How do you thoroughly clean the barrel on a 17hmr semi-auto rifle, normally requiring a bronze brush to remove hard carbon deposits that have formed in the leade ?

use a 17 cal rod with a 17 cal brush

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
use a 17 cal rod with a 17 cal brush

Using a rod I would have to be cleaning from the muzzle. Is that OK, after reading some cleaning blurb from Otis I thought it was best to clean from breech to muzzle ? Or am I being too picky ?

This subject has been thrashed at www.rimfirecentral.com and many there dont use rods.

They use boresnakes and you could feed it in through ejection port and pull from the muzzle I guess.

Some use linetrimmer cord to push through patches also.

If buying a boresnake make sure it is an 0.172 for centrefire and rimfire and not a 0.177 for air rifles.

Maybe my 17hmr rifle is not typical but a Boresnake doesn't remove the very hard carbon deposits that form in the first inch or so the rifling.

I dont use boresnake except on my shotgun but have read of other guys using solvent on the boresnake and some use 2, 1 for solvent and 1 as a dry one after. Checj=k that other site I mentioned.

Can you not strip the action and feed a rod from the rear? Some actions will allow this, some wont.

Remove bolt so you have some room to work. Feed a rod in from muzzle but without a brush. Fit the brush on rod in breach area and add solvent and pull it back out. I think the brush and solvent will do the job. Finish with a boresnake to dry it as jags wont work very well in reverse.

The real issue with cleaning from the muzzle is the rod wearing the edges of the crown and by pulling you may do less damage than by pushing as you can keep rod centred more and also rod wont bow.

I have heard of muzzle protectors but have never seen them. Only problem with .17 is there isnt much room. Maybe you could slip some very thin plastic between rod and muzzle?

Let us know if it works, ther emust be others with similar .17 semi's

Thanks to all for the advice/tips.

Plug the barrel and soak it with a good cleaner for 24 hours, then use a bore snake or a .17 cal. rod...

You can use a rod from the muzzle if you use a bore guide of some kind or even if you are careful and guide the rod with your left hand and keep it from rubbing on the crown...

damage like that only comes from years of abuse.