Barrel Care Advice from IVGunsmith

Dear Shooters – Don’t forget barrel care after your hunt. Significant damage incurred to neglected or incorrectly cleaned gun barrels has made me a fair amount of money over the years. Avoid damage and expensive gunsmith bills by caring for, and storing, your guns properly. You can always take them to a qualified gunsmith for inspection, cleaning and testing, before and after use.

Proper cleaning tips: Bolt guns should be cleaned from breech to muzzle. Levers and semi auto, if you use a bore guide it will protect the lands and grooves, which effects accuracy and consistency over time. Always use extra care to draw the cleaning rod out as straight as possible. Following these guidelines can save your firearm from an expensive replacement or relining.

Here in MN, I’m finding a lot of “gunk” in barrels, causing firearms to work improperly or not at all. Not sure if it’s some sort of product reacting to the extreme humidity variations, or what. I’ll update as I get to the bottom of that issue.

On my own firearms, I clean and check them after every shooting session and check the bores every 6 months.  I use Break Free and Hoppes, they do the job and are still keeping my firearms operating wonderfully.

Have fun, happy shooting and we’ll see you next time.