I am willing to wager there is more wear inflicted on this rifle from overzealous cleaning than not...
Perhaps... Being "overzealous" in cleaning one's rifle, however, is not necessarily indicative of the time it takes to properly clean that rifle. I'm probably overzealous in cleaning my rifles properly. Cleaning a rifle properly does take commitment and time.Archer said:I am willing to wager there is more wear inflicted on this rifle from overzealous cleaning than not...
I'm willing to bet the 2 hours is due to the fact I've only cleaned it twice. I've only taken it down twice. I'm sure as time goes by, my cleaning time will be reduced.Archer said:I am willing to wager there is more wear inflicted on this rifle from overzealous cleaning than not...
Over use of bronze brushes, use of scraping tools and dental picks, et al. By going OCD on your rifle you tend to remove a bit of metal along with whatever debris you're trying to clear. Over time this affects the clearances between parts and that can affect the accuracy, reliability and longevity of the rifle.103M95G said:Probale get nailed for this one, BUT how can you overzealosly clean (short of abusing the barrel)? :?
All my brushes are nylon, carbon fiber cleaning rod, and nothing metal touches the inside of my 556 except a 5.56 round. Oil is always wiped on with a patch.LebbenB said:Over use of bronze brushes, use of scraping tools and dental picks, et al. By going OCD on your rifle you tend to remove a bit of metal along with whatever debris you're trying to clear. Over time this affects the clearances between parts and that can affect the accuracy, reliability and longevity of the rifle.103M95G said:Probale get nailed for this one, BUT how can you overzealosly clean (short of abusing the barrel)? :?
Broze brushes are okay if used in moderation, as they were intended. 3-5 passes with a bore brush wet with a quality CLP/bore cleaner to loosen up the fouling is usually plenty.But you are correct...bronze brushes and metal scraping tools would do more harm than good!
USMC 0802 said:Takes me 1 minute. I run a bore snake thru it.
1k rds so far..
One of these days I'll clean it....
Good question. It's sort of like the "how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop..." I've never made it....Longrifle said:Let us know after the number of rounds fired when you had to turn the gas valve. I know there are too many variables to this including the type of ammo used, but this should give us a rough indication just how rugged this rifle is compared to the AR.
Exactly. Cleaning a firearm properly can NOT cause damage....even if it takes all day to do it.1Love said:I still don't understand how cleaning a firearm properly can cause damage? Can someone explain this to me because I clean all my guns thoroughly and have no problems.
I'm sure they meant avoiding unnecessary metal to metal contacts like overuse of bore and utility brushes. But by all means rub away all you want with CLP-soaked rags and patches. That's what I do.1Love said:I still don't understand how cleaning a firearm properly can cause damage? Can someone explain this to me because I clean all my guns thoroughly and have no problems.
When I was a drill sergeant from 95-98, several of my peers would take a section of cleaning rod and a chamber brush, chuck it into a drill and have their Soldiers cycle though them to get their chambers cleaned. Made the chamber clean as a whistle. At the end of every cycle we'd take the company's rifles to the post weapon's pool for check and turn in. One of the checks was a gaging of the barrel and chamber. Many of these rifles that had been "power brushed" had chambers that were out of spec and deadlined.Man, I hear this thrown out a lot; "Over cleaning ruins more guns than shooting." I'm callin' B.S. on that. I've handled a lot of weapons in the military & collected a lot of old military weapons. Most, if not, all of these were cleaned with steel cleaning rods, back in the day when fancy, vinyl-coated rods were not made and most of these older guns retained good, sharp rifling. Hell, the rifle I was issued in Army basic training was 20 years old. Without a doubt it had fired hundreds of thousands of rounds & cleaned with a steel cleaning rod each time. Guess what, it worked perfectly well & its accuracy was just fine. The only barrels I've ever seen that were in sorry shape were those that used corrosive ammo & had NOT been cleaned properly. Have you ever seen a gun that was ruined from over-cleaning? Okay, next question; How do you know it was ruined through over-cleaning? What forensics test is done to determine that?! Just sounds a bit like an urban legend to me.