Boresnakes and cleaning

Nemesis

With any luck my gun licence will come through any day now and I'll be able to pick up my new rifle.

I was thinking of buying a Hoppes Boresnake for my CZ 452.
From what I've read the bore of the CZ452 is a bit tight and if I was to use a rod to clean it I should get a .17Cal or .20 Cal as the .22 Cal rod could damage the gun.

So should I buy a .17 Cal boresnake or a .22 Cal boresnake or perhaps dont bother cleaning it at all .

What other essentials should I buy for cleaning a rifle?.

What oil solvents etc?

milkerman

I have heard it said before about CZ's that their chambers are 'tight'. This may be but if they are tight it will only be a few thou in the difference. The chamber fits the ammo available afterall.
Get a standard .22 cleaning kit. I am tempted to say throw the brass brush away because I dont like the idea of metal-metal contact for cleaning. Get a bottle of non-corrosive bore cleaner like Hoppes No 9, some products use ammonia as an active ingredient - I dont like the sound of that either!
Clean the bore thoroughly before firing and swab out with clean dry patches - keep doing that until they come out clean. After that you shouldnt have to clean more often than 500-100 rounds depending on ammo used - some are clean and others not. If accuracy starts to disappear its time to clean the bore again. I find it best to clean the face of the bolt and chamber after each use - I just feel 'happier' about the bolt closing on clean surfaces.
Good luck with the new toy!

Rew

I generally wouldn't use a bore snake or any other non-rigid pull through on a rifle. It's impossible to pull them through straight and over time you can waer the barrel in one particualr spot. Thats just me though.

ak51535

sorry to go off topic but how long were ya waitin for your licence?

IRLConor

I wouldn't worry about the tightness of the barrel. I've cleaned a bunch of Anschutz match rifles and the Walther KK200 I currently shoot and I'd be astonished if the CZ had a tighter barrel than any of them. That's not to disparage the CZs, they're great rifles; just there's only so tight you can make a .22lr and still have it shooting.

For cleaning at the moment, I use vfg blue paste on vfg felts on a cleaning rod. The paste is non-corrosive, non-toxic and oil-soluble (so easy to get rid of) and it finds dirt you'd never believe was in the barrel.

My current cleaning routine is:

Quick clean:

• 1 dry felt to get the loose crap out
• 1 felt with oil on it.
• Push through dry felts until they come out dry and clean.

Proper clean:

• 1 dry felt to get the loose crap out
• Until crap stops coming out on the blue paste felts:
  • 1 super-intensive felt with blue paste on it
  • Push through dry felts until they come out cleanish.
• Push through oily felts until the blue paste is gone.
• Push through dry felts until they come out dry and clean.

The "proper clean" is not for the faint hearted. Don't bother putting any paste into the barrel unless you have several hours to spare.

It wasn't me!

IRLConor wrote: »

The "proper clean" is not for the faint hearted. Don't bother putting any paste into the barrel unless you have several hours to spare.

Too true! I'm planning on spending most of tomorrow at it!

Nemesis

ak51535 wrote: »

sorry to go off topic but how long were ya waitin for your licence?

Application was done in second week in Jan so I'm hoping to get the licence sometime in March.

I'm just getting prepared by asking questions here and reading a lot of the old posts on the shooting forum.

Thanks for the advice on cleaning guys.

Malaga2

Get the 17 boresnake... it works just fine...

Hezz700

I would only recommend using a boresnake as a backup. Also i suggest you purchase a one piece rod, the sectional type are prone to become deformed and bent at the joints which will score your bore lands and destroy accuracy.

milkerman

Hezz700 wrote: »

I would only recommend using a boresnake as a backup. Also i suggest you purchase a one piece rod, the sectional type are prone to become deformed and bent at the joints which will score your bore lands and destroy accuracy.

This is very true. Also the standard of engineering in some kits and you get a 'step' in each joint even before you get a chance to abuse it!
Boresnakes have a section of metal brush embedded in the fibre. This section can be removed by undoing the stitching at the end and rolling back the hollow fabric tube to remove the two segments. I was given one at Christmas and removed the brushes. I find now that dipping the lead inch or two of the boresnake in Hoppes 9 and pulling through two or three times is very effective. You can wash the boresnake in detergent to remove residues.

macnab

Its my understanding that the brass brush cleans out the rifling groves, if these get congested you will loose bullet stability, so I would use the brass once in a while to keep the groves clear. BTW only clean from the chamber down the barrel, dont pull the rod back up the barrel with a patch or brush still attached, that will pull dirt back into the action.

I did a nice simple job on my CZ trigger to make it lighter and break sharper, you might want to consider doing something similar when you get used to the rifle, it just involves swapping the trigger spring for a lighter spring.