Valad, I'll try to answer in great detail here.
On the plug � a .30-06/308 case is .473 at the head, so I got a conical plug that measures smaller than that on the small end and larger than that on the big end. It gets wedged into the mouth of the chamber so the chamber and neck and leade all get cleaned. A .223 based case head is about .378� so I got a smaller plug with the small end less than that dimension. There�s an Ace hardware store right around the corner from me so I searched on their website for �conical rubber plugs� and found what sizes they offered before going to the store. Individual plugs were a few cents each, I forget exactly but they're cheap and one lasts a long, long time.
The Montana Extreme cleaners come with a small plastic pipette or you can probably find something similar at the hardware store, or just get an eye dropper at the drug store except they�re more expensive. The plastic pipette included with the Montana Extreme is just right. I squeeze the bulb and let it suck up as much as it will, then squeeze that into the upright plugged barrel from the muzzle, my idea is to flood the bore with chemical reactant. 3-4 of those for a .25 to .30 caliber, maybe just 2-3 for a .22 or .243.
I cut a square out of a plastic grocery bag maybe 4-5� across and double it over for strength. It is laid over the muzzle and held on tight with a rubber band wrapped and twisted around over and over. I�ll upend the rifle back and forth, scope up and scope down, to get the bore really coated, then lay it as flat as possible. Some invariably gets on the bluing of the crown but it doesn�t hurt a thing even after being left there 24 hours � applied one evening and removed the next evening.
During the time the cleaner is left in every few hours I�ll coat the bore again the same way � upending the barrel back and forth and then lay it down in some different orientation � on the left side first, then the right etc. I might do that twice or thrice during cleaning, whenever I remember to do it.
The longest I�ve left it in is about 24 hours, the shortest is maybe 6 hours only because I started cleaning in the morning and finished in the afternoon since I was taking that rifle out shooting the next day. I don�t know what a minimum time would be since I use this as a �take 5 minutes to prepare it, walk away, then finish when I feel like it� proposition. But it has never failed to remove every trace of copper for as far as I can see into the bore.
I don�t have a borescope to verify 100% cleaning, but as an experiment I have run a patch of Montana Copper Killer down some freshly cleaned bores, left it in for 10 minutes and then run a clean patch through and it came out completely white � not a speck of blue. That Copper Killer is powerful stuff so I figure if it didn�t react with any copper there must not be any copper in the bore. I�ve used that method to check for bare metal before applying Dyna Bore coat as well.
To the folks that will inevitably want to brag about how their method is greater and easier and all around better, okay, that�s cool with me. There may be an easier or quicker method. But I know this works, it meets my needs and only takes about 8-10 minutes to prep and then finish and uses maybe 4-5 patches, including oiling the bore. If I have a few minutes to get it started I�ll start it. If it takes me till the next day to get back to it, I know it won�t hurt anything. It doesn�t smell � which is NOT the case if you run the Montana products back and forth on patches and brushes � and it�s easy to keep it from getting onto stock finishes. I don�t know if it would hurt a stock finish or not since I�ve never spilled any on a stock.
Anyway � this is the way I skin this cat and if it works for someone else, great, if they prefer another method, that�s great, too.
