Hornady Barrel Cleaning, Part 2. Updated on page 2

People cleaning their rifle barrels poorly is one of the main reasons I don't buy used rifles anymore, even if they're supposedly mint. Been burned a couple of times after taking them to a gunsmith to find out the problem and it wound up being damage due to poor cleaning.

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Definitely doesn't take 4 hours.

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Clarification. The series of videos take 4 hours to watch. I have a method of cleaning that I'm comfortable w/, but was curious if anyone had watched to 4 hours of videos to see if there was any worthwhile new information on the videos.

I think you oughta watch it and tell us.

Mean time, im sticking with my thus far time proven method, dont bother cleaning them at all

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I think you oughta watch it and tell us.

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I already admitted I'm too lazy.

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Mean time, im sticking with my thus far time proven method, dont bother cleaning them at all

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Actually, I don't usually clean my pd hunting guns until the accuracy starts to drop off. The 17 Remington Fireball starts losing its accuracy at 200 rounds. The others are more forgiving and have a gradual drop off. OTOH, the 22 Nosler is a different story. Once it's too dirty, it quickly goes from shooting 3/4" groups to 2 1/2" groups.

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admitted I'm too lazy.

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And i am lazier. You watch it.

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don't usually clean my pd hunting guns until the accuracy starts to drop off

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Have you experimented with any of the anti-fouling powders out now? It seems that would help extend that interval dramatically.

I do clean my barrels sometimes, mostly because its a rainy day in the late winter and im bored and cold and want to sit in my shop with a glass of whiskey and do some brain dead monotonous work. My highest round count rifle might get 300 rounds a year, so it isn't a good case study. I've never noticed any difference one way or the other though.

The only exception is when things get salt water exposure. I clean those religiously. I had a sig pistol that would rust its arse off, barrel included, if I didnt give it a good scrubbing within a day of it getting a salt spray bath.

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And i am lazier. You watch it.

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Have you experimented with any of the anti-fouling powders out now? It seems that would help extend that interval dramatically.

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I have and I utilize them. It seems to cut the fouling by 1/2. I use CFE 223 in about 1/2 the loads in my 223 Ackley Improved and 22 Nosler. I use CFE BLK in about 1/2 the loads in my 17 Remington Fireball, 20 VarTarg and 221 Fireball. I go on 2-3 prairie dog hunts every year. Except for the 17 Remington Fireball, I can get 2 hunts in before the barrels need to be cleaned. Maybe the 17 will get better w/ time. The 223 AI is >325 rounds and the 20 VT is >250 rounds so they're both due for a cleaning before next week's hunt.

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seems to cut the fouling by 1/2.


As in you get twice as many shots to "need to clean" vs regular ol school stuff?

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Yeah, comparing usual/regular powders to the CFE powders I'm using, CFE powders allow me to go twice as many shots before I have to clean (accuracy drops off to an unacceptable level). My deer hunting handguns aren't cleaned very often. Thanks for rokslide suggestion.

Ok, guys. I just took one for the team and listened to part 1 of the Hornady barrel cleaning on YouTube on a 4 1/4 mile walk after work. I don't walk very fast so I got in all but 2 minutes of the video. Bottom line: Anyone who's read much on guns/gun cleaning or done much hand loading will learn very little new info in this segment. New information to me:
-Bore volume increases out of proportion to increasing bore diameter. I wish he'd spent more time defining bore volume.
-A dirty bore can increase pressure as the carbon build in the bore up basically impinges on the bore diameter/volume. He frequently mentioned how bore cleaning has a lot of myths and false information and needs to be data driven. I wish he'd supported the statement about a dirty increasing pressure w/ some science. After all, he's working for Hornady. Why not measure chamber pressure against the number of rounds fired in a particular barrel in support of his statement?
-The bore solvent used has more impact on how well the bore is cleaned than does the method, i.e. patches, copper brush, stainless steel brush, nylon brush, etc. Unfortunately, he made a point of not mentioning ANY brand names.
-He spent about 1/2 the video pouring various quantities of gun powder on a table to illustrate how many rounds that would be for a 9mm, 223, 6.5 Creedmore, etc. He didn't make the comment about solvents until about 55:00.

I'll try to listen to Part 2 on another long walk, but I'm not excited about the video. I got the feeling this is a lead up for Hornady to come out w/ its own line of barrel cleaning products.


ETA: He also encouraged shooters to have a "reference" load for a gun that has a known velocity, accuracy and pressure. One can use the reference load to know if the bore is getting dirty. As the bore gets dirty, one would notice a combinations of changes in accuracy, pressure and velocity.

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The volume is exponentional in relation to the radius. Pi*r^2*L is the volume of a cylinder, and the radius is a squared term.

Decreasing the radius of the bore would decrease the volume exponentionally, which would increase pressure via decreasing the expansion ratio of the cartridge.

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Thx, but I got lost partway through the first sentence.
I'll keep listening if I can make myself do so.