.22 Chamber Brush Problem

[Gwhite]

I finally had time to do a more detailed write up of my chamber cleaning research. The cleaning process I discovered is very effective at removing built up carbon in .22 chambers. If you have the time & energy to clean your pistols immediately after every shooting session, it may not be an issue for you. For the college team I help coach, that just isn't practical.

Even with more aggressive attention to chamber cleaning than most people do, the carbon apparently hardens and builds up over time. Once it's fossilized, it can be very stubborn to remove unless you use the process described in the attached article. Even if you do clean your pistol after every shooting session, starting with the barrel and letting it soak while you clean and lubricate everything else will help to make sure you get as much carbon out as possible.

download/file.php?id=27790 (Have you REALLY Cleaned Your Chamber.pdf)

For those of you still in doubt, I did an experiment last night. I used a bronze chamber brush and a pull-through with patches to clean my MatchGun MG2, which had ~ 400 rounds through it since the last bath. I kept going until there was only a faint hint of fouling on the patches coming out. I saved the last patch, and then ran a patch wetted with FP10 CLP though the bore.

I let it sit overnight, used a clean chamber brush to scrub the chamber again, and pulled a patch through. Here are the results:

I think the vast majority of shooters would look at the first patch and conclude that their pistol was clean. For many years, I certainly would have. After the first patch this morning, it took another ~ 10 patches to get them back to what the last patch looked like last night.

The crud I removed after a good soak will slowly build up over years, and eventually can cause all sorts of malfunctions.

The secret is the soak. Even a few hours will help, but overnight is best. Beyond that, and I think the CLP evaporates enough that it's no longer working, and if you wait too long, the crud may re-solidify.