Guys,
My first trip to the Raton BPCR matches was a very enjoyable experience but it would certainly have been better had I turned in a respectable showing. Although not at the bottom of the score board, my 2-day scope silhouette score of 53 was way below the leaders. Certainly the very tough wind conditions & dry hot temps were a factor. It was by far the toughest shooting conditions I’ve experienced. But the major problem affecting my score was fouling out both days due to bore leading. I tried both blow tubing and wiping with little success. To be fair, I was having similar problems at recent local matches prior to Raton & thought I had solved the problem. So I’m changing to a different bullet design and load combination. But this thread is not about the cause of the bore leading. Having a good bit of recent experience removing lead from the bore, I thought I’d offer some comments. None are new but may help someone with similar problems.
One can’t determine if leading is a problem by running a few patches down the bore with typical black powder cleaning solvents. I’ve cleaned the bore after a relay until the patches came out white with no obvious residue, only to find out later the bore was heavily leaded. And looking down the bore will not give an indication. BTW, a few lead flakes on the patch are typical and are not necessarily an indication of a leaded bore. When a tight patch comes out with slivers of lead then you likely have a lead fouling issue. As has been discussed and pointed out here in previous threads, very tight patches using turpentine as the solvent is one of the best techniques in removing bore lead. But a couple of turpentine patches will not be sufficient if the bore is heavily leaded.
A good stout cleaning rod and very tight patches are required – so tight that they squeal when forced through the bore. In fact, a rubber mallet may be required to drive the rod & turpentine wetted patch through. Or, not having a mallet handy, insert the patched cleaning rod in the chamber and use the ground and the weight of the rifle to drive the rod through the bore.
Finally, depending on how bad the bore is leaded, it may take many tight turpentine patches and several minutes to get all the lead out. After the last Raton scope silhouette match approximately 20 minutes of cleaning was necessary before the lead slivers quit showing up. Using patches cut from lead cleaning cloth will work but will take forever to remove thick lead. And the lead cleaning patches will not indicated when the bore is clean as they will always come out black, even in a clean bore. Another method is to use JB Bore Paste, a bronze brush and large cotton patches to scrub the bore. The patch is layered over the brush and saturated with JB. It will take many patches and lots of JB to remove heavy lead deposits.
If you’re fortunate to have a Hawkeye Bore Scope and an “experienced eye”, it will identify bore leading. But the absolute sure fire technique is to use an electrochemical bore cleaner, not only to identify leading but to remove the lead and serve as a check to determine the effectiveness of other lead removal techniques. When not at the range or match, I use the discontinued Outers Foul Out II Electrochemical Bore Cleaner to guarantee all lead is removed. It has proven to me that during a match tight turpentine patches are the way to go to get the lead out.
No doubt others have differing opinions and techniques on removing bore lead.
Wayne
