Cleaning an HMR

Rich79

Rich79

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I'm must not doing it effectively, my grouping has gone to shite and nothing has changed with the rifle, I was on short Liberia this morning and although there was a stiff breeze at times the best I could muster was a 1.8in group at 100yds, that's just not good enough.
I've bought a 177 cleaning kit and also a pull through but my usual way with bigger calibres is to put Forrest bore foam down, leave 20mins and keep pushing 009 soaked patches through until clean.
But the foam nozzle is too big for hmr chambers so I have to scrub with brushes.

The rifle shot quite well at 100 when I first got it but once I got past 150rds it's never shot the same again despite cleaning.
 
If there's one chore that i detest it is cleaning my HMR Homer face palm and at the risk of asking a silly question, are you using a new batch of ammo?
 
2506sendero said:
If there's one chore that i detest it is cleaning my HMR Homer face palm and at the risk of asking a silly question, are you using a new batch of ammo?
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I've had the ammo a while, it's v-max which shot really well to start with, I don't really want to switch ammo until u can rule out fouling.
I just wondered if there's a way people have success with.
 
Rich79 said:
I've had the ammo a while, it's v-max which shot really well to start with, I don't really want to switch ammo until u can rule out fouling.
I just wondered if there's a way people have success with.
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Ive never bern a big fan.of the Forrest bore foam personally, but i know that you rate it Rich.
I would be trying an alternative solvent just to make sure that you have completely cleared all the fouling, and maybe purchase another box of ammo to rule that out. Unless you have shot the barrel out, i would put the problem down to ammo or excessive fouling.
The very early HMR ammunition used to drive tacks, but i can remember reading something about some changes in production, as the velocity dropped also.
If i get .75" groups @100 out of my CZ these days, i am happy 👍
 
Hope this is of some help, I have that calibre in an Anschütz 1717 and I found I ended up over cleaning the barrel to the neglect of the chamber - I now scrub the chamber 3:1 frequency to the barrel and no issues. Dirty wee round!
 
2506sendero said:
Ive never bern a big fan.of the Forrest bore foam personally, but i know that you rate it Rich.
I would be trying an alternative solvent just to make sure that you have completely cleared all the fouling, and maybe purchase another box of ammo to rule that out. Unless you have shot the barrel out, i would put the problem down to ammo or excessive fouling.
The very early HMR ammunition used to drive tacks, but i can remember reading something about some changes in production, as the velocity dropped also.
If i get .75" groups @100 out of my CZ these days, i am happy 👍
Click to expand...
My dad has some really old vmax when they were getting rid of the 17hm2 bullets & had blue tips (the stuff that splits), I could get some off him and try but if it's splitting its making the chamber dirty.
 
artygf said:
Hope this is of some help, I have that calibre in an Anschütz 1717 and I found I ended up over cleaning the barrel to the neglect of the chamber - I now scrub the chamber 3:1 frequency to the barrel and no issues. Dirty wee round!
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I'll give that a try, I don't think I've even put 400rds through it in total from new.
 
You say stiff breeze at times,,,was the spread random or left to right?, gotta rule that element out before panicking.
 
Mine hates being cleaned properly, so I just put an airgun boresnake through it now (no bronze brush). If I clean it with a bore brush and solvent it takes up to 50 rounds to come back on song. I do give the Crown a wipe over with ballistic on occasion as well.

John.
 
I'm with jlb on over cleaning, pull through or a couple of patches to remove the worst. Rifle is a cz452. Had it from when the HMR was first introduced so twenty plus years I think. Groups still tight.
 
All I've ever done with my HMR's is use one pull of a boresnake, after finishing shooting, regardless of whether I've fired one or fifty shots
Never lost accuracy over thousands of rounds

Important to clean the mod regularly too. Every 100 shots, mine get stripped and cleaned, with solvent
 
leezgunz said:
You say stiff breeze at times,,,was the spread random or left to right?, gotta rule that element out before panicking.
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The wind was blowing straight at us more or less, 11oclock to 5oclock at the most, so yes the group tended to go low and right but my first shot I adjusted for was high and left by a few inches.
I know hmr isn't great in side winds but nobody ever talks about when it's directly in your face, does it struggle and drop with a 17gr bullet?

The main thing is ive had trouble the last time I shot it and there was basically no wind at all!
 
I never cleaned mine other than a quick pull through with a boresnake with a couple drops of gun oil every 50 rounds.
Never had any issues with accuracy…
Less is more 😇
 
5 shots at 100yds, weather said 13mph wind but Short Siberia is lined with trees and a huge sand bank at the back so maybe take a bit off of that.
So if the 6oclock hit was in no wind the far right shot is 1.8" right, it's quite a shift if it was the wind.
20251207_100626.jpg
 
Rich79 said:
The wind was blowing straight at us more or less, 11oclock to 5oclock at the most, so yes the group tended to go low and right but my first shot I adjusted for was high and left by a few inches.
I know hmr isn't great in side winds but nobody ever talks about when it's directly in your face, does it struggle and drop with a 17gr bullet?

The main thing is ive had trouble the last time I shot it and there was basically no wind at all!
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Hmm,, 🤔 I've a cz 452 and sak mod,,never cleaned the mod and my cleaning regime is five mins,,spuirt with legia, rod with a brush and pull three patches with a squirt of spray using a doubled over piece of strimmer cord,
 
artygf said:
Hope this is of some help, I have that calibre in an Anschütz 1717 and I found I ended up over cleaning the barrel to the neglect of the chamber - I now scrub the chamber 3:1 frequency to the barrel and no issues. Dirty wee round!
Click to expand...
Wow a 1717 not many of those around, does it have the flag safety and heavy 23” barrel?
Apologies for going off topic! It’s not often I clean my hmr only when I notice a change, maybe I should do it more often? It loves Remington ammo it doesn’t group as well with the hornady
 
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Redwolf69 said:
Wow a 1717 not many of those around, does it have the flag safety and heavy 23” barrel?
Apologies for going off topic! It’s not often I clean my hmr only when I notice a change, maybe I should do it more often? It loves Remington ammonia it doesn’t group as well with the hornady
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I did consider an Anschutz 1761 thumbhole before I bought this 457 MTR but they suddenly went up £2-300.
If my club starts long range 22lr I might have a clear out & buy one.
 
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