Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Extremely filthy barrel

Sweets and Extreme would be beyond comparison better than Hoppe's on copper and about the same on carbon. I'll use Hoppe's to remove carbon deposits before going after copper fouling. I figure getting rid of the carbon fouling first allows the copper remover to contact the copper fouling better.

I'm not seeing any green on the patches, just black. Would you keep going with the hoppes for awhile or would you switch to the stronger stuff? Thanks

Jeez Louis, sounds like you need brake cleaner!

Might be the next thing I'll try

I know a lot of people use Break Free Spray and swear by it
What chemicals are in it I know not
Never tried it myself

Hmmm. Could it be that the fact there is no green/blue on the cleaning patch mean that the fouling is indeed cupro-nickel? (For those unfamiliar with that old bullet jacket material, google it, or just picture a soft alloy that outwardly looks like raw steel not like a copper penny.) This one of those instances I wish I could be looking over the OP's shoulder.

Old school here I guess. Have been using Hoppe’s No. 9 and BreakFree CLP for everything on my guns since around 1980. Don’t even pay attention to all of the new cleaners/scrubbers. Guns have never suffered and they smell pretty good.

"Guns have never suffered". Maybe, maybe not.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1001882

Read MColeman's responses.

I read about this stuff and it’s difficult for me to even picture it. Maybe I’ve been lucky all these years to have never bought a gun with these kind of issues. Or maybe it’s just that my ignorance is bliss.

Barrels are unique in how they react to being fouled.

I've owned barrels that didn't seem to mind a bit of copper fouling, in fact my 1953-vintage M70 '06 shoots better if it has a box or two's worth of jacketed fouling present. (I took it down to bare metal when I got it and was disappointed with its accuracy but noticed it shot better toward the end of that first range session. I took it home and cleaned the bore back down to bare metal again and the performance was repeated, so I said f-it and left it alone. The next time out, with the previous fouling intact, it shot better and better until instead of 2MOA+ groups I was getting 1/2-3/4MOA groups. Now I merely give it a swipe with Ed's Red to remove powder fouling and leave it alone until accuracy begins to fall off again.) Other rifles just wouldn't shoot worth a tinker's dam unless the barrels were kept squeaky clean. Go figure.

Of course, the easiest way to avoid copper buildup is to just use cast lead bullets. (You were waiting for that weren't you, Rory?! ) I have a couple tubes I've owned since new that have seen hundreds/thousands of cast bullets and not one jacketed. I have several tubes that I cleaned to bare metal when I bought them used and have only shot cast bullets in since. Do I get leading? Sometimes, but very rarely- 50 years of that nonsense and I've learned how to avoid that.

If it like my gun, the patches are coming out like black mud has been pressed into it. The crud is almost tarry in its consistency. If this is the case, I kept soaking with Hoppe's and scrubbing with a bronze brush. The brush seemed to loosen the crud up for a bit before the patches glossed things over again.

It may be cupro-nickel fouling but I have not seen such fouling with a bunch of 303 Brit rounds I fired. Of course I didn't wait years or decades to clean the bore either so my reference is not consistent with this gun. .

If anything I wonder if it could be lead fouling? There were lead gallery loads for the 30/30 way back when, I wonder if the 303 Savage had similar loads? I can imagine lead leaving deposits like those being described.

Gallery loads for the .303S were factory offerings in the early days. They were very soft plain based bullets, almost pure lead, driven by a pinch of pistol/shotgun powder, and shouldn't have leaded bores if used properly.** Properly cleaned bores intended for cast bullet shooting will be entirely free of jacketed fouling- that stuff serves to scour lead off of bullets as they squeeze past it. I shoot scads of loads like that which I make myself, in several rifles, and don't experience leading but those gun's bores were prepped accordingly beforehand.

If it's severely compacted leading in your bore, the bronze brush will pull flakes of lead out the barrel with it. Look closely and you'll see them. It's also likely you'll see tiny flecks of lead on the patches along with the black goop. My theory still leans toward cupro-nickel fouling. Heck, someone could've glommed onto a pile of old cupro-nickel jacketed ammo and shot it up in that gun shortly before you acquired it- the deed didn't necessarily have to have been done 100 years ago- and if the bore is/was a little rough it would sluice that soft jacket material off like a cheese grater damages a block of cheddar.

** It's counter intuitive but soft lead alloys leave less leading behind than really hard lead alloy bullets do, within proper velocity parameters.

It's not really germane to the conversation, but if anybody wants to know why, I'll explain.

Thanks for all the responses. I think I will just keep scrubbing with hoppes until I get fed up then shoot it and see how it does.
. I have a 1911 22hp with an odd stock that as soon as I figure out how to post pics I would like you guys to look at. Can't figure out what I bought.

cherryfarmer, there is an Images forum down below the Free Classifieds. Start a post there, and you can upload full sized pictures into your post.

When I get leading in my 1911 .45 barrel, I wrap a few strands of a "pure copper" chore boy (do not use the regular chore boy) on my brush and run it through a few times. Does a great job of removing the lead. It's a poor boy Lewis Lead Remover.

Thanks Calhoun and Keith for your suggestions, I'll try posting some pics of the savage Hi power soon and will also try the chore boy in my bore. You guys are a wealth of information and i appreciate it. I been around guns my whole life and started hunting deer with a different 22 up when i was 11 but i have been learning alot since I joined this forum.

Whoops damn auto correct, should read to be 22 high power

The worst barrels get this from me. I have had success. I saved a good friend’s 7mm Rem Mag from getting a new barrel. A can of brake fluid and a lot of scrubbing got accuracy back to very respectable levels.