Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles How often do you fellas clean to bare steel?

If I am going to do that, there had better be a bottle of whiskey in the process.

Sid, We usually don’t keep any in stock, but for you....consider it a “done deal”! memtb

Certain weapons require different treatments, 1917 Browning air cooled, 1918 BAR, 1919 Browning air cooled, Vickers water cooled, Maxim etc. respond well to Boar Tech Eliminator. Seldom do we clean to bare steel, carbon being most prevalent, a few inches forward of the throat, usually baked on at very high temps particularly in air cooled guns. A good copper wash with a light glaze of carbon is ideal, recovered bullets in snow, showing the least jacket damage or roughness where the lands engage. Maybe this isn't germane to sporting arms.

Mr Lilja himself tells owners of his barrels to use a bronze brush.
http://riflebarrels.com/support/centerfire-maintenance/



Why does one need the supposed 'advantage' of a layer of copper stuck to the bore surface when you have copper jacket bullets?

Are you seriously suggesting a copper bullet passing through a 'copper free bore' damages a barrel faster?

Agree...that’s ridiculous

Usually it is phosphor bronze. Harder than copper/gilding metal, not as hard as barrel steel. The brush is useful for shifting powder fouling, which is not very soluble in nitro solvent.

Ammonia dissolves copper. It will dissolve metal fouling, and it will dissolve a bronze brush if you let the two come into contact. The ammonia itself won't harm barrel steel, so long as you follow the instructions: don't leave it sit in the barrel too long, clean it out and then oil. The reason for that is not because ammonia attacks the steel, but because the solvent is water-based, and so if you leave it too long it can promote rusting.

I've used Sweets 7.62 for decades, and find it very effective on metal fouling, especially when fresh, and even more especially if you work it vigorously enough to work up a bit of a froth. I've never had an issue with it harming a barrel.

When its fresh is key. If its been in the barrel too long sweets won't touch it. Nor will any of the chem treatments. I have a theory and it could be totally bunk but here goes...


when the copper oxidizes the chemical makeup changes enough that the solvents stop working. Ive seen copper that nothing would touch.

Except JB bore paste. That always works...every time.

Actually I was referring to the Sweets 7.62 being fresh. When it is, the fumes will just about lift your scalp off, and it works really well. With age it loses a bit of its effectiveness.

As for fouling, I guess it is at least possible that the copper could develop a bit of patina, which is somewhat protective, if you got your bore fouled and then let it sit for a long while. I've never noticed it being harder to shift metal fouling after it has been left to sit for a while though.

Try this experiment: take some bullets that have been allowed to develop a patina. Put some Sweets on a swab and try to shine them up. I think you'll fine that it takes the patina off straight away.

BTW, Sweets and other ammonia sources should be kept well away from your brass cases and loaded ammo. Ammonia will attack those just like it attacks metal fouling, and can cause intergranular corrosion/season cracking.

Take this test...get a few copper pennies(if they are still around) or a bullet you want to sacrifice and put a drop of sweets on it and then a drop of KG12.

It may be harder to clean out after it has layers of fouling deposited on top but I doubt that copper oxide is the culprit. The blue and green colors that come out on cleaning patches with solvent are from copper oxide, the solvents oxidize the copper.