Cleaning Uberti 357 rifle after shooting 38

[Roanoke Rifleman, SASS #30256]

Do you have any trouble cleaning cleaning 38/357 rifle barrel after shooting 

38 special. After I shoot 38 in my 357 revolvers I can’t get a 357 bullet in the cylinder 

until they are cleaned . It is easy to get to the cylinder. 
What do you use to clean the rifle ?

[Rip Snorter]

The issue is that the round is shorter than the chamber,  When fired the 38 leaves residue where the longer 357 must fit,  You need a chamber brush.  Haven't tried it for cowboy guns,  but there are some military style ratcheting ones.  Failing that a chamber sized brush with a good coated rod from the muzzle, end soak the chamber with a wet patch, insert the brush in the breech, rod from muzzle, attach, twist, detatch rod and remove brush. Patch again.

[Texas Red]

R squared

Might look at these....https://www.slixprings.com/proddetail.php?prod=SliXprings-Scraper

TR

[Rip Snorter]

1 minute ago, Texas Red said:

R squared

Might look at these....https://www.slixprings.com/proddetail.php?prod=SliXprings-Scraper

TR

Thanks!  New things! Set in my ways, for sure.  That one is a little scary for me.

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

If you bell a .357 case enough to where you can just barely get it into the chamber, the edges of the case mouth will scrape some of the fouling away and make it easier to brush out the rest with solvent.

 

Also, if you shoot some .38 BP rounds in it, that should remove the ring, although that isn't an option for some folks.

[Beartrap SASS#57175]

Smokestack makes some great chamber brushes. Search for Wilcox Solutions on Facebook or message him.

[Yul Lose]

1 hour ago, Beartrap SASS#57175 said:

Smokestack makes some great chamber brushes. Search for Wilcox Solutions on Facebook or message him.

He makes a pretty nifty 44-40 case crinkle repair tool also.

[Cliff Hanger #3720LR]

You have your brass bore brush.

 

Now instead of pushing through the barrel from the muzzle end, push the cleaning rod through without the brush.

Once the rod end is in the open receiver, attach the wire brush.

Start working the brush back and forth while slowly moving the brush from the receiver to the muzzle.

Work the brush over the fouled area and the brush bristles will hit the fouling with the bristle ends and not the smooth sides of the bristles.

 

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

Just one more reason to shoot only 357Mag in a lever gun that says it eats both 357Mag and 38Spl.  While F2F is the main culprit, I also noticed excessive chamber fouling when shooting 38Spl in my Browning B-92, so its diet is exclusively 357Mag and it runs flawlessly.

[Rye Miles #13621]

12 minutes ago, Nostrum Damus SASS #110702 said:

Just one more reason to shoot only 357Mag in a lever gun that says it eats both 357Mag and 38Spl.  While F2F is the main culprit, I also noticed excessive chamber fouling when shooting 38Spl in my Browning B-92, so its diet is exclusively 357Mag and it runs flawlessly.

Or just shoot .38's!!

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

3 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Or just shoot .38's!!

Right, one or the other, if your gun will feed both reliably (which the B-92 won't).

[Captain Bill Burt]

27 minutes ago, Nostrum Damus SASS #110702 said:

Just one more reason to shoot only 357Mag in a lever gun that says it eats both 357Mag and 38Spl.  While F2F is the main culprit, I also noticed excessive chamber fouling when shooting 38Spl in my Browning B-92, so its diet is exclusively 357Mag and it runs flawlessly.

 

14 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Or just shoot .38's!!

I like your solution better!

[Eyesa Horg]

Ellie shoots 38's in her 357's. We use Clays powder and it takes quite a few matches to get any noticable buildup. The Slix scrapers are the quick solution.

[Mister Badly]

I was told by the cowboy who worked on my 73 to run 357s in my rifle to keep the next round off the carrier. I load them to 1.59 oal

[Rip Snorter]

I found it easiest to always use 357 cases in both rifle & pistols.

[Frontier Lone Rider]

2 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Or just shoot .38's!!

 

I only shoot 357s in one rifle and only shoot 38s in a second rifle, no problems.

[Sedalia Dave]

On 3/31/2022 at 2:05 PM, Abilene, SASS # 27489 said:

Also, if you shoot some .38 BP rounds in it, that should remove the ring, although that isn't an option for some folks.

 

This works every time and is easier than any other method.

[Rip Snorter]

Only thing is, that tho better with modern than corrosive primers, Black Powder residue is still not benign and requires comprehensive cleaning of the firearm.

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

On 3/31/2022 at 12:35 PM, Roanoke Rifleman, SASS #30256 said:

Do you have any trouble cleaning cleaning 38/357 rifle barrel after shooting 38 special. 

After I shoot 38 in my 357 revolvers I can’t get a 357 bullet in the cylinder until they are cleaned . It is easy to get to the cylinder. How many rounds are you going before cleaning? 
What do you use to clean the rifle ?

