quick clean I lock the bolt back and spay everything down with Prolix and clean with q-tips through the magazine well. If you got more time take it all apart and clean it all good. Some times I think my guns would stay alittle cleaner if I didn't run them soo wet. Bet told that'll make them last longer but just don't know.

 

[mavrick10_2000]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Phylodog</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As far as the 40X goes, wipe down the bolt and relube it, then put it away. Unless you are changing to a different type of ammo you don't need to worry about the bore. It'll go thousands of rounds before you need to worry about it. Seriously. </div></div>

+1 Thousands!

 

[3wide]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Phylodog</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As far as the 40X goes, wipe down the bolt and relube it, then put it away. Unless you are changing to a different type of ammo you don't need to worry about the bore. It'll go thousands of rounds before you need to worry about it. Seriously. </div></div>

This makes me wish I had a bolt gun instead of a 10/22. So much easier/quicker to keep clean. I just don't look when the bolt is open on my 10/22, they get dirty fast.

 

[clmayfield]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

When I remember, I will put a dry patch through after a range session. Basically, the way that 22LR's work is that they shoot really well clean and then the accuracy deteriorates, then it gets a whole lot better dirty. They call this "barrel seasoning." I was told 30 rounds or so to season my barrel, but I cleaned it really well and didn't start seeing good groups until about 100 - 150 rounds.

The fanatical cleaners are able to shoot plenty accurately. Often times, they will clean and then shoot 5-10 fouling rounds and shoot a match. Some even clean between legs at a match. It is easier to just shoot dirty, but the best thing to do is to keep careful records and see whether your gun shoots better clean or dirty. It is just best not to shoot in between.

Also, if you have a shooter, I would shoot it dirty regardless because fanatical cleaning will wear the barrel out a lot faster. 22 barrels can last hundreds of thousands of rounds. Cleaning will dramatically reduce this.

 

[fr3db3ar]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

What kind of lube are you using? I use a dry teflon spray so it doesn't attract or hold much debris. You can go a lot longer between cleanings that way on a semi.

 

[phideaux]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

Otis cleaning kit...no need for bore guides, 2-3 patches and i call it good. bore snakes ? a bore snake snapped in a buddies .22 once. it was a huge BITCH to get out. i might clean my rimfires every 1k rounds, unless accuracy drops off before then.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

For cleaning my C/F rifles, I use a long steel slotted tip. It's skinny for about an inch worth.

I then cut .30cal patches in half to make rectangular patches. They fit onto the tip and go through the bore pretty snug just like those tiny ones with a jag. But the difference is that they hold a lot more solvent, or absorb a lot more solvent, and cover a lot more bore area in a pass.

My technique depends of the solvent's soaking action, and not on brushing, which I think is highly overrated as a means of removing fouling. I only use the brush to distribute the solvent more effectively, and a nylon brush is at least adequate for this purpose.

For R/F bores, I seldom clean at all. I think the process does more harm than good, and if there's somebody cleaning a rimfire every 20 rounds, I'd suggest they stop. It takes probably twice as many shots as that just to season the bore and manage to achieve the bore's true level of accuracy. The lubricant wax/grease does a better job of preserving the bore than anything cleaning might accomplish anyway.

Greg

 

[45FMJoe]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Greg Langelius *</div><div class="ubbcode-body">For cleaning my C/F rifles, I use a long steel slotted tip. It's skinny for about an inch worth.

I then cut .30cal patches in half to make rectangular patches. They fit onto the tip and go through the bore pretty snug just like those tiny ones with a jag. But the difference is that they hold a lot more solvent, or absorb a lot more solvent, and cover a lot more bore area in a pass.

My technique depends of the solvent's soaking action, and not on brushing, which I think is highly overrated as a means of removing fouling. I only use the brush to distribute the solvent more effectively, and a nylon brush is at least adequate for this purpose.

For R/F bores, I seldom clean at all. I think the process does more harm than good, and if there's somebody cleaning a rimfire every 20 rounds, I'd suggest they stop. It takes probably twice as many shots as that just to season the bore and manage to achieve the bore's true level of accuracy. The lubricant wax/grease does a better job of preserving the bore than anything cleaning might accomplish anyway.

Greg </div></div>

So, should I not use the bulk pack copper washed bullets and instead find bare lead rounds in my rifle?

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: tips for cleaning your .22lr

?

I said absolutely nothing about copper wash vs lead. Your asssumptions are your own. Shoot what works.