Savage 12 VLP DBM in .204 (cleaning questions)

[EAW]

Okay guys I was able to order it (the rifle) this afternoon from my favorite dealer. Should be about a week before my guys get it. However I'll be out of town and won't pick it up till the 31st.

So I've got time to order cleaning supplies specifically for the 204. I'm really going to clean during the break-in period and then only occasionally after that to prevent the loss of accuracy.

I'm currently looking at the following setup. Unfortunately there is no parker-hale jag available for 20 caliber that I can find so I'm going with a different setup.

I'll be buying a Lucas bore guide first of all. (12 inches in length)
42 inch coated nylon rode from Dewey. Would Have gone Tipton but the longest rod they have is 40 inches and with a 12 inch bore guide+26 inch barrel+whatever the length of the receiver area, I figured 42 was better. (advice would be appreciated)
going to be picking up 5 20 caliber nylon brushes from dewey to start
and dewey's 20 caliber brass jag.

Not going to be using brass brass brushes... going to let the chemicals do the work.

Planning on using this with hops #9 and pro-shot 1-1/8 cleaning patches in the 22-270 caliber - again any suggestions?

Other suggestions I found where to use a dewey rod with the adapter so you could use the pro-shot spear point jags and the above mentioned patches. Really wish parker-hale had a 20 caliber jag available. Other suggestions I found came from here. http://www.204ruger.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8758 (my apologies if posting another website is frowned upon.)

I'm not going for white glove clean, I'm going for functional clean. I'm trying to get the carbon out, maximize barrel life and accuracy. A little bit of copper here and there (even after cleaning) is to be expected in a factory barrel, but I would expect this to improve after break-in.

The advice of other .204 shooters would be greatly appreciated.

[darkker]

Specific jags I can't help you with, I'm not particular.
SOMETIMES the 20-22- cals are a little large, you may need to do 20 only.
Personally(call me crazy if you wish) I would use WD-40 over Hoppe's #9.
Honestly my 2 204's really never had ANY copper issues. They(specifically the sub-22 cals) have a common problem called(by Sierra) hard carbon. Any sort of powder solvent and a bore snake REALLY does wonders to keep it at bay. Then do your serious cleaning when you wish. Once it starts it can be a REAL bear to deal with IME.

[EAW]

What would you recommend as a powder solvent Darkker? Or is that what your using the WD-40 for? I'm looking for something that is easy on the metal. Some of the real harsh copper solvents have the ability to eat barrel steel, I'd like to avoid that at all costs.

[MZ5]

Best two carbon/powder solvents out there are KG-1 (aka Browning step 1) and Bore Tech's C4. The KG-1 will also pull out copper as well as most things on the market, but KG-12 does a lot better. The Bore Tech C4 _only_ works on carbon.

For general cleaning and keeping carbon down, I've had great luck with BreakFree CLP and a Bore Snake. I spray the bore from the chamber end the moment I finish shooting. Let it drain (muzzle down) until it quits dripping, then zip the Bore Snake through a couple or three times.

[kkeene]

I use a foaming bore cleaner for 15 to 20 minutes, 2 wet patches (Kroil), JB bore paste, 2 wet patches (Kroil), 2 dry patches, dry mop the chamber, and then add just a tiny amount of grease to the locking lug surface. This takes care of both the copper and carbon fouling. A ziplock freezer bag over the muzzle makes this a clean and relatively smell free indoor cleaning method. I can clean 2 or 3 guns in 30 to 40 minutes with this process.

I shoot prairie dogs and will shoot 200 or so rounds between cleaning now that they are broke in.

I currently have two 204 Savage varmint rifle's. The accuracy was very poor till I got 50 or so rounds fired and also cleaned them a couple of times with the JB bore paste. JB is a very, very mild abrasive. Don't know if it was firing or cleaning them that improved the accuracy. They are now both shooting less than 1/2 MOA with the 39 gr BlitzKing. Love the 204 Ruger for small varmints!