how many patches to a clean barrel?

[Darkgael]

I have been meaning to ask this question for a while now.
We read, often on this forum, about proper cleaning methids. Frequently shooters will mention that they use just a few patches to get their barrels clean. Three to six is common.
I wonder what I do wrong when I read that as, fowler or rifle, I use at least twenty patches to get the barrel reasonably clean, And even then.....if I put a coat of oil on the bore and let it sit for a few minutes and then run another patch.....it will not come out clean.
I use hot water and Murphy's oil soap though I have treied lots of other cleaners - Ballistol, Hoppe's BP solvent, Muzzle Blaster, etc. etc. Results are the same. Twenty patches at
least and maybe still some black after oiling.
Suggestions as to what I might be doin wrong or could do better?
Pete

 

[ihuntsnook]

Yeah Pete, stop believing everything you read. I clean with paper towel patches and a mixture of water and Lestoil. It takes 15 to 20 patches and that's about as quick as I can clean a bore, and I started cleaning them in the early 70s.

 

[Bruce Bogart]

No set amount here. I just keep using them until the bore is cleaned and oiled. I buy diaper material and cut it into patches. If it takes 50 or 5, I don't care. As long as the job gets done.
Just my $.02 worth and worth twice the price!

 

[roundball]

Hard to say...you did mention "oil" the bores...if you literally meant petroleum oil, maybe that's contributing to a lot of extra work to get to a bare bore...dunno?

I use steaming hot tap water with a squirt of dishwashing detergent...usually like this:
A couple wet patches.
Dry patch.

A couple strokes with a Bore brush.
Wet patch.
Dry patch.

Dripping wet WD40 patch.
Dry patch.
Final dripping wet WD40 patch.

About 8-10 patches all together.

 

[50cal.cliff]

As many as it takes! :shocked2: :idunno:

When I feel I can't get it any cleaner that's where I quit, so in short I don't have a set amount. Or for that matter even a real idea of how many it takes because I have never counted them! I know when I am done there is usually a pretty good pile of them!

 

[jamesthomas]

It depends on what I use when I'm shooting. When I use Mink Oil it will take me from 10 to 15 patches, When I use spit it's less than 10. It depends on how tight your ball patch combo is. The combo should be tight enough to push the previous shots fouling down to the powder. That way when your through shooting you only have one rounds worth of fouling to clean up. I use only water mixed with a couple of drops of Dawn soap to clean up.

 

[Bob J]

Since I started using the Flintlock EZ Cleaner flush kit, and a Ballistol/water solution, it takes fewer patches to clean than other methods I used to use. Once clean (three or four patches/using both sides of the patch) I dry it real good (four or five more patches). Then a couple of patches with straight Ballistol.

here's another part of the deal: during each phase: Cleaning, Drying, and Lubing, I push a patch down the bore with a ramrod (no jag) then push a patch down with a patch-puller on a ramrod, twirl/rotate ramrod to catch the loose patch and scrub the breech-face (to clean it, during cleaning phase, dry it, during drying phase, then lube it (both patches are lubed with Ballistol) during lubing face.

 

[nchawkeye]

Plug the touch hole with a tooth pick, pour several ounces of water (doesn't have to be hot) in the barrel...Put your thumb over the end of the barrel and tip it up a couple of times...Pour out the water...Run a patch down the barrel a time or two...Add more water, tip a time or two and pour out water...

Remove the tooth pick, dry barrel with patches, spray with WD-40, run a patch down and the barrel is clean...

 

[cynthialee]

I use a bucket of hot water with some dish soap in it about 1/4 the way full.
Remove nipple and set nipple side of barel into the watter. Take a large piece of cloth on the jag run it down the bore and pump it a few times. Take the barrel to the tub and run hot watter through it until it is clear. Dry the barrel with anouther clean big piece of cloth on the jag. Might take two. Then lube up. Clean the nipple put a tiny dab of gun oil on the threads and put it back in place. Replace barrel to the stock, wipe off the finger prints and smudges with a cloth that has a touch of lube on it and put in rifle case nose down until next time I shoot.

I only use patches to shoot. Cleaning I use larger strips of cloth and ussually only 3 of them durring a clean up.

