quote:

...-The rifle still groups well after 40 rounds. That is good to know on a safari.
-It probably needs 1-5 shots to settle down, so I will re-test this point. It may not be true.

I've never been on a Safari(and probably never will), but am curious about "Gun Cleaning on Safari". I must be under the mistaken impression that the firearms are properly cleaned each evening by some of the hired hands. Is that incorrect?

I can also see where the cleaning is something I would want to do myself. Is there some reason this is impractical on Safari?

And I prefer to use a barrel that places the First Bullet from a clean barrel in the spot I want it to land. Not real sure how to ask this so it makes sense, so bear with me. I can see where a person would just keep Hunting for whatever is next on their List after making a Kill on Safari, and I can also see where it would make sense to call it a day after making a special Kill. Does a person normally fire the rifle a whole lot in one day, at long distances, on Safari?

Best of luck to all of you on your Safaris.

Unless things are wet, there should be no reason to clean a rifle on a safari unless you shoot about 100 animals or are using corrosive ammo.

You should know where your gun shoots with a clean and dirty barrel. A PH made an observation to me that the guns of most clients seemed to shoot high when sighting in. That would be because of a clean barrel with residual oil left in it.

I agree that unless it has been raining it is not necessary, with modern ammo, to clean the barrel during the hunt. Metal or powder fouling is not an issue. Heck, take the rifle already dirty! Eliminate any issue or mental gymnastics over that first sighter shot once you get there. The mechanism though deserves attention. Wipe off the dust, check for loose mounts, light lube and wipe off the rails/bolt perhaps. Ensure action screws are still tight. Mostly just check it over for any developing problems that would be embarrassing or worse on the next day.
Gary

PS: I also recommend you stop with the negative thoughts about going on a safari. There are several very reasonably priced trips available and folks on this forum will help you find them. If you really would like to do it, there is a way. I'm a walking case history of negative thoughts and know of what I speak!

GaryL is a wise man.

I once read about someone on safari staff cleaning rifles and putting bolts in the wrong rifles of the same make and caliber.

On a personal note, I once had a Searcy .470 that one barrel was WAY off when clean, but with one fouling shot, was dead on with the other barrel. If I cleaned the bore each day, I'd have had to shoot a fouling shot each morning.

Just wiping down a gun with an oily rag will usually do (absent rain, of course).

When I get close to leaving, I give my rifle a thorough cleaning. I then take it to my range and shoot a 3 to 5 shot group to make sure it is still dead on one last time. Then I don't touch it again as far as cleaning goes until I get home. Then I give it a thorough cleaning for storage.

I don't like to see dirty equipment as this so often reflects the attitude of the owner. I clean my rifles every evening: run a patch through the bore and clean the action. That way, in addition to being clean, you check that all the screws and bits and pieces are in place and tight. beats finding out an action screw is missing in the field

I haven't seen any of the 'hired hands' touch a rifle. I don't clean mine while hunting, might run some break free down the bore if it got wet, which isn't that common in Africa. I've never called it a day after killing anything if I still had the availability to hunt something.

In addition to what Gary said...

I always keep electrical tape over the muzzle of my rifles.

If I have shot the rifle that day I would run one of those bore snakes through the bbl 2 or 3 times.

No solvent or oil, just the bore snake.

Any time I put a gun on a plane i always make sure it is properly wiped down and the bore has oil in it.

Thus if the gun is "lost" for a few days [or weeks] it will be protected.

I clean it good after sighting in at home. Then after the sightin test at the hunt area I leave it alone till back in the states. I may wipe the outside down with a sheath wipe but really never clean the bore. I do carry a small Otis cleaning set in my duffle and an old Hoppe's scredriver that has all the blades and allens necessary in the handle.. I have had to change scopes a couple of times but have never had a reason to clean a gun.

deleted by Alp#4 ...poor stab at humor . It was out of bounds,my bad!

I agree that you should not have to clean you rifle on safari. That being said, I have had to clean out mud from my barrel before on a hunt. I now carry an Otis cleaning kit. It is small and I have found that you can clean out mud or debris that find there way into the barrel.

quote:

That way, in addition to being clean, you check that all the screws and bits and pieces are in place and tight.

So you check each screw each night with a torque wrench?

Good advice all around here. I did what several other guys mentioned - cleaned the bore well before the trip and fired a couple 3-shot groups at the range the week before leaving. Once in Africa, the ritual sight-in and good visual check then daily wipe-down of the exterior. Never touched the bore until I returned home.

I also agree with GaryL - never say never regarding your first trip to Africa!!


