Hey, what's the best way to protect the muzzle from rod damage? Does anyone use a muzzle protector to guide the rod? Any advice on who makes one for a 22 cal. or whether one is even necessary?

For 22 rimfires I use a 3 foot length of 100 Lb test monofilament fishing line. Tie a bulky knot in one end, then melt the knot into a ball with a lighter and slightly sharpen the other end with a pocket knife. You can then push it through a patch that will get hung up on the knot and pull this through the gun to clean it. You can't use it to scrub out copper or heavy lead fouling but it works great on 22's.

Thanks for the trick. What I've got is a Savage 99 in 22 Hi Power, and a Martini-actioned 22 K-Hornet. So unfortunately I will need to do a bit of scrubbing from time to time.

Hi Stu,

I'd use a bore snake. That's what I use on the BLR I have. I also bought one for my Win 52 Rimfire even though it is a bolt action. I find that unless you get a .22 rimfire rod (slightly smaller in diameter) the sharp .22 chamber cuts into the coated centerfire rods. and as copper fouling is not a problem the bore snake is more than adequate.

They are pretty cheap too.

Regards
John

Stu,

Also if you use Wipe-out and leave it overnight you won't need to scrub, its that good on getting copper out. But clean out the powder residue with Hoppes first, then treat with Wipe-out & leave overnight.

Works great.

I don't know why anyone would clean a 22 Rimfire barrel on a regular basis. The bullets provide grease to protect the bore. They don't foul enough to effect accuracy. Anything you stuff in a bore will not do it any good. I only clean mine when accuracy declines. It never has so, I guess I have never had a real reason to clean one. The only time I run a rod in one of my 22s is when I nottice a junk in the bore after storage.

My father was a small bore shooter. After many thousands of rounds of Ely 10X his accuarcy went south. 10 minuets of cleaning with JB fixed that. I don't think the rifle has been cleaned since. It is an Anshutz Free rifle. Recently I took it out with some good ammo and killed flies walking on the target at 50 yards. Don't think I'll be sticking any rods down that bore.

.22 Center fire is a whole different thing. Use a good coated rod and be carefull. I still think more barrels are ruined by over cleaning than shooting.

Hey John, had to re-register huh?
Thanks for the tips. I've got the bore snakes already. Just sometimes I'll need to use a rod I guess.

I'm surprised that nobody has suggested one of these brass muzzle protectors?? I thought they were all the rage, when you had to clean from the muzzle. Regardless of whether you need to clean a lot or less, you'll still need to run the rod through the muzzle. For that purpose, I believe you need some sort of muzzle protection. I have a brass "thingie" that I use for that purpose. It is not caliber specific, which means I can use it for all calibers. Drawback: it has to be held against the muzzle with the one hand, while you operate the rod with the other. I can't remember where I picked up this gizmo, probably at one of the mail order shooting suppliers??

For a coated rod, something like a protector made out of Delrin would be ideal. What does Sinclair's have?? What about Brownells??
- mike

Stu,

Yep, got lost in the move to the new server. Tried many times to log in to no avail, then I saw a post that said easiest thing was to re-register, so that is what I did.

Glad you got the snakes already. I'm not as convinced as some on this board as to their effectiveness but I am convinced on the Wipe-out. Hope you can get it in Zurich. There is a bit of a knack to using it. Give me a buzz when you get round to it.

Regards
John