1. I don’t have any trouble cleaning my pistols or rifle after a match, nor do I do anything particularly special. Note that I clean after each match. Wet patch, 10 strokes, switch to bronze bristle brush, 10 strokes, repeat with both then dry patch a few times until the patch comes out clean. 
2. How many rounds are you running before cleaning? In a typical six stage match you are only firing six rounds per chamber in the pistols and sixty from the rifle. When I live practice (not as much as I used to) I normally run 250 each in pistols and rifle. As an experiment I once ran 100 through a single chamber on each pistol. In both firearms types a 357 still fit smoothly and easily. 
I have run 38’s only for matches for the last 13 years and use my slightly heavier 38 special rifle rounds as pistol KD rounds. Thought I had a carbon ring (my first) recently but turned out to be something else. 
YMMV

Regards

    

Gateway Kid

[Cliff Hanger #3720LR]

Something I have done since I got my first 92. (not sure how many there are total)

I cleaned the barrels and then I reload or use new 357 mag ammunition.

I competed twice a week every weekend for years.

The crud build up was at the end of the 357 case.

 

Now the reason I shot 257 cases is simpler than you might think.

I also use these rifles at home as self defense guns. (Besides pocket revolver)

 

Now in a self defense situation, I am going to shoot the rounds loaded in the tube magazine.

When empty, I am going to grab what ever is nearest to me.

Remember I was commercial reloader and there where all calibers sitting around.

Shooting 357 cases allowed me to grab what ever and if it is 38 spl, it will go in the rifle and it will chamber.

 

If I had shot only 38 spl in the rifle, the 357s I might grab in a hurry may not chamber during the excitement.

My reloading of 38 spls and 357 mag used the same charge which made the 38 spl a little fast due to less volume in the case with the same charge.

Does matter in cas shooting and it certainly is going to matter in self defense under pressure.

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

Different powders, and perhaps bullets, will made a difference in how fast or how bad the buildup is.  As a possible worst case scenario (for me), I shot factory Black Hills 44 Russian in a new 44 Spcl conversion for six matches.  That is a maximum of 36 rounds through each cylinder chamber (slightly less since one hole was empty for each stage).  I was completely unable to chamber a 44 Spcl after that and the hard buildup took some effort to clean.

[Sedalia Dave]

12 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:

Only thing is, that tho better with modern than corrosive primers, Black Powder residue is still not benign and requires comprehensive cleaning of the firearm.

I've removed the carbon ring from a set of Ruger pistols  bought when I started CAS, took me a lot of time and elbow grease. Easily 10 times the amount of time it takes me to clean a pistol after a match shooting BP.

 

BTW real BP and any sub EXCEPT Pyrodex is not that corrosive

 

 

[Griff]

19 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:

Only thing is, that tho better with modern than corrosive primers, Black Powder residue is still not benign and requires comprehensive cleaning of the firearm.

Keep that myth alive... keeps the ranks of the BP categories thinned.  Since 1987 I've shot my Colt SAAs, 1873s, shotguns, 1885 & Sharps with lead projectiles, (no paper patch bullets), and BP almost exclusively... Never a hint of leading and a simple solution of hot water and ....   wait.... wait... hot water cleans it right up.  A coupla dry patches, then an oily patch and I can store it for months between dates at the range and it's as clean, bright and sparkly as when it was new!  Even with smokeless powder I have to use a chemical solvent to get the powder fouling out of the barrel... and any steel barrel being put away for storage should receive a light coating of protectant to avert flash rust.  (Pyrodex, requires several sessions of the scrubbing and cleaning to stop the flash rust from returning... especially in hot humid climes).  I used to use Pyrodex until I found that real BP was far less damaging to my guns.  And far, far less labor intensive to clean up.  Both BP & Pyrodex for sulphuric acid when burned... the difference is the BP residue washes off with water... Pyrodex residue seems to stick to steel when wetted.  

[Roscoe Regulator]

I shoot 38 Long Colt in 38 Special revolver chambers and have found Slip2000 to do a quick job of loosening crud up so I can brush it out quickly. Slip2000 is a thin solution that can soak a swab or bore snake for use in a rifle. I think one would want to use plastic brushes, because the stuff will attack the copper in bronze brushes (or the snake). It is environmentally safe and non-toxic. Last bottle came from Amazon. Always use an oversize brush to get the scrubbing force needed. A worn 40/41 or even 45 brush can still serve in 38/357.

[Rip Snorter]

25 minutes ago, Griff said:

Keep that myth alive... keeps the ranks of the BP categories thinned.  Since 1987 I've shot my Colt SAAs, 1873s, shotguns, 1885 & Sharps with lead projectiles, (no paper patch bullets), and BP almost exclusively... Never a hint of leading and a simple solution of hot water and ....   wait.... wait... hot water cleans it right up.  A coupla dry patches, then an oily patch and I can store it for months between dates at the range and it's as clean, bright and sparkly as when it was new!  Even with smokeless powder I have to use a chemical solvent to get the powder fouling out of the barrel... and any steel barrel being put away for storage should receive a light coating of protectant to avert flash rust.  (Pyrodex, requires several sessions of the scrubbing and cleaning to stop the flash rust from returning... especially in hot humid climes).  I used to use Pyrodex until I found that real BP was far less damaging to my guns.  And far, far less labor intensive to clean up.  Both BP & Pyrodex for sulphuric acid when burned... the difference is the BP residue washes off with water... Pyrodex residue seems to stick to steel when wetted.  

Point is, it is not as benign as smokeless and you must clean after using black powder or substitutes to avoid damage. Nothing terribly difficult.  I clean any firearm after use and store clean.  Some don't.  I never particularly enjoyed cleaning black powder guns, thass just me.