Some say if you push the patch out all the way from the muzzle and pull it back through and out the chamber end you will damage the crown. Some say only push the patch half way out the muzzle.... What is the correct way? How can one tell if the crown has been damaged?
Thanks in advance.

How can one tell if the crown has been damaged?


Fire 5 shots and on the end of the muzzle 9the crown) their should be a perfect star shape of carbon deposits. A stuffed crown can be seen if the star is not perfect.

And of course looking at it to see if it has any damage - uneven wear, dents etc.


I push the patch all the way out and then carefully draw the rod back through. But that is me.

.

wait until you see how the Service Teams clean their HiPower rifles. You are going to have a coronary event...

Personally, I have trouble envisioning a flannel patch damaging a steel barrel.

It`s not the patch that damages the crown or rifling.It is the black stuff on the patch-the carbon.The patch serves as a lap when moved back and forth against the rifling and the crown.It is best to shoot bullets that foul least-that way,one cycle of JB is enough.Shooting bullets that really foul like the Hornady DGS solids requires endless cycles of JB.

I push out and bring it back through, I do wish I had a fancy nylon coated rod but figure my rods aren't gonna do muych damage, as little as I clean guns with them. I think for the most part that we clean our guns more often than is strictly necessary. How dirty would a bolt gun need to get before it really affected it's performance?

Red

Sometimes up in the Northern Territory, I wipe down and oil but don't clean for 2 - 3 weeks if we are out hunting all the time and culling.

Haven't seen any of the bolt guns we use be affected yet.

(However, if it is one of my older english guns,
then they get better treatment).

I usually push a couple of wet patches all the way through using the jag. This pushes the vast majority of carbon out. Then I use the slotted tip and a wet patch as a mop to wet the bore thoroughly. I let it soak to react with the copper and then brush, followed with a jag and patch. Lastly, I dry patch mop with the slotted tip and oil for for storage.

I believe that if the carbon debris was going to harm the crown or barrel, it would have done it under the heat and pressure of the round being fired, not from a wet soaked patch. The metal brush will do more harm, in my opinion, and you pull that both ways, don't you?

I don't worry about it.

I think we worry too much at times. I use coated one piece rods and bore guides on my lapped match barrels and scrub hard between matches as the rest of the guys with no problem.

For 30 years I used a three piece stainless rod and no bore guide and that old rod is all scratched up from barrel contact but it never affected the accuracy of my hunting rifles.