Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cleaning old firearms

I have stumbled into a few old (100 rears or so old) guns over the years and have nearly always had a long, laborious task of cleaning the barrels. I am wondering if others have found a better means of cleaning the bores other elbow grease.

My present procedure is to a foaming bore cleaner and letting it sit for a while followed by dry patches on a jag. Repeat a couple times before doing the same process followed by a wire brush then patches. I'll often switch to a solvent of some sort and let soak even longer before brushing at this point When I get tired, run out of bore cleaner, or wear out enough brushes I'll try some bore paste if desperate.

This can take days, even weeks to accomplish and even then the barrel usually still looks pretty bad with a light shined down the barrel as well as continued very dirty patches run through the barrel. I realize the barrel will not usually look factory new but I think it could look better and am wondering if there is something else to try. Thanks for any suggestions.

I'm a big fan of Ed's Red.

For one thing, it's cheap. For another, you can adjust the recipe to suit your needs. In your case, Ed's Red may be just the ticket in that it keeps working if you leave it in the bore.

I can take a dirty barrel, run one wet patch down the barrel and then let it sit for a couple weeks. The Ed's Red will loosen gunk and when I come back in a fortnight, the barrel comes clean very quickly.

Not a gunwriter, but.

Have made a hobby of buying older firearms and rehabbing them; am just a guy, not a gunsmith. But what's been highly effective on the EXTERIOR for gummed old oil, varnish overspray/brushed, light corrosion etc has been Ed's Red. So started to use that instead of my usual Montana Extreme for initial bore scrubbing, and with jb borepaste, saving montana extreme or rimfire blend for the last swipes on a fairly cleaned up barrel. There are no shortcuts am afraid, but this system has seemed more timely for me - busting crud/soaking w/ ed's red, bore paste as appropriate, then using the boutique stuff to finish up.

Again, not what you asked, but have seen some amazing improvement on exterior/parts surfaces, which led me to using it for crummy bores.

These days there are several bore cleaners that can be left inside indefinitely, and the longer you leave 'em, the more stuff comes out.

What I've found useful is after the dang barrel is really clean, applying Dyna-Tek Bore Coat. DBC essentially seals the rough spots, at least as long as they aren't too deep. It also helps noticeably when shooting cast bullets through rough bores, especially when there's at least a little shine left in there, somewhere.

Thanks for the suggestions, I guess I was hoping for an easier way but in vain.

I looked at Ed's Red a while back but the flammability issue worried me. I do my cleaning in the winter so am indoors. I may have to change my pattern as I do like the price and I am getting my collection of solvents down to a manageable level.

Again, thanks for the ideas.

re: flammability, agree whole-heartedly, be careful with it. Keep stored in a closed mason jar. I have a "system" of laying used patches out flat on the bench to collect at the end of working and put in outdoor trash directly, same with any bits of rag, they get laid on a wire rack outside to air out before going in trash, out of fear for fire risk. To date, have not forgotten, but you are right to be careful with it. That said, is it any different than using Hoppe's in that regard? Doubt it. Plus side to doing this - can't smell any solvents in that room.

Where can you get Eds Red? Iv never heard of it before?

It's a homebrew solution that you mix yourself. You can find a description of it here.

FYI.

Tag

Tag

I'm lazy, and all that scrubbing bores me, been using one of these for years, and it workds great. Two solutions one for copper & one for lead.:

http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/243419/outers-foul-out-3-bore-cleaning-system

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Outers-Cop-Out-II-Elecrotromagnetic-Gun-Bore-Cleaner-/252262900067?hash=item3abc0a6163:g:VeAAAOSwGotWowAe

In 2 weeks I could earn enough money to buy a gun with a better bore. I always marvel at the guys that are selling old guns will claim the bore should "clean up".

I have owned hundreds of old guns and the bores were as old as the rifle and never spent 2 weeks cleaning the bore on a single gun. If the bore is dark and pitted, a good soaking for maybe a couple hours or overnight in the extreme case, will usually clean it enough to get acceptable accuracy with cast bullets.

If you are looking for a shiny bore in a poorly maintained gun, you are better off looking at a different gun...

I've had decent luck with this stuff. (midway link is just for convenience, pretty sure you can find it other places.)

It cleaned up a couple of old guns I thought were relatively clean and really did job on an M700 I got from a friend who had no idea when/if the owner previous to him had cleaned it last.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/78...aming-bore-cleaning-solvent-5-oz-aerosol

Good luck,

Geno

50-50 Kroil and Marvel Mystery Oil works pretty well

Awhile back I was cleaning a Remington rolling block in 7MM and
when I pushed the cleaning brush out of the muzzle, small clouds of rust came out.

I buy test tube stoppers on line, plug the chamber and fill the barrel with Hoppe's #9. A couple overnight soakings, each followed by a bore brush scrubbing, removes a lot of junk. It even worked on a Savage 99 that I doubt had been cleaned since it was new in 1952.
A size 00 stopper will fit a chamber from 30-06 head size through belted magnums like 338 Win Mag.

Ed`s Red sounds like Cancer waiting to happen.

"keep away from pets and stupid people" I love it.

Shrapnel,

You are right regarding the typical rifle bore, I am probably harboring unrealistic thoughts on one particular rifle. I have been able to get the bore of most rifles pretty darn clean but I have one which is giving me fits. No matter how much cleaning, a patch comes out pretty dirty after running a wire brush down the bore.

I've used various cleaners including an Outers Foul Out to no avail. Accuracy has improved but it still has a ways to go. I first blamed the shooting on the scope, a Lyman Alaskan with a faded dot, but borrowing a reproduction 7/8" scope helped only a little. I hoped to find an easier way of cleaning the barrel but I guess that is a pipe dream.

So is getting better accuracy though I haven't given up on bullet selection. The 250/3000 can be a little persnickety and this one is proving it in spades. My other ones were pretty easy so I guess the Law of Averages is catching up.

Thanks all for the suggestions, it looks like I'll just have to keep plugging away at it.