Tanner,

Are you going to coat the bore with DBC? I coated my 30-378 and it eliminated copper fouling, even when using copper solids like the Barnes TTSX.

Probably not... unless I can get it clean down to bare metal, it won't work. I'll probably just hone on it a bit with Jb's and shoot the beans out of it. If I get a chance to after school, that is.

Getting down to bare metal shouldn't be that hard. It's never been fired, right?

Even if it has been fired a lot, you can use some Hopped #9 to get the powder fouling out, WipeOut to get the copper out, and then a patch wrapped around a brush, smeared in JB Bore paste to get every last bit of fouling out of the barrel. Rinse with Hoppes, and you should be GTG.

Jordan this is the weirdest damn thing I've seen. I'll push a few patches soaked in Butches down it to get the bore wet, and then brush. The next patch after brushing will be FILTHY. I haven't gotten a clean patch after brushing and I've done this process at least 20 times, with 2 different brushes.

That's because unless you have a really smooth barrel, patching isn't going to get everything out. So the brush knocks some fouling loose.

BTW, are you cleaning the brushes between uses?

If the barrel has never been fired, forget the brush. I would guess that you're just seeing colouration on your patches because either Butch's is reacting with the bronze brush, or else the brush is scraping a slight bit of the barrel steel away, which is wiped out with the patch.

mathman also makes a good point. If you're not cleaning the brushes between uses, you're just smearing the same crap back in the barrel for the patch to pick up.

Use Hoppes #9 with half a dozen patches, use the patch wrapped around the brush with JB paste for 30 strokes (use a bore guide!), one or two patches with Hoppes to rinse out the JB paste, then use 10-12 patches with Butch's. Should be down to bare metal at that point.

I'd skip the Hoppe's. Butch's is better at removing everything.

I recommend trying Retumbo with the 105 A-max. I have a couple of 243's that love that combo. Retumbo gives a little more speed than H4350 with a little less pressure. Might be worth a try. T.S.

Bowman, how'd your balloon shooting go? What speeds did you see?

I think that I may just run a bunch of Butches down it, Jb it, clean it out and call it butter!

First round went well and I can definetly see a difference in the 105's over the 87gr V-max, mainly in wind drift. I got 3011fps for five shots in a 24" barrel savage, which I thought was about right. A lot of people don't understand that the 243 will get out to 1000 quite well and with basically no recoil. Good luck with your setup. T.S.