jasper2408 Wrote:A couple of years ago I decided to find out the best way to clean a barrel. In my search on the internet I found 100 different ways to clean a barrel and none of them were the same. The only commonality between them was they each proclaimed that their version was the best way to clean a barrel. Long story short, I just kept doing it my way.

Zeneffect Wrote:If you want to change the way you clean a barrel, start inspecting them with a borescope. Frigging life ruining OCD... put me on a quest to figure out most effective method for me to get a clean barrel and it took 2 damn weeks to figure out fastest method with the stuff I have on hand.

I dont think you need to be a bench rest shooter to realize the benefits of an always clean barrel. In my experience, I miss less. Points have gone up, I no longer question why a miss occurred as I know it's not from a dirty barrel, my sd and es has gone down, I shoot an AR15 from 225-1000yds at paper and steel a lot... like enough to consider getting my blood tested for lead so my experience will probably not match most people. I'm also of the opinion that an ar15, properly built and tuned, can out shoot 99.9% of bolt guns dollar for dollar, and 95% hands down. barrel quality is most of it, keeping it maintained for optimal performance is the rest.

break in... what is break in? i just shoot them and clean them every time, the lapping at the factory should have taken care of any burrs or defects break in process would otherwise take care of.

Zeneffect Wrote:I'm also of the opinion that an ar15, properly built and tuned, can out shoot 99.9% of bolt guns dollar for dollar, and 95% hands down..

Zeneffect Wrote:A $1600 ar will shoot about as well as 99% of anything else that costs $1600. Those shooting in various disciplines are typically shooting rifles custom built and tailored to that discipline. Olympic shooters have to contend with things like caliber limitation. Weight, portability, ergonomics, etc etc etc. End of the day, put it on the bench and measure the group size to see accuracy potential and the perceived accuracy gap shrinks greatly. The ceiling of cost for a bolt gun is much higher than an AR by a significant margin, if you are looking at a $2k ceiling things even out quite significantly in favor of an AR simply due to its widespread support.

At the end of the day, accuracy and precision are 2 different things. You can hold tighter tolerences but if it's not putting it down, what is the point? I'm still of the opinion, sub .5 moa accuracy is cheaper on an AR platform than just about anything else on the market.


A clean barrel is no longer clean after the first shot, a dirty barrel is no longer accurate after sufficient fouling. At which point do you feel comfortable falling into inaccuracy, when you have eliminated that variable with a clean barrel?

This is a discussion many have had a billion times over, the real answer to cleaning is... do what you think works best.

Performance picked up due to being meticulous about pre-match prep and ensuring I have control over the variables that I can, one of them being how, and how often I clean. They go spotless, but I also don't put a lot of work into it... just a few hours of waiting and about a dozen patches. Maybe it is a mental thing to where I feel that everything is performing at peak, and its simply down to the shooter to perform. I.e. no excuses. I agree there is a difference between a fouled barrel and unfouled... but there is also a difference between a barrel with 4 rounds down after a clean pipe vs 200. I'll trust the 4 and control the rate of fouling knowing I'll never hit that tip over point. Shooting until "accuracy falls off" is simply missing points unnecessarily to me. Never let the accuracy fall off. My needs, and purposes don't match everyone else's however, I'm viewing this from a competition point of view where barrel longevity, common sense, and excessive amounts of time are sacrificed for an extra point or 2.

LR1955 Wrote:ZE:

What sort of precision match are you putting two hundred rounds out of your AR in the course of a couple of hours?

We used to clean the M-14 pretty thoroughly and then shoot ten rounds out of it to fowl the barrel if we were shooting the next day. Cleaning it ensured it would function consistently for a match. After about a hundred rounds, it paid to clean it again but we never expected much until it got fowled. Maybe they would go a lot longer without cleaning. Not sure anyone knew for sure but like most things with shooting, it was believed. So, that's what we did. I look back on it and think it was the right thing to do.

Being able to eliminate doubts is a mental skill, as important as ability. You eliminated a concern that was obviously bugging you and things are going very well. You would be surprised at how many can identify the issue but are not willing to deal with it because they think if they change anything, their stuff will suck even more. That is OCD. You don't have it -- yet.... He, he.

LR-55

TedBrewer5 Wrote:My psa 20” SS barrel seems to foul quicker than most. On a recent range trip I was pushing my hunting zero out to 200 yards and wasn’t happy with the grouping.. Came home and did a thorough clean and went back. It was now shooting within what I was wanting it to. Confirmed 100 yard POI with one 2shot ragged hole.
Sierra 120 PH/28g8208/cci450/hornady 1x
It may be that bullet that is impacted. I haven’t shot my 90 gr TNT load as much to note if it is effected the same way. I definitely need to remedy that.