Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Gun Cleaning Question

I got a bore scope for christmas and I have been picking up good cleaning equipment for my guns. I spend more time buying and selling used guns etc than I really do hunting or shooting any single rifle. Many of my guns have not been cleaned in a quite a while, some have never been cleaned or fired since I purchased them years ago. I picked a few rifles and have been going through a standard process
- Wet patch with Butch's Boreshine
- Wait 10 min, then 20 strokes with brass brush with Butch's
- Dry patch - watch color
- Second dry patch
- Patch with Butch's again and repeat

I looked through a dirty bore, then after 3 cycles of above, used the bore scope to see the difference and it looked really clean. however, the patch after the brushing comes out completely blue. Continued for approximately 15 series etc, and the patch is the same, consistent amount of blue, which is a full patch of blue.

My question.... how common is it the brass brush is causing the blue? I dont see anything in the bore with the camera. I used a foaming bore cleaner and the patches came out clean, no color. Back to Butch's and the brass brush.... lots of blue.

The brush is not the problem.. Copper is the problem.. Keep at it - eventually it'll come clean..

I’d go shoot it and it will probably shoot fine, then forget about the blue patches…

The bore brushes are bronze, not brass. A bronze brush will cause the blue, bronze is about 88% copper. Use a nylon brush wound on an aluminum core for your final scrub and you won’t get the blue.
Nylon bore brush

Agreed brass brushes will cause the blue color. Use your brass brushes this way and they will deteriorate away to nothing in a few months of use. I got away from brass brushes except in exceptionally dirty bores (like used guns that hadn't been cleaned properly) and I got a good set of brass jags for cleaning bores and let the chemicals do the work. Nylon brushes are also good for this. Usually, if it looks clean it is clean enough...

I've always wondered when I've been in LGS or at gun shows why these sellers won't spend a couple minutes at least cleaning the guns' bores and actions before they put them on the shelf. It's amazing the crud you see in rifle barrels when you are looking to buy a used gun...

I always read about people who clean until the they get white patches through the barrel... dont think I would ever get there. I think I might continue to do what I did on the next old one and switch to a Nylon brush and check the results. I also read that I could put some cleaner on the brass jag or the brush and wait 5 mion, then wipe down and look for blue to see if it was the equipment.

Thanks guys.

Nylon brush and coated jags are what I prefer when I clean a rifle to help eliminate false blue on patches.
I’m a big fan of BoreTech cleaning products also.

Nylon brushes don't do anything to remove carbon fouling, you need bronze. I run 2 wet patches of Butch's, soak a bronze brush with the same and stroke it back and forth about 10 times, then run a patch to push that crud out. Then a loose patch with Butch's to soak. THEN run a clean patch to check for blue.

I give the brush a blast of carb or brake cleaner to flush the solvent off so it doesn't get eaten up.

That..

When I use a bronze brush I don't use anything that's purported to be a copper remover at the same time. I'll brush with something like Kroil or Ballistol. Follow with a dry patch to push out the black residue. Rinse and repeat.

Any brass on the rod, jag or brush will give false copper indication when used with a solvent. Minimize by using aluminum or plated jags. As far as brushes you can’t get around it with solvent however there are work around albeit a longer process. Kroil will actually get under carbon fouling and copper.
Under normal circumstances I will let Kroil soak in the bore overnight, then do a few passes with a bronze brush soaked in Kroil. When patched out the patches come out greenish/black. I then move to a mixture of 50/50 Kroil and Butches, let soak an hour or so then 1 wet patch out, soak a nylon brush with 50/50 for a few passes. Patch out, if still getting blue/black, repeat step 2. Takes longer but works.
Have been known on really fouled bores to put a rubber chamber plug in, fill the bore with Kroil and let sit for 48 hours. Comes out a dark greenish/black.

JB paste? I'm doing the Bore-tek coating thing. follow those steps, using first bronze brush for the carbon, then nylon brush for the copper solvent. If not doing the Dyna-tek, just eliminate the acetone/alcohol and bore coat steps.

As said above, I found the bronze brushes will cause positive patches used with copper solvent.

This is pretty much what I was doing and after 15 -20 repetitions of the full cycle, the blue patch cleaning up after the soaked brush stroke was not getting any less blue. This was over a day and a half. Rifle is a flat bolt .220 Swift 77 that belonged to my dad. He told me that he doesnt think it has more than 200 rounds through it when he gave it to me. I added 20-30 rounds to that. So likely less than 250 total rounds. Barrel looks great, not any heat cracking or wear to speak of. Still churning out completely blue patches.

That is the exact jag set I am using.

I use these

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0016507480/point22-caliber-aluminum-jag-for-rifles

Brushes and brass fittings on rods absolutely will give you a false blue.


Boretech sells good jags and nylon Brushes and rods that won't give blue. Problem is like was said...nylon brushes won't do much for hard carbon. Hard carbon is only removed via mechanical means....a bronze brush or an abrasive bore cleaner.


After getting a bore scope, I learned how completely worthless carbon cleaners are. They all work great on loose carbon. But hard carbon the kills accuracy is a different animal.

My match rifles get cleaned back to bare steel every 100rds of so with Iosso. A couple patches with Iosso and I'm back to bare steel. I rather send a few patches of abrasives through my bore than 100s of brush stokes.

When I get stubborn carbon build up I use a tight patch with either JB Bore Paste, Iosso , or Flitz... sometimes I will use Remington bore cleaner if it isn't too heavy. This is about the only time any more that I use bronze brushes but I run them through about 40-50 strokes, then run through my usual cleaning routine to remove all the residue, and check to see if the bore, chamber, and leade are clean...

Jags are used for normal cleaning with a patch soaked in chemical to spread it evenly in the bore several times for a good saturation and let it set for a while before patching it out. I seldom get a completely white patch as some of those chemicals can hide in hard to reach places and seem to just keep staining the rag over and over. However, the blue stain usually disappears in about 3-5 passes of a clean patch wrapped on a jag...

One way I found to extend the life of a bronze bore brush that I use with any copper solvent is to clean it off after I'm done with rifle maintenance. I just take a disposable paper cup, pour some cheap rubbing Alcohol I buy from the 99 cent store in it, then drop my bore brushes in, swirl them around, shake them off and leave them out to dry.

If I don't rinse them off after using copper solvent, they don't last as long. I also clean off my military weapons cleaning tooth brushes the same way.

If a brass brush causes blue, why use a brass jag ?