Just wondering what you guys use to clean your rifles. "Back in the day", as you youngsters like to say, there was Hoppe's #9, and that was it. Now there are a whole lot of solvents that work much differently, not to mention all kinds of cleaning tools, kits, etc.
As for me, I am currently using Sweet's 7.62 for most of my cleaning. It's very aggressive (so you can't leave it in your barrel for more than 10 minutes or so). It has a little more viscosity than most of the solvents, so it says on the patch and doesn't run all over. Once or twice a year, I run some J-B Non-Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound through the barrel. It's amazing what that stuff gets out - even right after you thought you did the best cleaning job ever! I go back to good old Hoppe's for gun oil using Elite. Break Free Powder Blast and Break Free Lubricant are also in my cleaning arsenal.
When I use a rod, I always run my solvent patches from the muzzle into the barrel, PULLING the wet patches into the muzzle so as not to get solvent on the wood or into the action. Then I go the other way with my dry patches, PUSHING them from the breech through the barrel and out the muzzle. I don't use brushes for every cleaning, but something to remember is that some of these new solvents specify nylon brushes.
A really nice cleaning kit is made by Otis. This system uses a cable instead of rods, which makes it very compact and portable. This kit also employs a one-way system of breech to muzzle cleaning. Check them out at Otis Technology, Inc..
As for me, I am currently using Sweet's 7.62 for most of my cleaning. It's very aggressive (so you can't leave it in your barrel for more than 10 minutes or so). It has a little more viscosity than most of the solvents, so it says on the patch and doesn't run all over. Once or twice a year, I run some J-B Non-Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound through the barrel. It's amazing what that stuff gets out - even right after you thought you did the best cleaning job ever! I go back to good old Hoppe's for gun oil using Elite. Break Free Powder Blast and Break Free Lubricant are also in my cleaning arsenal.
When I use a rod, I always run my solvent patches from the muzzle into the barrel, PULLING the wet patches into the muzzle so as not to get solvent on the wood or into the action. Then I go the other way with my dry patches, PUSHING them from the breech through the barrel and out the muzzle. I don't use brushes for every cleaning, but something to remember is that some of these new solvents specify nylon brushes.
A really nice cleaning kit is made by Otis. This system uses a cable instead of rods, which makes it very compact and portable. This kit also employs a one-way system of breech to muzzle cleaning. Check them out at Otis Technology, Inc..
