Cleaning Basics for the 303

[Rumpelhardt]

There are some who advocate not cleaning at all until accuracy starts to fall off. A lot of these are in the long range precision shooting or "sniper" field. These people put a lot of rounds down range and seem to know their rifles inside and out so they notice even small changes in accuracy.
For my part I have a Winchester Model 70 that has been my hunting rifle for 26 years. After I check the zero with five rounds I don't clean it until the end of the deer season unless it gets wet in which case I clean it then fire five more rounds before I go out again.
My other rifles get cleaned after I'm done shooting unless I know for sure I will be going again within a few days again unless they get wet in which case I clean then as soon as possible.
I use Shooters Choice bore cleaner then Break Free for protection and lubrication. No brush just a few wet patches letting it set a few minutes between each. Then dry patches until they come out clean. then the Break Free. I put a couple dry patches down the bore just before I go shooting. Once a year I use Shooters Choice Copper remover and a bronze brush on my rifles. This routine seems to have worked fairly well for me over the last 35 years.

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[gumpire]

I have always used my Rifle Bore cleaner MIL-C-372C after coming home from the range and leave it for a few hours at least then dry patch it . Till it comes out clean .
I put ballistol oil in them before I put it back in the safe no dry bores .
Seems to have worked for the last 20 yr's . but I do this all my mil- surps.

[Badger]

Ministry of Defence
Defence Standard 91-102
Issue 2 Publication Date 25 August 2000

---------------IF THE PDF IS BLANK CLICK HERE TO VIEW.---------------

[old crow]

Boiling hot water through the bore after shooting anything (obsessive-compulsive), wet patch with Hoppes #9, leave the patch at the muzzle end for a couple of hours then a nylon brush a few strokes through followed by dry patches to your heart's content then Kroil in the bore, wiped out before shooting again. Dark patches: In my younger years I wore out cleaning rods trying to make the bore give me clean white patches; now days I see a slightly dark-stained patch as "clean enough". I like Peter's comments - I continue to be amazed that I've never held a LE with a "worn bore" in my 45+ years of collecting and shooting; pretty amazing considering the mild steel used but perhaps the really bad bores were culled before they got to me.

[Brian Dick]

Ballistol is a German product. The U.S. importer is in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It's good stuff and certainly not toxic considering the military requirements that were required of it. It was adopted by the German Army in 1908! I stock it and it's a good all around product. I also carry Slip 2000 products. I learned of them from a friend at Fort Bragg. Thanks Chris! SOCOM use it and if it's good enough for them, it's certainly good enough for me. All of the Slip 2000 products are non toxic too. I also like good old Hoppes No.9 for some applications, especially for removing light rust. My favorite bore cleaner is Shooters Choice which is standard issue for British snipers. I use Slip 2000 EWL as an all purpose preservative. It's much better than Break Free CLP which I used for years.

[Peter Laidler]

If it's good enough for them, with all that testing, then it's good enough for me!