.303 cleaning??

[RaunchyRifles]

JDewey 30 cal rods are fantastic. Get a longer bronze bore brush if it is your first cleaning. If it is rather old, get some stronger bore solvent like 7.62 and scrub, but Do not leave it in the barrel for long! 10-20 min maxpatch the bore cleaner out then follow with a patch of oil.

Oil all metal bits to prevent rust and get some linseed oil, it isn't terribly expensive but it will save your woods.

this is the procedure i've used successfully try out different stuff like gun oils and bore cleaners, everyone markets them as WONDER CLEANERS so try them out to find some good stuff.

[CINDERS]

For extremely coppered barels use Montana Extreme Copper Killer I have used it a couple of times it does what it states but be warned use in an open area very big on fumes. As for the other stuff petty much what every one else does.

[chosenman]

I use Boretech bore cleaner, cleaning rod and quality nylon brush in conjunction with a bore guide for the rod. Pull through's belong on the arc and phosphor bronze brushes are hard wearing on the barrel and are dissolved by solvents giving a false copper reading on your patch.

[martins8589]

I will nevr clean the copper out of an old SMLE again. I once bought an ex Queens winning rifle off a mate. I near as shot a possible with it. Being enthusiastic I cleaned all the copper out.Would not shoot for anything after that. Even got misses at long ranges. Learn't my lesson. Now I only clean copper in rifles I have started with a new barrel and know the amount of rounds down them.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

For those using Oz "Sweets" evil-smelling, but effective brew, avoid copper or bronze brushes.

Sweets is formulated to remove copper-based fouling. It has LOTS of a copper-dissolving ammonia emulsion in it, hence the evil smell and the lovely green streaks on patches, soaked with the stuff, as they exit the barrel.

What it does to bore fouling, it does to bronze brushes.

Use Nylon brushes or "fluffy' mops. Pieces of flanel on the classic steel "takedown" M-16-type rod works too. I don't leave home with a rifle without a cleaning kit containing one or more of those old green "pouches" with the "modular" rod, sundry assorted rolls of flannel and a couple of small containers of solvents and oils.

If I have a "fouled" barrel, or just after a long match, it gets mopped with a Sweets-saturated but loose-fitting mop on a rod or piece of flannel. Let it "work".

Go and put on the kettle / coffee machine, then start pushing CLEAN flannel through the barrel; it should come out with green streaks on it, indicating the removal of dissolved copper.

There is a standard warning about using it on stainless barrels. Left overnight, it MAY start attacking the barrel itself. "Frosty Shades of Grey" is NOT my favourite bore colour!

Interestingly, Hard-Chromed barrels are a LOT less susceptible to "jacket" fouling, the bullets just seem to glide over the Chrome. Pushing a Sweets-soaked patch trough a fully-chromed L1A1 barrel will produce little or NO green streaking on the cloth.

HOWEVER, because HARD Chrome develops "micro-fractures" in the very act of being applied to the barrel steel, COMBUSTION products WILL find any path to the steel substrate.

This is where hot water / Hoppes No9, etc. come into their own. It is amazing / disturbing how much black s...., er, stuff comes out after a good day at the range.

The old RAAF range on Warwick Road, near the Amberley RAAF Base used to have the facilities to boil and dispense water for this very purpose, but, that was back in the early 1970s.

[RobD]

Anyone got experience of bore snakes? I'm asking in complete ignorance.

[Robert303]

I find them handy for a quick pull through before leaving the range and on smaller calibers such as 6.5 Swedish. However there is no subsitute for a rod and brush or patches once you are home.

[browningautorifle]

bore snakes

Lots of guys advocate them, they're just a glorified pullthrough. I'll stick to a standard pullthrough or a rod. Easier to clean after and they don't get stuck in a bore unless you do something foolish. A boresnake is big to begin with and I've seen them get stuck even though it's the correct caliber and the right one.

[mrclark303]

Bore snakes, faddy things, not to be introduced to that grand old lady Mrs Enfield in my opinion!