cleaning 10/22 barrel with a brush and cleaning magazines?

[Pythius]

I have cleaned the gun 3 times now, never with the brush. when should I start using the brush, and how often should I use it?

also, how often should i clean the magazines?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[frankmako]

use the brush, it want hurt anything. you can use it each time. on the mags i would clean when they get dirty in sides and the rounds don't come out good. i got some 10/22 mags that have never been clean after 35 plus years.

[Pythius]

use the brush, it want hurt anything. you can use it each time. on the mags i would clean when they get dirty in sides and the rounds don't come out good. i got some 10/22 mags that have never been clean after 35 plus years.

just for the hell of it, i decided to crack them open just see what was inside. there was a lot of crap along the walls and some crap on the red spool thingy.

[gasmitty]

Get yourself a Bore Snake for .22, and that will handle 85% of your bore cleaning needs. An old toothbrush will clean up the bolt face. Wipe off the bolt spring guide rod and the inside of the action with a cloth or paper towel, and you're pretty much done. I avoid using oil on the action, and instead prefer a dry-film lube like the Hornady One-Shot case lube.

The waxy lube on the bullets will attract a small amount of gunk on the innards of the mags, but disabuse yourself of the notion that they have to be really clean to function well. The 10/22 I use in club-level competition only gets cleaned after about 3 or 4 bricks have gone through it, and the only failures it has are ammo-related.

[BamaT]

I've been shooting 10-22's for years, and have full target builds, straight factory versions, and slightly modified factory (some accurizing and trigger job by me). Never brush my barrels, it's not needed. Will it hurt it? Probably not, but it is not at all necessary and is a waste of time IMHO. If you run a brush on a rod in from the muzzle, you most certainly can damage the crown, which will most definitely damage your accuracy.

You also don't have to buy a bore snake. If you have some weed whacker line, cut a length a foot or so longer than the barrel. Then melt one end of the line with a match, then press into something to flatten that end. I use .068 line, and then run a 3 or 4 mm fishing lure bead down to the end. Then sharpen the other line end, thread 1 or 2 patches, run down to the end. Wet patch with solvent, then thread through chamber and out barrel, then pull the patch through. If you use a big enough diameter line, you won't have to use a fishing lure bead, just melt one end, hold the melted end up so that it forms a small ball, and push the patches down against it. If you use .068 or .050 line, you can get by with tying a knot at one end. Follow a couple of solvent patches by a couple of dry patches, and finish with an oiled patch and you're done.

Some may scoff at this because it's home-made, although I don't know why. The weed whacker method costs pennies to make, it's quick, it's easy, and it works. Go to Rimfire Central, and do a search on the weed whacker method. That's where I discovered this many years ago, and have used it ever since with excellent results.

For deep cleaning my 10-22 barrels, I use my weed whacker line with JB Compound on a couple of patches, then clean as usual. I have used a nylon brush that I bent at a 90 degree angle, put it on a pistol rod, and will clean the chamber if I feel it necessary. I also periodically take the bolt out and clean good inside the receiver, clean the bolt, and guide rod. I always clean off the bolt face well even when I don't remove the bolt.