So I've been reading up on cleaning the barrel and am finding a lot of conflicting information. So I'd like to hear what you guys think on the topic of cleaning the barrel.

Did you shoot the "recommended" break-in method?
How often do you clean your barrel?
After X rounds shot through?
At the end of the day?
Only when groupings start to open up?

Thanks

From Mark's links

tag

I'm curious whats everyones experience on the number of rounds needed to foul up a clean bore to get it "back shooting right." 5? 10? 50?

Depends on how aggressively you cleaned it...(or wore it out is more like it)...my old bbl would take about 10-20 rounds....Can't say on my new bbl, since I only have 70 rounds down it and I only patched it out 1x to make sure there were no chips in it...

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel

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Andrew

"Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."
- John Mason

I have about 600 rounds down my factory 700 .308 barrel and never even thought about cleaning it....Am I supposed to??

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Kevin H.

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Andrew

"Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."
- John Mason

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel

I'm just around 1000rds since I cleaned last. Barrel still shoots the same.......

Henry

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In the face of a crisis, a failure to act is the first act of failure.
There are no stupid questions, just stupid people asking questions.
Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.

Does leaving the brass and fouling in the barrel cause corrosion? Is oil enough to stop it? I always thought the idea behind cleaning the barrel was to keep it from corroding.

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"Gentlemen you can't fight in here this is the war room!"

Fantastic.

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"Gentlemen you can't fight in here this is the war room!"

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This is not about land or money...but the one thing that no man should never be able to take from another man: the freedom to make his own choices about his life, where he'll live, how he'll live, how he'll raise his family
Col. William Barrett Travis

_________________
In the face of a crisis, a failure to act is the first act of failure.
There are no stupid questions, just stupid people asking questions.
Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.

http://www.riflebarrels.com/support/cen ... enance.htm
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/200 ... m-barrels/

when I spend a grand on a precision barrel, I tend to listen to the mfg to make sure everything is on track.
The link above is for LiLJA maintenance. Is it a pain in the butt, yes... is it easy to do... no
Do you shoot the same groups every time out? ...Hmmm maybe, maybe not... ever wonder why?
If you scrub with a stainless bore brush, well... I guess you shoot box guns and not far out there.

oh, yes this is my first post but I was out cruising the net and stumbled onto this board and figured I stay a check it out for awhile. I already belong to several other "tactical" and sport boards and have many hundreds of posts on there so this aint my first rodeo....
Thanks for the warm welcome and I hope to contribute when I can to the wealth of knowledge here.

Oh, in case you have questions: the avatar is a tiny compressed pic of my .300 win mag made by Savage. Its the new 110 BAS with a Nightforce 12-42x on top. It has a built in 20 moa ramp, lots of adjustment to the stock, a fluted full floating barrel and bi-pod for ease of handling. I hand load all my loads for this one and it took me about a whole weekend to break in that new barrel. I have a nice varmit shooter but it's just a .220 Swift (Ruger M77) with a Nikon 6.5-20 on top and it gets a steady diet of 52 gr JBTHP's for the squirrels. LoL but it's only good out to 400 yds in the real world. The WinMag, well ... it's looking at the 1000 yd paper.

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"To err is human but to miss that shot is just not acceptable"

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel

I think we have a Troll.

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthr ... ost2197983

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel

thanks for finding those posts. i AINT NO DAMN troll. I've been a member of snipers hibe since 2007. Read alot and post very little.
Couldn't help myself though when I read about not cleaning the copper out of a barrel when every mfg out there will tell you it doesnt help your shooting to leave it in there. I understand some good 10-12% ammonia solution will cut right thru the copper and of course it's a moisture trapper as well so having to follow up with some good solutions to get it out is required.
If you can shoot so great without having a consistent barrel bore, I'm impressed.
A grand for a barrel, actually you are correct, a barrel by itself is about $300. add some more for mating it to your action, adding flutes or other stuff to it like threads for a brake or paying to ship it from the mfg to you then to the gunsmith then back, you get the picture. If it's actually only $850.23c I stnd corrected. It was a generalization, give me a break. I just inquired with Hart and it's about 8-10 weeks out for a barrel. Stiller and Lawton and 20 weeks out on their actions. To me Time is Money... if you're fortunate enough to be able to do all that stuff I referenced by yourself, cool. I personally don't have machine shop equipment that can give me those kind of fits and precision features. Sorry. I can reload pretty good and I can sight in a rifle for a 1000 yd shot but when it comes to actually being a craftsman like those guys, my hats off.
Oh, that post you referenced above was pretty funny. I made an questioning observation, in error slightly but admittedly so, and the following posters were all eager to slap me down in defense of someone I already knew. LOL Oh well... ignorance is bliss.
I ended up sending Ben an envelope full of money orders totalling $1500 for his Nightforce scope, that in itself proves I'm not trolling. I have a good job although long hours and not always around a computer, and don't hug the keyboard like many of the thousand + posters do... that would explain my lack of eager repetitive participation posting everything from a two or three word sentences just to get my post count up to full blown storys.
You guys got your own little cliche here, I'll be happy to leave you alone... if you're interested in sharing and being civilized then I'll stay and listen to what you have to say... you guys make the choice, it aint no skin off my butt. I was happy before I found this board, I guess I can be just as happy without it.
I'm good either way.

