How would you clean? BAR

Flybuster

New member
I've had this semi-automatic rifle for a while, but haven't shot it too much. It's a Browning BAR in 300 Win.Mag. It seems the only way to clean with a rod is to shove it down the muzzle. This thought makes me cringe, because of the possiblity of crown damage.

It seems this rifle shoots pretty good, and I wouldn't want to do anything to ruin that.

I might be answering my own question here. But I thought about using a Patchworm, and pulling patches through the bore. I am a Wipe-out fan, and rarely brush, anyways.

Any other ideas or experiences with these rifles?
 
Get an NRA firearms disassembly manual, learn how to strip the rifle down to the point it can be easily cleaned properly. Or get a bore snake, but that still will leave some internals with out inspection, or cleaning or lube. And I sort of recall that the BAR needs to be cleaned and lubed on a pretty regular basis .
 
Quote:
And I sort of recall that the BAR needs to be cleaned and lubed on a pretty regular basis .



Just like my Browning Gold shotgun, what a pain in the butt.

Thank you for your input, Sir.
 
Flybuster, guys in my family have been using BAR's for a while now. You have to remember that these guns are not target rifles, they usually get shot checking sight in and shooting at game only.

If you use a coated rod you will have no issues lapping the crown egg shaped with the amount that you will be shooting it.

I usually end up cleaning all my relatives rifles, I usually push 4 wet patches down the tube, brush 25 strokes with a good brush from www.sinclairintl.com, wetting the brush after every 5 strokes with Monatana Extreme, dry patch out that mess, then 4 patchs soaking wet with Montana 50 bmg Coppper solvent. On one 7 mag, it takes 2 applications of the copper solvent. Montana Extreme is an oil based product, so issues of rusting the bore are not an issue.

I use a tool to completely dry out the chamber with a patch with lighter fluid on it.

I use the 22 caliber Dewey rods which leaves less contact with the bore.

Good luck! Remember that the cooler that you keep the barrel during sight in, the less copper you will have in your barrel!
 
I clean my BAR from the muzzle and i use nothing but Dewey Coated or Tipton Carbon Rods. I have read not to use the foam cleaner in the Semi-Auto Rifle because it gets into the gas ports but that could just be Internet hear-say. I use Butch Bore Shine, Barnes Copper Cleaner, Shooter's Choice and Sweets if the rifle has a lot of fouling. Basically i clean my Browning just like my bolt guns , just from the other end.
 
Allright guys, thanks for the info. I knew I asked in the right place.

I won't be using wipe-out, I forgot about the gas port. I have some Butches bore shine . I don't have any coated medium bore rods, so I will take Ackleymans advice and use my 22 cal dewey rod.

The hard thing will be trying to resist shooting the gun for practice.
 
I have 2 BAR's. I do it carefully from the muzzle with a coated rod. The forend also comes off fairly easily & when you have the time & are not rushing it's good to give the guts a going over every few years. The owners manual explains the procedure.
 
I know an old man that claims he has never, not once, cleaned his old .243 BAR! This old guy isn’t a target shooter or sport shooter. He lives in the backwoods of the Ozark Mountains and lives a pretty Spartan existence. Every shot is at some type of critter for one reason or another. The rifle stays loaded all the time and is a constant companion. He shoots about 100 rounds through the rifle every year with a handload of IMR-4350 and 100 gr. Hornady flat base Interlock spitzer bullet. He wipes down the outside with a little oil of whatever he has on hand and that is the extent of the maintenance that old rifle gets. He never has trouble with it and told me when he couldn't hit what he was aiming at, or, the rifle jammed he'd clean it. Amazing, but he has had the rifle for 20+ years and it seems to work for him. His freezer is always full of venison and turkeys and nothing that bothers his garden or stock last long enough to digest the meal. He even told me once of shooting a big flathead catfish that was up in a shallow riffle of the river he lives by with the rifle. I once read a story by Craig Boddington about a hunter with worldwide hunting experience that used a BAR .30-06 all over the world on a wide variety of big game. The guy even killed an elephant bull with the rifle! Boddington reported this guy never cleaned that rifle either.

I have two BAR's and like the other guys I clean from the muzzle with a coated rod and a muzzle guide. I also use a flex neck tool and make sure the chamber is clean. I give the action a pretty good cleaning once every few years. Disassembling the action is a pain in the rear end with the action bars being particularly tedious to get back together just right. I wouldn't recommend that, and I don't think it is actually necessary anyway. A wash with a good solvent or blast from a high pressure spray can and then a LIGHT relube is all that is needed in my experience to keep a BAR running. I say that, but really don't know how bad one has to get to make it malfunction. It's never happened to me in many thousands of rounds through my two BAR rifles.
 
Has anyone ever found that after cleaning the barrel of your gun it takes a few shots to get the zero back? I had a ruger m77 .233 and every time I cleaned the barrel it took 9 shots to get the rifle to shoot the same as it did before I cleaned it, but maybe it was just my imagination
 


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