General cleaning and maintenance of 22lr

[HulkFury]

I have recently just got my first rifle (2nd hand Savage BTVS 22lr), and I'm looking for advice on how to maintain it. I don't own any cleaning accessories. Rifle is used only for target shooting at this stage.

Any tips or advice is appreciated.

[Supaduke]

Get a can of G96, Ballistol,Lanox (or any other reputable lube/cleaner/protector) wipe your entire gun down after each use. Clean the barrel maybe once a year.
When it comes to cleaning .22's, less is more.

I also highly recommend getting a silicone impregnated gun sock. Helps keep moisture off and protects from bangs and nicks in the safe.

[Wm.Traynor]

Cleaning a 22 is problematic. For a start, proper cleaning will stop it rusting. If you live near the ocean in a humid climate like me these days, it will rust if not cleaned. One of my centrefires pitted without proper cleaning and I lived 50km inland.
But a lot of people complain that cleaning prevents the rifle from shooting to a consistent point of impact. I had a nice Kimber that took 50 shots to return to its previous zero.
Oiling the bore with Ballistol might maintain consistency. It used to with my centrefire TR.

To clean the bore, buy a one piece rod. Secure the rifle in a bench mounted vice. Squirt Ballistol down the bore and push a Loose patch straight through and out the muzzle. Detach the jag. Repeat until the patches look cleaner. Repeat the process with a bronze brush. (Buy a few.) Keep detaching at the muzzle as before. You might want to squirt the bore occasionally too. Do that 10 times and patch out. The bore is probably clean now. Shoot it and see what happens to the Point of Impact or oil the bore by squirting as before and forcing it into the corners of the grooves with a bristle brush. Run it backwards and forwards in the bore, several times. Let the tip of the brush protrude out of the muzzle, to oil the crown. Do not push it all the way out followed by pulling it back in. Better to detach it or any other tool, before pulling the rod back.

Good Luck mate

[bigfellascott]

I could count on one hand how many times ive cleaned the bore on my 22 in the last 35 odd yrs, they have lots of wax etc on the projies and that seems to protect them well enough to not need any oiling from what I've seen. I generally just wipe the barrel and other metal parts down with lanox, inox, sewing machine oil, pretty much whatever I have laying around at the time, the all metal surfaces are in rust free condition with only a few superficial wear marks on the bluing.

I recently bought some CCL wood oil which is a rippa and now use that on all my wood stocks.

Do what you think is best mate for you.

[David Brown]

I am damned if I can see how cleaning a gun makes it less accurate unless it has a sloppy barrel and it takes build up to coat the insides. Now if you have a good barrels to begin with there should not be an issue. Of course the little lead projectiles are then a big variable.

[Shorti85]

I just spray carby clean down the barrel and patch it out on my 22, then run a patch with a bit of G96

[bladeracer]

I am damned if I can see how cleaning a gun makes it less accurate unless it has a sloppy barrel and it takes build up to coat the insides. Now if you have a good barrels to begin with there should not be an issue. Of course the little lead projectiles are then a big variable.

I don't think it makes it less accurate exactly but it's certainly likely to have some effect over how it was shooting before you cleaned it. You can either try zeroing it with a clean bore for every shot, and clean it after every shot for consistency, or simply foul the bore and then zero it.
The "accuracy" of a fouled bore is more about minimising the differences in the bore between shots. Blackpowder shooting really shows the differences between a clean and fouled bore.

My 7mm-08 shoots the first clean-cold-bore shot about 60-80fps slower than the following shots.
It still groups it okay, but the difference between clean and fouled could certainly cause a difference.

[HulkFury]

Can anyone comment whether bore snakes are as good/worse than the rods?

[snag]

Can anyone comment whether bore snakes are as good/worse than the rods?

Absolutely brilliant for lever actions, pump actions and falling block guns. Also great in the field for quick "end-of-the-day" cleans. With bolt and break actions, I like a one piece rod. If you're using them for regular cleaning, it pays to have two - one for the "dirty" initial cleaning and another for running your barrel protection through.

[bladeracer]

Can anyone comment whether bore snakes are as good/worse than the rods?

In theory I like boresnakes and have several of them, but I can't recall ever using them.
In the field I carry an M16-style compact cleaning kit with a five-piece steel rod just in case I need to clear a possible bore obstruction.

Same as this one:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10pcs-22-22L ... SwZ8ZW54JG

I do have 8mm and .22 cal brushes in there, but in the field I would just run patches. Also some oil, a piece of rag, a two-metre length of 4" patch material (which can double as a bandage in an emergency), and allen keys to fit scope mounts, rings and action screws.

[brett1868]

I just run a bore snake through mine after each session, it's enough to clean out powder fouling but leaves enough projectile wax behind to protect the bore from rust. Doesn't appear to affect zero too much from what I can tell. Everyone will have a different idea about cleaning the little rimfire, try a few different methods and see what works for you. I try and keep the cleaning routine as quick and effective as possible so it gets done rather then put off till I have more time cause then it'll never happen.

[aam]

There are many varied thoughts on this subject. I’m one of those that clean the barrel; mind you I don’t go spastic over it. Mine is a simple one.

I purchased a cleaning rod specific for the 22lr, these are 2 or 3 thou smaller in diameter than a cleaning rod for a 22 centrefire rifle.

You can use cotton patches or felt patch.
Spray some Ballistol on the patch and push through, I put about six patches through and that’s it.

This is what the small bore comp shooters do in my area, but, they are a bit fussier when it comes to cleaning.

Here is a link which is quite interesting, it is a long read but well worth it.

http://www.rrdvegas.com/rimfire-cleaning.html