Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters do you really want to CLEAN barrel..

I always JB with a worn out bronze brush for caliber wrapped in a JB soaked patch

So how worn out is it ?
Did you have 500 strokes on a barrel you don't care about before you put it in the good barrel...


dave

any type of copper solvent and nylon brushes Ballistol for weekly cleaning and g96 gun treatment once or twice a year.

You can’t tell when a brush is worn out?

I picked up a real bad chemical sensitivity in the Corps after an incident and I get instant migrains from certain stuff. BUTCH'S doesn't bother me.
I figure 90% of the cleanings coming from friction and JB.

I had a barrel that looked like BSA 1917s with the copper. I tried quite a few different cleaners and none worked. Hoppes Elite Foaming Bore Cleaner finally did it for me. It was easy too. Spay in the bore, leave for 30 minutes, copper brush and done.

Question. Does copper removing gun powder have a place in this conversation?

Of course. It works. If copper fouling is a detriment to accuracy in a particular barrel a decoppering agent in the powder you use can eliminate, or help, that problem. But generally copper is easy to deal with. Carbon on the other hand can be a nightmare.

Didn't think we were talking dog's and cat's

Current foaming bore cleaners are off shoots of the original 'Forrest Foaming Bore Cleaner'. I started using it in the mid '90's when it was distributed through their Kansas outlet. As I recall, it was actually mfgd. in Europe...where it's still widely used. Having bought a case of 12, I was down to my last can when Wipe Out came on the scene, as well as others. They all seem to do an effective job but Wipe Out is my go-to for a foaming cleaner.

Rather than going in the muzzle, I go in from the chamber end with this little gizmo. The rubber cone is a lab grade test tube stopper with a pipette hole in it. It's pliable and chemical resistant so you can push it into the chamber and it seals nicely. Works in everything from nice BR actions to old dinosaurs like this Interarms Mark X that's getting a rehab. The dinosaur took 3 days of 8 hour soaks with Wipe Out to get the layers of carbon and copper out. A bit of work after that with an Iosso blue brush wrapped with a patch loaded with JB revealed a beautiful barrel under all that crud.

Good shootin' -Al

In the borescope close ups at the 9:00 minute mark in Erics video where he stops and says "Oh look at that" sure looks like rust or corrosion pitting to me. A subsequent comment towards the end of the video at 15:46 of another pitted section bore close up of some of the spots he's calling carbon he says "don't know whats going on there". Anybody think thats a little odd? Can't polish/brush those out.

+1

Good post, Al.

Another option is a waterline for your fridge. Fits perfectly on the nozzle. Shove the other end into the chamber and blast away. No mess at all.

I have a clear tube with nozzle end that came with a can of WO years ago. I assume those aren’t available anymore, since you guys are making your own.

Boretech Eliminator first, for carbon, then Wipeout foam for the rest, no scrubby ; ]

Just a heads up if you're using a foaming cleaner.

When they get out the back end of the chamber and your receiver has an exposed front action screw (700's, etc.), these foaming cleaners creep between the screw threads and action threads and get between the receiver and the bedding.

The tapered stopper setup seals the back of the chamber so this doesn't happen. A dab of non hardening sealer on the front action screw threads helps too.

just a note with foaming bore cleaners if you use it in any of the gas type gun with a gas tube or piston it will make it hell of a mess...

good to hear you're still around gunner !

The only time I’ve tried to get to bare metal was for a Dyna-bore treatment. Back when Dyna Bore was readily available I decided to treat every rifle barrel and a couple revolver barrels. Maybe that wasn’t necessary but that’s what I did. I have most new and old bore cleaning chemicals on my bench. Some that where the “best” (ha ha) back in the day are still there, I should probably throw them out.
I use a foaming bore cleaner - the one Al showed and another which I prefer. I repeated cleaning until there was no blue and I may have over did it with JB bore cleaner and a tight patch around a bronze brush - but the barrels were clean.

Now, if I think the rifle needs cleaning I’ll use the foaming bore cleaner once and then oil it with Kroil and put the rifle away until next season.

The only exception is with PD rifles. If we have days of heavy shooting, I may use a foaming cleaner once in the middle of the shoot. Maybe cleaning with JB would be a good idea at the end of the year, but the group sizes don’t seem to warrant it. Basically, I have not felt the need to get the JB bore cleaner out since the DB treatment. Maybe if I shot competitively with a service rifle and put thousands of rounds down range…

Last year before deer hunting time, I took a box of chemicals to the range with a big 'Free' sign on it.

Jeez...it looked like a government cheese hand out! Even the box got scarfed up.

I use all of these, depending on the situation.

Same here.