Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Who uses WipeOut Bore cleaner?

After migrating through Butch's Bore Shine and Sweet's i went to Wipe Out exclusively until Patch Out came out.

Now if I'm doing a lot of shooting at the range I'll use Patch Out there periodically.

At home I use Patch Out unless I'm particularly concerned about copper build up, then I'll put in Wipe Out for an hour, run a couple of patches and then put another application of Wipe Out in overnight. As one poster mentioned, the foam does eventually turn to liquid so turning it makes sense.

Don't use WipeOut but basically use the same idea. The past couple of months I've been soaking the bore with Montana Extreme or Montana Copper Killer - I mean really soaking.

I make a plug out of a cut up square from a plastic grocery bag over a folded patch and tamp that into place in the chamber. Three full squirts from an eye dropper down the muzzle - no mess or overspray that way - and then cover the muzzle with a double folded square of the same plastic from a grocery bag held in place by a rubber band.

Turn the barrel up and down a few times to thoroughly cover it and let it sit horizontally for a few hours to overnight - on one side or the other or in a cradle right side up or upside down. Maybe I'll tip it up and down a couple times and turn it 90 degrees every two or three hours to recover the entire surface of the bore.

A few hours later or even the next night, remove the muzzle cover, tip the bore over a garbage can and watch a stream of dark blue liquid run out (if the bore is copper fouled). Tap out the plug from the muzzle, then run three or four tight dry patches through. Another patch of oil and you're done.

Basically the same technique Mule Deer says he does, I just decided to up the dosage of cleaner.

The initial process takes less time than it does to read this post. The plugs are cheap, easy to make and don't allow anything into the action. I used to use the same three eye droppers of cleaner on three patches to wet the bore and then it dawned on me that most of the cleaner was staying on the patch and thus was wasted. This way I get the maximum reactant in contact with the bore and it really makes a difference.

PS - I've also Dyna Bore Coated most all of my rifle bores and after a couple or three cleaning cycles you can see that makes a heck of a big difference in how much copper you have to clean out.

I'm using Gunslicks version of wipe-out. To make the simple process of applying it even tidier, I inserted a short piece of 1/4" vinyl tubing like that used on aquarium air pumps into the tubing that came with the cleaner. I stand my guns muzzle down on a rag, insert the extended tube down into the chamber as far as it will go and give it a squirt or 2 until I notice it seeping from the muzzle end. Then I'll back the tubing out of the barrel/chamber and look to see if the chamber area full of the foam, it not, it gets a short squirt of the foam too. Leave the action open, gun resting muzzle down and go do something else for a while. No fuss, very little mess.

Jim,

Your gun cleaning technique sounds good. I'm going to give it a try.

+1 on the Dyna Tek process. I wonder how that compares to the Moly treatments of the past. I never got into Moly, thinking it was too messy. The Bore Coat isn't messy at all and IMHO, it really is effective.

DF

Hope it works as well for you. If the bore is really copper fouled it might take a couple of soakings to get it all out, and a nylon brush for a mechanical �urging� doesn�t hurt either. But with the Dyna bore coat the copper fouling is so light that one soak gets out 99% or it � or at least as far as I can tell from looking in the bore and running another wet patch of copper killer through that comes out with no blue on it.

I only do this with the Montana products since MD reports they can be left in the bore for long periods without harm. Sweet�s 7.62 warns that it should only be left in for 15 minutes max. I don�t know about Barnes CR-10 or any of the other aggressive copper solvents but I�d make sure they are okay before doing this.

Actually, the DBC is what got me started. You have to clean to bare metal and I got real tired of multiple patches of JB bore compound followed by copper solvent followed by JB followed by...etc. After doing that to the first one and then looking at a bunch more rifles to coat I thought there must be a better way, so I tried the overnight soaking and that got all of the copper out without the laborious scrubbing.

Don't let CR-10 sit. If you use it, do so outside on a day when there is a steady 20 MPH wind blowing away from the house.