Phil

Barring salt water air, or rain, a rifle doesn't need cleaning while on Safari! On another note your comment:

quote:

I prefer to use a barrel that places the First Bullet from a clean barrel in the spot I want it to land.

I s flawed, IMO! A scope should never be adjusted to shoot to POI of the first shot from a clean barrel! Clen the rifle mount the scope, boresight it and fire three rounds through the barrel, or through each barrel of a double rifle. Then fire a group, find the center of that group and zero the scope to that center, fired from properly fouled barrels. Now clean your rifle for travel, and When you get to camp, foul it again on the test range, before the hunt, and forget it till you get home. Safari is different from North American hunting, in that you will be shooting several animals. many times you will be shooting two or three in one day, before going back to camp. The sights should always be on when the barrels are fouled, because that is the way the rifle will be used on Safari.

I'll come inside the room even if it SMELLS awfull.I am the kind of hunter who alots one round for each kill.I'll kill three animals before I stop and clean right there and then.When I go on safari I will carry my pro-shot cleaning rod and JB compound with me and leave it in the truck.The most trusted shots come right after cleaning.What better place to put this FACT to use then on a dangerous game hunt.STAY TUNED because I shall soon post proof and a demonstration with my 458WM. Good hunting and CLEAN one shot kills!

quote:

When I go on safari I will carry my pro-shot cleaning rod and JB compound with me and leave it in the truck.

ROFLMAO!!!

My rifles are thoroughly cleaned and and all screws checked and tightened before leaving home. Once I get to Africa I don't clean my rifles until I get home - unless they get too dirt, muddy, or wet. Then, I do my own cleaning. I don't know of any hired hand that would or should clean your rifle for you. I know that I won't let anyone mess with my rifles - not even the PH. When I put them away for the night the only things i do is take out the bolt, look down the barrel, if there is light on the other end that is good enough for me, replace the bolt, and maybe wipe it down with a silicon cloth.

Hot core, as long as you keep going into the Africa forums you'll always have that thing that gnaws in the back of your mind that you are missing something. Then, once you have gone to Africa, you'll be changed forever because you can never go just once. You will be hooked.

We'll see you out in the bushveld,
Namibiahunter

While I've never been on safari, I do hunt quite a bit during hunting season. Once I have a load worked up that I like and my scope zeroed, I won't clean the rifle until after I'm finished hunting. I might lightly oil it during the season, but I try to avoid cleaning it while I've got the scope set where I want it. So long as you don't dunk the rifle, get rained on, and can keep your oily, sweaty hands off the blued steel, there's really no reason for a thorough cleaning.

With that said, I do carry a little bottle of oil, a couple patches, and a three piece cleaning rod in with my kit just in case I get catch in a situation where I'll need to clean the rifle in the field (get mud down the bore, etc.). This is all light to carry and fits in a gallon zip lock baggy. Its an "once of prevention" sort of thing.

As already mentioned, I never clean my rifles unless they get wet.

And under no circumstance will I let any of the camp staff even handle my rifle, let alone clean them.

On the last day of the hunt, I normally run a couple of wet patches of Hoppe's #9. And leave them that way until I get back home for a thorough cleaning.

For this I take the stock off, and give them a complete cleaning and oiling.

Roger that, ledvm!

If it's dusty, I brush out the chamber and make sure there's no grit in the follower or on the action and lenspen the scope. Other than that, I don't clean anything.

Hot Core, beg, borrow, or steal the money and go. You will never regret it. It will expose you to an entirely new universe.

Much obliged to everyone for an excellent Education about "Rifle Care on Safari". I really didn't know how you all handled that situation.

I'm not saying I wouldn't want to go, it is just that I'm currently in a situation that requires my attention where I can't be gone for more than 3-4 hours at a time. Just one of those things you have to handle because it is the right thing to do. But, there will eventually be an end to it and then maybe I could go.

Glad to hear everyone enjoys their Safaris so much as to want other folks to be able to have the same experience. Speaks well for you all.

Thanks again!

I personally attend to my own rifles everyday in the evening after returning to camp and before washing up. Again checked in the morning before departure to the game fields. Never had a problem with function, or damage... I wonder why...

As to distances, often determined by the type of hunt and location. My furthest was about 250 yards, and in the first safari 22 animals with 27 shots, a baboon took Lord help me 4, and a I do not include insurance shots at point blank, quanity 2, Buffalo.

No one touches my rifle while Im on safari unless a PH asks to see it and that hasnt happened yet. I carry it always even back to the tent after a long day.

quote:

I carry it always

Amen to that!!! I would feel naked with out mine.

