I have recently acquired a 1920/21 (receiver stamped ‘20, butt marked ‘21) Lithgow SMLE. I have only put about 25 rounds through it so far, but I have tried cleaning it a couple of times with my Parker-Hale cleaning rod. Every time I try to put a 4x2 patch through with the jag, it is either uncomfortably stiff to get through the barrel or gets stuck - yikes! After a couple of cleaning sessions, having tried multiple ways of wrapping the 4x2 around the jag, I have given up on it as a lost cause. Especially after today, since the rod got stuck again. That was the last straw for me, as I love caring for historical objects and I feel as though I am endangering this rifle by getting the rod stuck.

That leads to the subject of this thread. I have decided to abandon the jag and buy a pull-through. I have read about the proper procedure for using one, but there is one aspect which I can’t find any information on. That is, how exactly the 4x2 should be attached to it. I know to use the middle loop, but I can’t find whether the 4x2 should be left loose in the loop or wrapped around the pull-through cord.

If anyone could help me (and/or offer any other advice) that would be great!

I hope that I have put my question clearly enough.

Thanks,

William

I've had similar troubles using a full 4 x 2 on a jag.  It must be wrapped around the jag at about a 45 degree angle to the jag.  There is a description of this in one of the books I have, I think the one written by Reynolds and Robin Fulton, "Target Rifle Shooting".  The corners at the ends are turned under as it is wrapped around.  If your using a PH jag, the entire length of it is covered in the patch.  

I buy 3 x 3 flannel patches and cut them in half, roll them at 90 deg to the jag.  Works perfectly.  

I never thought a pull thru does much good except to apply some solvent in the bore, plus it risks wearing the muzzle unless you can pull it perfectly straight along the bore axis.  Many rifles released from service have muzzle cord wear (the reason the bore diameter is checked at the muzzle). 

  

I cut 4X2 patches in half making 1X4's then they work well.

Pull throughs are an emergency alternative at best because of the "cord worn" bores they cause.

ProudAussie wrote: If anyone could help me (and/or offer any other advice) that would be great

Cleaning methods is like asking "what is the best motor oil for my Harley"?  I think the one universally agreed upon rule is avoid use of a pull through unless necessary.  A nice accompaniment to owning a LE is to download the various pams published by the Commonwealth nations that have buried in them the care and cleaning instructions given to soldiers at the time those rifles were being used in war.

You will instructions on how to minimize cord wear on the muzzle, just as you will find Armourer's pams giving instructions on inspecting and gauging cord wear at the muzzle and what is to be done in response.

Like probably everyone here, I use a solid cleaning rod.  If you are finding the fit of your jag and patch to be too tight there are various ways to go:

- wrap your chosen patch in a different manner so it doesn't get "too fat" on the jag.

- use a different make of jag, including giving a trial to .30 caliber jags.

- use a thinner patch material.

I have rolls and rolls of Brit uncut cloth patching, binned by the Brits training at BATUS: one could open a military surplus store just digging the new stuff they threw out in the garbage bins.

And I have boxes and boxes of Canadian cut to length 7.62 and 5.56 flannel patches, packaged in small ziplock bags.

But more often than not, what I end up using while fiddling and cleaning a rifle at the work bench is a piece of paper towel industrial rip-rag.  Not because it's better, but because it's always there staring me in the face while I'd have to dig the patching material out.

That isn't my idea: when I first started into benchrest, I was a bit slack jawed watching guys with extremely expensive kit using paper towel as patches to clean the bores of those barrels that were capable of bughole size groups.  Not all of them, but enough to realize that paper towel was good enough.

So if thinner material can help you, kitchen paper towel is worth a shot.

One thing I would suggest is that you consider adding a bore guide to your cleaning equipment. 

You can get cleaning rod wear at the back end of your barrel, just as you can get cord wear at the muzzle. It will take a while to develop, but there's no need to allow it to begin in the first place.

The second positive in using a bore guide is that it prevents the solvents and cleaning materials you put on your patching material from getting anywhere in the action or elsewhere, rather than just in the bore.

If you MUST HAVE a pull through look at the commercial .30 cal "Bore Snakes"! They are way better than the old cord pull-throughs.

Shamu wrote: If you MUST HAVE a pull through look at the commercial .30 cal "Bore Snakes"! They are way better than the old cord pull-throughs.

Just don't get caught doing that if somebody like me is your NCO.  You'll be doing extra's sweeping the crevices of the parade square until the kit shop runs out of toothbrushes to sell you for that job.

Wonderful things... until they break or otherwise get stuck inside the bore.  Try pushing a "bore snake" out as it balls up as you attempt to push it with a proper cleaning rod.  Easier trying to push a rope.

Been there, done that overseas on deployment (and no, not my personal weapon, but definitely my platoon's C6).  This is why Gravel Techs are issued both personal cleaning rods and platoon cleaning kits. 

Gun plumbers are rarely present outside of the ranges when you desperately need one.  In that case, one of my troopies fashioned a Morgentaler Tool out of a twisted piece of wire and fished it out in bits and pieces over a period of hours.  

My antipathy towards those things has never changed since that night.  In Gravel Tech world, the Pig is everybody's best friend.

BWHAHAHaHahaha!

Note the "If you MUST HAVE" bit!

I actually have pull throughs & oil bottles in all of my stocks that have a butt trap, but its purely an emergency/collectible thing.

I normally use carbon fiber one-piece rods.