Brass Brush Cleaning

[Josmund]

I have been shooting T7 and now shoot BH.

How often should one use the brass brush to clean the barrel? Is like a centerfire rifle where you clean it after avery trip to the range?

I have a TC Omega by the way.

[Big Z]

I almost never use a brush on my smokepoles, finding patch and jag sufficient. If I noted decreasing accuracy, I might give it a thought, but that hasn't happened yet

[cayugad]

I do brush my rifles about every fifth time out. I also at that time use a good lead, copper and plastic solvent to make sure there is no build up in them.

[lemoyne]

If you use lead bullets with out a sabot you may need to do it fairly often. I use Blackhorn in heavy loads and have not found any improvement after brushing. It is possible to damage a barrel with some brushes, I had one come into the shop that had to be re barrel and the guy claimed he damaged it with a brush, it had some deep scratches.

[idahoron]

I think a lot of it depends on the barrel. I have one barrel that is so rough that I have to brush WAY more than I should. I have been working it over with JB bore paste but I am thinking about going one step more and really working it over until it is smoother.
I will say if a guy is using a brush on a traditional rifle you need to be careful and get the kind that have the loop at the base instead of the crimp. The crimped brushes will come off some day and then you have a problem. If this happens to anyone remember. You can get a copper tube that is about the size of your bore and shove it down over the brush. Then it will come out. I have seen guys try everything including trying to pull a breach plug. Ron

[7.62NATO]

I rarely brush any of my barrels. Or my teeth. Seriously though, I don't like the idea of wearing out a barrel by overcleaning it. As for cleaning the BH209 after every trip, I am trying to get a handle on that myself. First of all, Western Powders claims that it is non-hydroscopic and noncorrosive. However, on the bottle, they recommend you run at least one wet patch down the bore after shooting just in case there was any moisture in barrel before you started shooting (i.e. the powder could trap the moisture underneath it once fired and turned to carbon...I'm assuming you would call the burnt BH209 carbon).

So, I'm in this situation as described within the range report I posted last night, where I finally got my POA and POI to match at 100 yards (after going through about 25-30 shots with no swabbing). There was no humidity when I shot and the bore was wiped down with a CLP before shooting. My groups seemed to shrink considerably the more I shot...i.e. the dirtier my barrel got, the better. Now that I'm finally zeroed, I'm very hesitant to clean my barrel because the next shot I take won't be at the range, it will be in the field (hopefully with a monster in the crosshairs!) I'm worried that if I clean my barrel and my first shot is 75 yards or more, that I my POI may not be acceptable as far as a clean kill is concerned.

On the other hand, I do not want my bore to rust, pit, etc...

[Josmund]

Thanks Fellas,

When I look down the barrel from the breach it looks clean as new. I'll assume I'm in good shape for now.

Jeff

[Breechplug]

I use a Brass Brush (just a couple of strokes) just down and out to loosen the fouling then swab it clean.
I also shoot with a Fouled Bore, it shoots where I want it to hit and I know it will. Every few Days during the Season If I havent got a Deer yet during Mid Day I will shoot it, give it a quick Clean (to be sure Im not leaving the fouling in the Bore too long) then shoot it again to refoul it, check it, and Im ready again.
But I also noticed My SS Barrel can take Fouling in it longer without harming it compared to a regular Steel Barrel, plus the SS Barrel cleans up so much more easily than a Steel Barrel so Brass Brushing is kept to a Minimum. I have a Nylon Brush to try out and Im gonna see if it works.
(BP)