.22 cal Q-Tip Jag

[GunnyGene]

Shot a few rounds of the .22mag GamePoint thru my RPR this morning, but when I came back in to clean it, I couldn't find my jag. Probably vanished into hyperspace. But I did have patches and Q-tips, and I remembered the guys in the mortar platoon in Nam would use Kotex pads to clean their 60mm tubes. So it struck me that a patch on the end of a Q-tip just might work on a .22 cal barrel. Still need the rod to push it thru, but it's a perfect fit and does a great job. 1 Q-tip is good for about 6 patches, and I've got a whole box of Q-tips. Life sometimes cooperates.

 

[Cholo]

I love it when I find an alternative way when needed. From now on you shall be called---MacGyver

 

[GunnyGene]

I love it when I find an alternative way when needed. From now on you shall be called---MacGyver

Cut the Q-tip in half. The shank fits right in the end of the rod where you'd normally screw in a jag.

 

[gramps]

Alrighty!!! So cool.
gramps

 

[gunzo]

And from my experience of bore cleaning 22 rf's, the q tip is probably plenty.

Good job, & thanks for the (should I say it?) ...... tip.

 

[57springer]

I like it !

 

[GunnyGene]

And from my experience of bore cleaning 22 rf's, the q tip is probably plenty.

Good job, & thanks for the (should I say it?) ...... tip.

Maybe my Q-tips are smaller than yours, since I had to use a patch with it to get a reasonably snug fit.

 

[blume357]

Side question.... I've heard that a number of 22lr's will actually not be as accurate right after a good swabbing but will tune up after putting a number of rounds through them. I was at my gun club a few years back and a lady was doing this to her Ruger MKII I think. She had cleaned it and then was going to be in a competition the next day and was doing this to the gun to make it more accurate.

 

[GunnyGene]

Side question.... I've heard that a number of 22lr's will actually not be as accurate right after a good swabbing but will tune up after putting a number of rounds through them. I was at my gun club a few years back and a lady was doing this to her Ruger MKII I think. She had cleaned it and then was going to be in a competition the next day and was doing this to the gun to make it more accurate.

There is some truth to that, mostly applies to precision barrels and ELR rifles and has to do with maintaining copper(or lead) and powder fouling equilibrium, and therefore consistent internal ballistics (velocity/spin, etc.). There's some good video's of all this in great detail on Sniper 101>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy1d662GVbs&list=PLJUaiRIEduNXoal2_PkBZi0vDCIcEPxUn&index=41 . You'll need to scroll thru the playlist for the specific videos.

 

[kmoore]

Blume in my past shooting .22lrs in competition. The rifles I had did get shot a lot, like cases a year of ammo. Most of my friends in the sport had the idea that cleaning could cause more damage then leaving what is in the bore. I was trained to clean the bore once a year. I knew several real old timers that never cleaned the bore. With all that said the bolt face, trigger etc would get cleaned. Some only wanted a bullet going through the bore not cleaning rods, patches and cleaners. They still shot great without bore cleaning. I don't remember accuracy being any difference with safe bore cleaning. I used a stainless rod or a plastic coated 1 piece rod with a ball bearing handle and chamber guides only. At first, I used a bore brush but was told to quit that and went to patches with just hoppies cleaner on the 1st patch or 2. One patch per slide thru barrel. This is done prevent pushing any crap just removed back into the barrel. That method is for .22lr, center fire match rifles are cleaned differently.
I see people pushing and pulling the same patch back and forth in a barrel over and over. Patches are cheap, barrel damage not so much. I suppose all that really does not matter on any normal use firearms, I am talking about highly precision rifles. Just me, I follow all that work on all my guns knowing it's not needed.

 

[thor's daddy]

Qtips! What a great idea!

 

[Fox Mike]

Blume in my past shooting .22lrs in competition. The rifles I had did get shot a lot, like cases a year of ammo. Most of my friends in the sport had the idea that cleaning could cause more damage then leaving what is in the bore. I was trained to clean the bore once a year. I knew several real old timers that never cleaned the bore. With all that said the bolt face, trigger etc would get cleaned. Some only wanted a bullet going through the bore not cleaning rods, patches and cleaners. They still shot great without bore cleaning.

When I shot competition we were told that anyone found cleaning their bore was off the team that day. This was high power (M-14 match rifles), and .22cal Ruger MK IIs.

 

[kmoore]

Yea, with the M1, M14s and AR15s I had, the cleaning was done between match dates. The clean bore was fouled/shot in practice.