Who should know you rifle better then you?
Why would one consider alowing someone else to handle much less clean a weapon that you life may depend on?
Just my $.02 worth

It is widely rumored that on the seventh day God rested, in fact, he invented the bore snake on the seventh day. I run a bore snake down the bore with no oil or solvent and wipe down the metal with a silicon rag, then it is ready to go the next morning.

I wouldn't let the "hired hands" touch my rifle. Never hunt with a clean barrel. Often times a barrel needs to be fouled before it will shoot right. I clean right before a hunt and then shoot a few groups then leave it alone. My wife has been practicing with a 7mm-08 that has had around 100 rounds fired with no loss of accuracy. I would have no problem with her taking it hunting right now without cleaning it. However, it will be cleaned and then shot before we go. I do take a cleaning rod and patches on the hunt in case of barrel obstruction or dirt.

quote:

Never hunt with a clean barrel. Often times a barrel needs to be fouled before it will shoot right. I clean right before a hunt and then shoot a few groups then leave it alone. My wife has been practicing with a 7mm-08 that has had around 100 rounds fired with no loss of accuracy. I would have no problem with her taking it hunting right now without cleaning it.

A man after my own heart!

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:
IMO! A scope should never be adjusted to shoot to POI of the first shot from a clean barrel!

Don't know anything about Africa, but cleaning dust etc out of all of the rifle in the evening sounds like a reasonable thing to do. What else do you do? hit the grog like Hemmingway and Ruark?.
Honestly, I've never heard of so many inaccurate rifles except on AR.

No I don't set the scope for the first shot from a clean barrel, I set the scope for the first GROUP out of a clean bore. With target-range rifles or hunting rifles, mine and others I've seen here, they group OK with one to 40 shots, or they don't group well enough to use at all.

I have never seen a Full-bore shooter foul a barrel before starting shooting bullseyes. Admitedly they were heavy barrels, but my sporting barrels are quite light.

Even my old model inaccurate unbedded Rugers used to do a triangular or round 1 1/2" group with the first no further away from the centre than any others.

I will admit though, when I was "in the grove" when trap shooting comp. I did have my "lucky" underpants.

Good post mate!

On returning to camp in the evenings I wipe down the metal of the rifles with an oily rag and if the barrels are a bit dusty I run a dry patch through. At the end of the Safari I oil patch the barrels for the trip home where they then get a thorough cleaning.

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:
On returning to camp in the evenings I wipe down the metal of the rifles with an oily rag and if the barrels are a bit dusty I run a dry patch through. At the end of the Safari I oil patch the barrels for the trip home where they then get a thorough cleaning.

Ditto.

quote:

Originally posted by JAL:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by MacD37:
IMO! A scope should never be adjusted to shoot to POI of the first shot from a clean barrel!

quote:

Don't know anything about Africa, but cleaning dust etc out of all of the rifle in the evening sounds like a reasonable thing to do. What else do you do? hit the grog like Hemmingway and Ruark?.
Honestly, I've never heard of so many inaccurate rifles except on AR.

Your comment about not knowing anything about Africa, I suppose is in regard to my comment that Hunting there is different from most places where one only hunts one animal on a hunting trip. This means, that unless you stop and clean your rifle every time you shoot an animal,in Africa, you are hunting with fouled barrels after the first animal shot from a clean barrel. IMO, since you will be doing 90% of your shooting, on Safari, with a fouled barrel, why not adjust you scope to a fouled barrel? The difference may not make a difference if all the shots are under two hundred yards, but if you get a shot at 300 or 400 at a plians game trophy of a life time,and can't get closer, with the barrel fouled, I'd want to know exactly where the bullet is going to hit!

Wipeing the dust off a rifle at the end of the day is not my defination of "CLEANING' where rifles are concerned!Certainly everyone does that!

As far as hitting the grog, I'll leave that to the sots who enjoy being in a stupor!

I don't know where you see "so many inaccurate rifles on AR".
Some folks place too much faith in the pin point accuracy of a rifle, from the bench, than they do learning to shoot from hunting positions, under hunting conditions!

quote:

I have never seen a Full-bore shooter foul a barrel before starting shooting bullseyes. Admitedly they were heavy barrels, but my sporting barrels are quite light.

That is because most "bull" shooters have all the time in the world, and a spread of equipment for every eventuality, from acts of God, to Mirage, and some even clean barrels between shots on target ranges. I find the best long range target shooters are generally piss poor shots under hunting conditions, and even worse hunters! They spend more time looking for something to fix on their rifles than they do learning to hunt!

quote:

I will admit though, when I was "in the grove" when trap shooting comp. I did have my "lucky" underpants.

............and most compitition shooters, have panties that stay in a WAD, lucky or not!

