Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles STILL CLEANING THAT BARREL!!!

I am getting very light blue patches still. Is it possible that I'm getting a false reading from the brass jag on my Dewey cleaning rod. If so then I am done and don't know it???

If no JB.... go to NAPA and get some valve lapping compound. That's what i used to use before discovering JB. Hope this helps.

Be my guess.

Get some Boretech Eliminator. That'll get all the copper you thought you got with the other stuff.

It be a possibility.......

Use plastic jags, patch holders, and synthetic brushes.


Casey

Use Montana Xtreme Copper Killer. Wrap a soaked patch around a nylon brush (can be undersized) and brush it through the bore let sit 1 hour. Again use the nylon brush/patch (dry) and push through the barrel. If you get blue there is still copper in there. What solvents have you been using? Some times if the bore is really fouled, the copper may be layered in there. I typically use Wipe Out or Patch Out and let it sit over night. For really bad copper fouling use Copper Killer and let sit over night (it is oil based and will not pit the barrel). Good luck.

You can coat the brass jag with Vaseline lightly and then run a soaked patch. If no blue then it's the jag. I use nickel plated jags.

Nickel is pretty hard, I don't think that I would want that coming into contact with the lands of my barrels.
I make jags out of Delrin for each of the calibers I shoot. Gets rid of the false blue, are safe for the bore, and I can tweak the diameter to get just the right fit for the patches I use.

I don't have the machinery or talent enough to make my own, so I rely on Bore Rider.

http://www.boreriderbarrelcareproducts.com/p/pricing.html

Alternating Shooters Choice and Hoppies 9. All I had or could get locally. Will get some more aggressive stuff before I do it again. Patch coming out with just a very light blue that I believe to be a false reading caused by the brass patch jag, So I quit till I get decent weather to check and see if the groups are back to normal sma.

Here ya go.

http://www.brownells.com/gun-cleani...lvents/wipe-out-patch-out-prod24849.aspx

Egad...use Rem-Clean on a patch, if you still have copper, the Rem-Clean will deposit it on the patch.
And you don`t need a whole lot to work.

If that's all the copper in your barrel it's not enough to matter. When it runs out in a blue river with "Wipe Out" then you have a problem.
I shoot my rifles with no cleaning other than a swab with old fashioned Hoppe's #9 after use. If the accuracy falls off then I look for more problems. More barrels are ruined by over cleaning than by shooting.
Consider the use most rifles get in a season. Unless you are a dedicated varmint shooter you are not going to use more than a box or two of ammo in a rifle in 5 years. Wipe it out, dry it and put it back inte safe. It'll be there next year.
I know there are those of you who burn through a case of 7.62 a week so this doesn't apply to you. I'm speaking to the average hunter of today or even my father's generation.

I in a normal year shoot up 30 to 50 rounds maybe more on occasion I do it because I like to shoot, especially when I often see under 1 inch groups. What cleaning in between shooting I did was not enough to keep the copper from building up. And it was really starting to show up as 1 1/4 or so groups. Now in woods hunting with very rare 300yd shots 1 1/4 is just fine. (Except) I am use to groups half that size and won't be happy till they return. Many of my friends who manage to kill deer every year and never shoot at all because they say they don't want to waste ammo??? They say they have a scope that never changes zero even after rough rides on the atv. My question to them is how do they know if they never shoot it except to kill 2-3 deer a year? Maybe they shoot at one deer and hit the other one.

You like to shoot but only fire 30-50 rounds per year in a given firearm?

Some sage once wrote that more good rifles are ruined by cleaning than shooting.
Most rifles shoot better fouled than raw metal. Every rifle I own (my wife says too many) has a bit of copper wash in it. I can waste a day with nasty chemicals and abrasives and they usually shoot worse. I never clean unless the same combination that shot bugholes suddenly is a shotgun. Even then I check all the mechanical probabilities first.

I do have one rifle that never fouls, a 338 RUM that shoots 300 gr .338 bullet at 3000 fps and is a 1/2 MOA rifle as far as you can see. It has a 3 groove Nitrided barrel built by Scott Null up in Driggs ID. It needs wheels but will never be hunted on big game.

Yea I know don't sound like a lot. My range is at my hunting property 6 miles of rough road from my house. I get there once a week or so but often its to cut wood or fix up my hunting shanty or deer stands. And my wife don't like to go when I'm going to be shooting. She still has good hearing and don't like wearing the earplugs. In good weather we-I usually go by ATV with no room for gun, ammo, sandbags,etc.
When I go to shoot one of my rifles its usually a special trip just to shoot and I maybe shoot 3-4 three shot groups with cool down between groups. Sometimes I will try a 100yd offhand shot or knelling, just to reassure myself that I can still shoot without bags.
Have had the a-bolt 270wsm 13years now and figger have put at least 2000 rounds through it. (yea use to shoot a lot more) And I have seen some throat erosion. I'm running out of magazine room to seat the bullet longer and I guess I am shooting less to save the expense of having the barrel set back or worse yet, re barreled. Wasn't for that would probably shoot 30-40 times each session.

Jeezus, i shot that many out of my 243 yesterday in one sitting.

Use a nylon brush instead of a bronze brush.