 

[chuck-ia]

I think wd-40 may be the key? I use a little dawn on the first patch, use a siphon hose and pump warm water in and out the barrel a few times, put a new patch on the jag and pump a few more times, by now the patch is usually clean, take the hose off the barrel and let it drain, put on another dry patch and and swab again pushing water out the vent, swab again with a clean patch, (this patch may look a little dirty) then spray the bore with wd-40 in the muzzle and vent, and push it out the vent with a clean patch, maybe 2 more dry patches and then I oil the bore. I go down the next day or two and swab the barrel to make sure everything is ok. I don't really know what is happening but if I don't use wd-40 to help drive the water out it seems to take forever to get a clean patch after swabbing. I allso recycle the cleaning patches, as they are not that dirty, I put them in my bag or shooting box and reuse them at the range, I usually swab after 5 shots. flinch

 

[izzyjoe]

i use windex, i'll spray some down the barrel with the nipple removed, and then some on a patch. after a few strokes i'll submerge the flash hole in water,and give that a few strokes then flush the barrel with clean water, and run a few more patches down just to check, and then it get's the boiling water down the barrel and let cool to dry, and then one patch with olive oil. and them i'm done, maybe 5 to 7 patches, i can use less but i like to make sure it's clean so i'll use more.

 

[Rifleman1776]

For me, many. Or until my arms get tired.

 

[Geraldo]

The answer is that it depends on the bore and the powder used.

My cleaning method is always the same: steaming hot tap water and a bit of Murphy's. Using Graf (Wano) powder I can clean with five patches or less. With the same barrel using Goex, triple that number at the minimum. Some powders just leave more crud.

If your bore is in rough shape, expect it to take longer to clean.

In the end it takes what it takes, don't get overly worried about it.

 

[hanshi]

More than a lot of folks but not a many as a few other folks. An anomaly has surfaced to grab my attention. My smoothbore takes about as many patches as most of my rifles :hmm: . My Rice round bottom barrel averages the fewest though it sometimes takes more than at other times.

In general, a couple dozen patches will take care of most situations though I've occasionally used more than that and also as few as 6. I don't remove the barrel to clean, just the lock. I don't clean until I get pristine white patches back out. As soon as only light gray smudges appear, I dry and oil. After I dry I always wipe the bore really well with WD40. If anything remains it will come out then. I then wipe out the WD40 and apply Barricade.

The next day and every week for a while I wipe again with Barricade which will remove any graphite loosening from the steel. Rust is never a problem and I use room temp water with a drop of detergent.

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Haven't actually counted but I must use at least 15 patches to get the barrel where I want it. I start with the breech end of the barrel in a coffee can. Hot water with a little detergent and use patches on a jag. Switch to a bore brush. Then a small diameter brush for the breech. Back to a wet patching. Then take the barrel out of the can and use dry patches.

If they don't come clean I'll repeat or use some of Track's Bore Cleaner on a patch. Then dry patches.

I hose down the barrel with WD40 and then use a dry patch. Sometimes the WD pulls some more manure out of the bore.

Then I oil it with a better preservative oil like BreakFree LP. GW

 

[Darkgael]

Thanks for the replies. Seems that my cleaning methodology is normal. I have tried, at one time or another, virtually every method mentioned here. Apparently my concern was misplaced.
Pete

 

[BrianL]

Cool water, doubled patches through several strokes to blow out nipple. Remove nipple and scrub with toothbrush around nipple seat and patent breech or vent on flinter. Repeat double patch. Wipe dry both rod and barrel and run double dry patch switching after a few strokes. Hose with WD40, run double patch soaked with Wd-40. Stand muzzle down while cleaning lock and stock. Total patches usually under ten. I have yet to find any rust or corrosion even after long term inactivity

 

[Darkgael]

No nipples. All of my long guns are flinters. The GPR gets the barrel in the bucket treatment. The fowlers have pinned barrels and I am not a fan of removing pins any more often than is absolutely needed. They get the "plug the touchhole and soak" treatment.
Pete

 

[MJMarkey]

As many as it takes to clean the thing. Sometimes more sometimes less. Always more than a few. Seriously, I clean with warm water and dishwash using a couple of patches till all the water in the barrel comes out clean. Then I rinse and swab it till all the soap is out. Then I dry it I oil it and check it with an insertable bore lite. Wipe it down outside with oil and do the lock, more patches. Usually less than 20 patches I think. But maybe more. Patches are really cheap compared to replacing a rusty barrel. Keep the mission in mind.

 

[roundball]

Patches are really cheap

Yes, especially using home made stuff for cleaning patches...there hasn't been a piece of 100% cotton clothing or material thrown away at our house for the past 20 years...left over T-shirts, the Chief of Staff's nightgowns & PJs, etc.