Barrel care before, during and after shooting your rifle

There are millions of posts about barrel care that tell you how to clean it, but you have to do more than that to give your rifle’s barrel the nurturing it needs to give its best accuracy over a long life. 

Even before you start shooting, new barrels should be cleaned before use to eliminate anything that might contaminate the bore. True, this is not strictly necessary in modern rifles that usually supplied without packing grease etc, but it never hurts to be cautious.

Personally, I am not all that fussed about the process that some designate as breaking in a new bore; each to his own. 

Of all the items that may cause wear and trouble in a bore, one item stands out — excessive heat. When a barrel heats up too much, several things occur that are detrimental to accuracy and general wear. 

First, the bore reduces in size, very slightly, increasing pressure on the projectile. Pressures and velocities rise, and the projectiles impact on the target at a different place. 

Excessive heat over time affects the rifling and causes deterioration of the throat of the chamber.

Thus, rule number one is to keep the barrel temperature at reasonable levels. 

It’s an issue that those who argue about shooting three five-shot groups strangely fail to mention. I normally shoot three-shot groups at a comfortable pace; if I shoot five-shot groups at the same comfortable pace, what is the effect on group size due to the extra heat and additional combustion residue? Food for thought. 

The heat issue is probably irrelevant in most hunting situations but becomes an issue for someone sniping at a large rabbit patch, or for a target shooter; benchrest shooters have to fit their shots within a time frame. 

One way out of this situation is to have another rifle available, but I know is not always be possible. If limited to one rifle, you just have to space the shots. 

Hunting rifles spend most of their time — and often extended periods — stored in a safe, where you need to continually protect them from that old enemy, rust. 

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time assessing which liquids were most likely to provide maximum protection. 

We have to be a bit careful here as the liquid requirement to protect a bore in storage in hot, humid Townsville may well differ compared with cold, damp Hobart, and again compared with dry Alice Springs and its wider temperature variations. 

In addition, the type of barrel steel may also have a bearing on the types of liquids used. 

Whatever liquids suits your circumstances, they must be easy to apply and easy to remove before shooting — and you must clear them the from your barrel before shooting.

In my mind there are two requirements of these liquids. The first is to protect the bore from potential rust, the second to attack any combustion residue that may still remain. 

Two liquids I had available appeared to solve the problem. Hoppes No 9 needs no introduction; it’s been around for years and simply works. Penetrene is a well know rust preventative. I simply added them together in equal parts.

I clean the bore (use whatever method you choose), then apply at least two soaked patches of the mixture. 

Under normal circumstances I run at least one more patch through at three-monthly intervals (suburban Melbourne). 

When the rifle is next used, I merely run a dry patch through the bore to remove the residue before encasing the rifle for transport. Usually there are some slight traces of combustion reside that the Hoppes in the mixture has picked up.

Obviously, there are other liquids that work just as efficiently. This works for me. 

If you have another point of view, please add a comment.