CZ 455 Varmint - Clean or Not to Clean

PSXDupe

Guys

Just submitted my application for a .22LR and have a question which I know has been asked before but here we go.

It's a CZ 455, I plan to you CCI Stingers / CCI Mini-Mags. As far as I know these are copper washed. So to the question, how often should you clean the bore. I've read people saying never, ever time they shoot but then I read that you can damage the crown of the gun by using brushes, other recommend boresnakes etc.

Shooting 200 round per week, would a cleaning schedule of boresnake each week, brushes once per month be overkill or not enough or how is it best to decide when to clean and how.

Do I need to consider copper fouling due to the CCI rounds being copper washed.

Any help would be appreciated.

IRLConor

I'm very much in the camp of "clean every time you use it". I can count the times my rifle has gone in the safe dirty on the fingers of one hand and I've shot tens of thousands of rounds through it.

Yes, you can damage a rifle by poor cleaning. You need to be particularly careful of the crown area and use a bore guide to avoid getting oil or cleaning fluid in the trigger.

Get a good cleaning rod and either a jag and patches or felts and an adapter. This picture shows pretty much my cleaning routine.

I've never shot rounds with copper, but if I did I'd want it out of the barrel along with the carbon and lead.

Deaf git

You can't really decide on ammunition until you get the rifle. You might want to use minimags but your 455 might shoot a lot better with something else. When you get the gun, buy a variety of ammo and see which gives best accuracy.
Same with cleaning, my cz needs 30 rounds from a freshly cleaned barrel to reach it's best. Have never had copper problems in a 22 either- maybe pressure & velocity aren't high enough to cause a copper fouling problem. I used to clean my 22 after each outing but nowadays only clean every 500 rnds or so.
The felt wads mentioned by Irlconor above are brilliant.

IRLConor

Deaf git wrote: »

Same with cleaning, my cz needs 30 rounds from a freshly cleaned barrel to reach it's best.

I guess I'm lucky. I need 1-3 rounds, depending on how thorough the last clean was. The first round is loud and goes top right by about 15mm or so. After that it's pretty much all where I point it, but the second and third rounds can be a little loose if it had the brass brush before shooting.

Deaf git wrote: »

The felt wads mentioned by Irlconor above are brilliant.

I'm a big fan of the vfg felts because I found it was hard to get an even clean with regular patches and a jag. The wrinkles in the patch will pick up some bits and not others so I found it would take a lot more patches before they came out clean. You can scrub with the felts too, which can be useful and they're really absorbent so it's easy to get a load of cleaning fluid into the barrel.

Witcher

IRLConor wrote: »

I guess I'm lucky. I need 1-3 rounds

Is that out of a CZ barrel or a match barrel?

I use my CZ for shooting benchrest and after a cleaning the accuracy is gone, I had to put a box and a half down the barrel a fortnight ago before the groups tightened and it was useable for my purposes.

Lads I know shooting with Lilja barrels put felts through it between every card and then 1/2 sighters are enough to foul it but a CZ won't replicate that.

hathcock

PSXDupe wrote: »

Guys

Just submitted my application for a .22LR and have a question which I know has been asked before but here we go.

It's a CZ 455, I plan to you CCI Stingers / CCI Mini-Mags. As far as I know these are copper washed. So to the question, how often should you clean the bore. I've read people saying never, ever time they shoot but then I read that you can damage the crown of the gun by using brushes, other recommend boresnakes etc.

Shooting 200 round per week, would a cleaning schedule of boresnake each week, brushes once per month be overkill or not enough or how is it best to decide when to clean and how.

Do I need to consider copper fouling due to the CCI rounds being copper washed.

Any help would be appreciated.

had a cz bolt action for 20 years,never cleaned the bore,it shot as good after 20 years as the day it was bought..22 velocity isn;t enough to cause bore fouling like in a centrefire,so it would appear that cleaning the bore on a .22 ls is only a waste of time.

IRLConor

Strider wrote: »

Is that out of a CZ barrel or a match barrel?

It's a Lilja, hanging off a Bleiker action. So yeah, a little different from a light barrel.

IRLConor

hathcock wrote: »

it would appear that cleaning the bore on a .22 ls is only a waste of time.

It depends on the gun. Mine starts to open up after about 200 rounds or so. Not by much, but by enough to be noticeable.

PSXDupe

Bore Tech V-Stix Rod .22 - 6.5mm
VFG Felt Adaptor
CFG Standard Felts - Bulk Bag of 500
Bore Tech Brass Brush
Bore Tech Nylon Brush
Bore Tech Proof Positive Jag
Lowey Cleaning Rod Guide

What gear do I need from above, am I missing anything else ?

Do you need to use brushes if you are using felts?
If you only need felts do you need a bore guide (felt don't look as if they'd fit through it)?
Do you use standard felts and intensive felt or would you use brushes instead of intensive felts?

Sorry for all the questions but if am going to clean it then I want to do it right.

Thanks again

Deaf git

The difference between that Lilja and the CZ barrell is god knows how many hours of lapping with progressively finer cutting grits (aside from the steel, the number and shape of the lands etc. Actually its like putting a duck alongside a swan).
My Anschutz is a doddle to clean, my CZ takes time. My Anschutz is back to it's boring, Germanic efficiency in 3-4 rounds after cleaning. The cz is ok after 30-40 and at it's best from 40-400 or so, after that the flyers start- 30 or 40mm at 50m.
Neither rifle performs with cci, the Anschutz wont comfortably chamber minimags and this is the sporting 1710, not a target gun at all.
The cleaning felts I use were bought from a airgun shop in the uk, there must have been a thousand in the bag. They have a tiny hole in the middle and are speared on the end of the cleaning jag. I wish i could find them for the HMR in .17

yubabill1

If using Stingers, you will have to remove copper fouling. Too much noise and fuss for what they offer IMHO.

The CCI Velocitor hits just as hard - can't understand why more people don't use them.

IRLConor

PSXDupe wrote: »

What gear do I need from above, am I missing anything else ?

If you're only using felts you don't need the proof positive jag.

PSXDupe wrote: »

Do you need to use brushes if you are using felts?

Yes. The general idea is that you use the felts to do the "every day" cleaning and the brushes get used for deeper, less frequent cleans.

PSXDupe wrote: »

If you only need felts do you need a bore guide (felt don't look as if they'd fit through it)?

The inside diameter of the bore guide will be the same size as your barrel. The felts will fit through just fine, and you should use the bore guide at all times. It not only stops excess liquids getting in your trigger mechanism but it also helps keep the cleaning rod straight so you're not scraping it off your chamber or poking your breech face.

PSXDupe wrote: »

Do you use standard felts and intensive felt or would you use brushes instead of intensive felts?

I use standard felts for pretty much all the cleaning and I only use the intensive felts when the fouling is being stubborn.

Mind yourself with the super intensive felts as well. They have lots of tiny metal hairs embedded in them and it's easy to get one stuck in a finger or thumb like a splinter. It's a deeply unpleasant experience. When putting them on the adapter grip the felt and turn the adapter, not the other way around.

PSXDupe

yubabill1 wrote: »

If using Stingers, you will have to remove copper fouling. Too much noise and fuss for what they offer IMHO.

The CCI Velocitor hits just as hard - can't understand why more people don't use them.

Yeah, the reviews I've read seem to suggest the Velocitors are extremely good and accurate. Just have seen them around as much as the stingers etc.