I think BoreTech Eliminator can be left in. It does a good job with copper and with carbon build up, which in some ways is as bad, if not worse. How good are the Montana products with carbon?

DF

After Wipeout, I follow up with Hoppes Benchrest #9. This removes all traces of Wipeout in the bore. Never had a rust problem.

Most all products with ammonia advise to not let sit in the barrel for extended periods of time. Montana Xtreme products are the exception (I believe) due to being oil based. The ammonia safely evaporates leaving the oil behind.

If you plug up both the chamber and the muzzle, would this keep the ammonia from evaporating? If so, would the M.X. products be just as hazardous to a barrel as CR-10 or Sweets when used like that?

Just wondering...

I'd be interested to hear. So far I haven't seen any ill effects and most certainly no rust.

Back in the day, shooters would plug the bores of their 1903 Springfields, fill the barrel to the muzzle with pretty strong ammonia and let sit overnight. I haven't read of any special problems that caused.

I had a mini mauser in 223 that I loaned to a friend for several years. He used sweets on the barrel and did not neutralize it after cleaning. That barrel had etching all thru it and that is the only thing I could think of that could have caused it.

Dirtfarmer mentioned carbon as being about as bad as coppering a barrel. Have two PacNor barrels, one 223 and the other 20 TAC. I use Benchmark in the 223 and 2200 in the TAC. Both barrels seem to sluff off the copper well, but the carbon builds up to where accuracy tails off at about 30-35 rounds. I use Brake Cleaner in the spray can and with a little brushing it comes out and accuracy is back. Even my 204 in 700 Remington carbons after 50 rounds, but has little copper deposits. That is at least I cannot seem to get much out and the accuracy is dynamite. So I cannot have too much coppering.

Fred, what effect did the etching have on accuracy or fouling? Thanks.

It took the accuracy level down from 1/2" gun to about an inch. Matter of fact, I don't remember anything about the fouling on the gun. I like a gun that will shoot at least 1/2" groups. But, the barrel did look rather rough inside, thus the increase in group size or so I think.

I did not mess with it any more to check fouling, I just had it rebarreled to a 20 TAC.

Interesting - thanks.

Been using Wipe Out since it first came out. Only complaint it does not remove all the carbon. A friend brought over his bore scope and we took a look through the bore scope after using wipe out. No copper but still minor carbon build up in the throat. He use his secret forumala and after about 15 minutes only a trace of carbon. He says you need to leave a small trace of carbon for the imprefections in the barrel. Barrel was a Brux 6.5x284. As far as his secret formula, he going to market it sometime in the furture I think.

Although I am not an expert in diagnosing what causes groups to start opening up, I will share what I have found. My 20 Tac and two 223's seem to carbon up and the groups start opening after 30-35 rounds. I read on Sniper Hide, that those shooters felt carbon was usually the first sign of groups getting larger. In fact, some of them think it is worse than copper.

Anyway, I find if I use Brake Cleaner after about 20-30 rounds I can hold my group size by removing the carbon. I have found on my Remington 204, PacNor barreled 20 tac and 223's do not need to be treated for copper until I have 100-150 rounds thru them. After reading some of the horror stories about coppering, I feel fortunate. I am curious if some of you have like experiences similar.

Fred,

I tried brake cleaner on a patch and it didn't seem to move much carbon, the patch was white and the Hawkeye showed about the same amount of carbon. How do you use it?

I don't have an easy solution to carbon, just a lot of work with a brush, a solvent like BoreTech Eliminator and JB bore paste. Slip 2000 was said to be great on carbon, but I'm not that impressed with it. To me it's not hard to remove copper fouling. Carbon can be another matter.

I need some good tips.

DF

MPro7 works well on carbon...

Throttle body cleaner or brake cleaner also work well, since they were designed to do exactly that- dissolve carbon.

I could use some as well. I have more or less given up on the mythical "completely clean patch" and have moved on in search of unicorns.