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"To err is human but to miss that shot is just not acceptable"

I apologize for the comment. But there are people who troll. You seemed to fit the bill. As you know people in this sport can be a bit harsh and come off rough. Stick around I am sure we all would appreciate your insight and opinions. Welcome to the board if you decide to stay!

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel

Impressive... for the time being, you all being far superior at the target punching than I am, I'll stick around and check in from time to time. If you don't hear from me, don't worry, I'm either working or sleeping... LoL

thank you for your clarifications. I'm curious what distance those two targets were from?
I'm lucky currently if I can hit the 48" square plate at a grand. I have a lot of practice yet to do. But I'm getting better.

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"To err is human but to miss that shot is just not acceptable"

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel

This is trippy. Their avatars are so alike that at first I thought Charlie and cdennyb were one and the same.

sorry about that... certainly not intential I assure you. I'll change it...

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"To err is human but to miss that shot is just not acceptable"

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel

no, it's only right. I just had a side pic of my savage 110 BA and added some lettering that said "Say hello to my little friend" (thought it was kinda funny) so now I'm sportin a pic of my daughter shootin my swift. A founding member has status and I should've looked harder. Accept my appologies. Hope you all like the new one.

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"To err is human but to miss that shot is just not acceptable"

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God shoots a Remington 700, drives a Chevy Truck and carries a Glock 19.
I don't do any of those things.

i run a bore snake down my barrel every so often in the desert to make sure there is no sand in there.

bu i only clean after a few hundred rounds. nothing drastic just run a few patches and oil when i am done.

OK, I know most of you will probably be muttering under your breath, "See, I told you so... so there." and for the most part, your thoughts are taken and accepted. For the benefit of anyone coming in "late" and reading this thread, which is a pretty good one in my opinion (big deal huh.) I contacted Darrell Buell who as some of you already know... was on our USA Savage Arms shooting team in the european championships and also many other competitions in Ireland, etc. and asked him point blank, what kind of cleaning he did to his gun during and preparing for the tourneys. This is a reprint of an e-mail I received from him for all to enjoy and confirm they are doing it right.
you can see them (him) on their web page at: http://www.usftrclass.com/bios.htm

From: darrell.buell@usftrclass.com
Date: 12/29/2010 3:26:02 PM
To: cdennyb@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: barrel cleaning in Europe tourney


Hey Dennis,

If it's a big multi-day (or multi-week) match, chances are with .308,
I will not clean at all. I might pull a DRY boresnake through to
remove any trash, but absolutely no wet cleaning at all. Between the
World Championships and the follow on matches in Ireland, I went
around 450 rounds without cleaning last year. I noticed no particular
accuracy problems. This is not a unique occurrence, I did exactly the
same thing when I was over in Scotland and Ireland for a full month a
few years ago.

Generally, if you do a really thorough scrubbing, your point of impact
will change, and the accuracy will be unpredictable for at least 7-10
rounds; until the barrel is "fouled in" to it's "desired" level. If
you're lucky, some matches will allow a blow-off period at the
beginning of each day to allow people that have cleaned the night
before to re-foul their barrels. Especially overseas, that
opportunity is very rare. They are more of the mindset, you should be
properly prepared when you show up for a match, and their format
rewards that. International style (or Fullbore) allows convertible
sighters, therefore if you show up with your rifle ready to shoot and
get "10's" or "X's" on your first 2 shots, you can convert them for
score!

In general, 450 rounds is probably the outside, you will typically see
when your barrel likes to be cleaned by a noticeable drop in accuracy.
Also, if you are shooting something other than .223 or .308, this
rule may DEFINITELY not apply, especially for the big "overbored"
magnums. The big magnums either like to be cleaned daily, or MUST be
cleaned daily to avoid damage issues.

Hope this helps,

Darrell Buell

_________________
"To err is human but to miss that shot is just not acceptable"

_________________
In the face of a crisis, a failure to act is the first act of failure.
There are no stupid questions, just stupid people asking questions.
Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.