I guess that's what make a horse race, all the horses don't have to be the same color, or have the jocky!

I carry the following kit:

- Bore Snake (to remove dust debris from the day's events)

- Small bottle of Hoppe's oil and small tube of light grease (I use Krieghoff Gun-glide)

- Silicone gun rags (2)

- Large cloth (for wiping off dust before using the silicone treated rag)

- Snap caps.

- Small Brownell's screwdriver tool kit (invariably somebody in camp will need this!!!)

I do a quick function of my weapons check every evening before the "adult beverages" begin to flow, this way I'm ready in the AM at moment's notice and ain't jacking arounsd with my gear at 04:30 or whenever. Don't bother cleaning bores (with solvants) until I return to the states.

At hunt's end I leave everything with my PH as a little gift (except for the snap caps).

This method has worked for me for years.

JW

I take an item I sell on my web site called Rapid Rod. While it may not clean any better than many others it is a RIGID rod that will fit in your shirt pocket and allow you to remove any mud, dirt, snow or a stuck cartridge case. I like the ability to be able to poke out some pc. of empty brass that for some unknown reason decided to say in my chamber. Most times that only takes a light tap but it is hard to do that with a bore snake, or Otis anything.
I had the manuf. put in one extra section in my order and this rod will work thru the back of the receiver and thur bbls. 26+" with ease. It will work with bore sizes 22 cal. and up. No loose parts to lose and it weighs a big 3 ounces and comes in a handy nylon belt sheath too. Add a small dollop of Rem. Oil on any patch and I am in business. I usuall have some of those pre fixed in a small zip lock bag stuck someplace.
It has fixed several problems for me an some of my pals out in the field in years past.
Put me in the bunch that never cleans a rifle bore out in the field unless I drop it in the mud like I did once in Colorado.
I clean the heck out of them once back home but I like my barrel fouled before the hunt. I don't see bench rest shooters passing up a sighter or fouling shot before going for record.

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:
I don't know where you see "so many inaccurate rifles on AR".

These seem to be in the majority; The ones where the first shot out of a clean barrel goes a few inches high and right, and then it seems to take 3 to 15 or more to settle in.
I can only think they shoot very stressed barrels, or use the bullets to shoot out layers of oil. Beats me. Never had any trouble with a patched out from Hoppies No. 9.

quote:

Originally posted by Harry:
but I like my barrel fouled before the hunt. I don't see bench rest shooters passing up a sighter or fouling shot before going for record.

Well your dealing with some strange people when talking of bench rest shooters.
They shoot in fractions of an inch, hardly necessary for most safari work surely.

They also would like to test the wind with the first few, and I believe they have the right to shoot on the sighter target during the "for record" group. That would hardly be for foulers would it.
These characters would also be likely to shoot their best group on the sighter target.

But back to safari, sure you'd want to test fire, and then go shooting, but wouldn't it be great to know that IF you had some reason to clean out the barrel, it would then still shoot straight?

Me either. If I had a rifle that shot very differently when clean and oiled (dry patch after oily patch) I'd figure out why and fix it or dump the rifle.

Why should a rifle shoot to a significantly different point of aim when clean?

Not a problem with my rifles.

$bob$

quote:

Originally posted by JAL:

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:
I don't know where you see "so many inaccurate rifles on AR".

These seem to be in the majority; The ones where the first shot out of a clean barrel goes a few inches high and right, and then it seems to take 3 to 15 or more to settle in.
I can only think they shoot very stressed barrels, or use the bullets to shoot out layers of oil. Beats me. Never had any trouble with a patched out from Hoppies No. 9.

JAL you must be reading a different part of this forum than I! The only place I've seen where a rifle took 15 rounds to settle down was with break-in of a new barrel. I think you are simply looking for a fight, with this line of thinking, and I will not accommodate you. I think you know my meaning with regard to my first post to you, but..........

Let me explain a little better in case I wasn't clear.
I simply do some shooting on the range before I leave for a safari, and make sure the sights are on at the end of the session. Then I run one oil patch through the bore, and wipe down the outside before departing. When I get to camp, I run one dry patch through the barrel, or barrels with a double, fire the sight check, and go hunting. I would say that constitutes sights set for fouled barrel, or barrels. This only makes sense to me, because after any shooting in Africa, Alaska, or anyplace else, I'm hunting with a rifle from fouled barrels! It ain't a big deal, and not worth the petty donni-brook you seem to want over angels dancing on the head of a pin!

Did the light come on now?

I hope my PH or back up rifleman takes accuracy seriously. If not,I'll have to book with an outfitter who is nearest to a CHURCH.