Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Whats the best copper solvent?

I am rather frustrated with my Remington 700 XCR II in that no matter how much I run Barnes CR-10 through the barrel I can't get rid of all the copper fouling, I would rather not use a brush, just chemicals only if possible. The CR-10 works fine at getting rid of all the copper fouling in My Ruger Hawkeye Ultra-Light Stainless 30.06, in fact with very little effort I can make it squeaky clean using Barnes CR-10 but this 700 XCR is a different animal. Is it the bullets I use in the 700? or the metal itself? I really can't explain it but I'm willing to try a stronger copper solvent (if there is one) What would it be? Sweets 7.62 maybe?...........Thanks Hillbilly.

Sweets 7.62 is good, but really no better than Barnes CR-10, IME. Best is the reverse elctrolosis rod from Hoppes. I solved this problem by moly coating my bullets. Copper fouling went WAAAYY down. Even when running Brnes 100's at 3800fps.

Why are you trying to get every bit of copper out? Some barrels shoot better with a touch of copper wash in the bore. I don't worry about cleaning a rifle barrel until accuracy begins to suffer. Often a barrel will look pretty coppery insode before the groups open up. The core problem is a rough bore in the barrel, you should probably lap it good before shooting once you get the bore really clean.

BTW, no reason NOT to run a brush. This is what they are for. USed correctly they do no harm to a barrel, use em up, son!

Sweets. Follow the directions. Ultra Bore Coat. Follow the directions.

Sweets, but be careful. I like Butches when Im in somewhat of a hurry.

Joseph

Moly has been the fix for me with barnes bullets.
I've got a 7mag that shoots nekid 160gr accubonds great for around 100 rounds between cleaning (I consider that pretty good)
but when it's time to clean that barrel, better have a entire day free. I hate to change a great load in a rifle that has a drop chart all worked out but I've got to try and do something to help, I'll Moly up some accubonds and start working a new load up soon.

BTW. In the rifles that I've used TSX's in, I've had to shoot 4 to 6 rounds in a freshly cleaned barrel to refoul the barrel and then the goups shrink up.

Never tried Sweets but I have tried Butches bore shine and it really didn't address the copper issue like I want. I have read or heard over the years something about corrosion starting under the copper deposits in your barrel and that it should be completely free of these deposits, that's why I try to keep all the copper out, but it does make sense that a little fouling could make a rifle shoot tighter groups, I know my .22 rimfires will shoot much better when thoroughly fouled but thats with lead bullets, no copper to consider here, plus I'm going to change bullets soon to Barnes TTSX solid copper, will these bullets copper foul my bore any more than say any copper jacketed bullet will?..............Thanks Hillbilly.

I have been using the Barnes stuff for years with complete satisfaction.

You haven't noticed your barrel being any harder to clean than when you shot other plain jacketed bullets?..................Thanks Hillbilly.

Wipeout Foam. Got away from all those elbow-grease intense products years ago.

The difference between the two barrels is probably because one is a little rougher than the other. I had a barrel one time that fouled VERY fast and very badly and also didn't give satisfactory accuracy. It ended up being a barrel problem so the barrel was replaced by the manufacturer.

Barnes CR-10 works fine but it's not supposed to be left in a barrel for a long time. I think it's good for a quick clean but I usually only use it on a stainless steel barrel.

What I use the most is Wipe Out which I've left in various barrels; some stainless steel and some not; for even 2 or 3 days with no problem whatsoever. I've found Wipe Out to remove copper fouling well and I rarely use brushes.

Sweets

I like Wipe Out (don't use the accelerator), but I now like Montana Extreme even better. The latter is quicker, best I've ever used, not corrosive like Sweets, 7.62, etc.

The BarnesTriple shocks, both tipped and non tipped are good at not fouling up a barrel due to the grooves and minimal surface bearing area. If this were my rifle I would trade it off for a Winchester MOdel 70 or CZ...... (Sorry,I am a dedicated CRF guy, couldn't help myself there) but if any hunting rifle gave me fouling problems and I wanted to keep that gun I would first firelap the barrel, then polish it up some more with JB bore paste, then Ultra Bore coat it, then Moly my bullets. My guess is this procedure would eliminate the fouling AND improve accuracy.

I just bought the same gun and ran a patch of wipeout accelerator and then used wipeout overnite. I pushed a very deep blue patch out the next morning. I then reapplied accelerator and wipeout foam and the patch came out clean the following afternoon. IMHO it is the finest copper remover on the market. They just changed the formulation and it is supposedly even more potent but have not had a chance to test that yet. BTW I don't even use brushes anymore and if I do they are nylon bristle. Go over to AR they have a gun cleaning forum .

Yep.

I bought two bottles of that Sweets stuff years ago, and have a whole lot of it left, so I use it mostly. But, I did buy some of that Montana Extreme to try and I think it trumps Sweets. But, I'm not gonna throw the Sweets away, so I'll keep using it till it runs out, then switch over to Montana Extreme full time.
Sweets is what the benchrest guys were using many years ago, and that's why I bought it. But, you can only leave it in the bore for about 20 minutes or it will etch the barrel; maybe it's 15 minutes as I forget. Best to get the correct amount of time to leave it in the barrel before you try any of it.
It does work however.

Don

At the range or little time: BoreTech Eliminator

At Home: SharpShooter WipeOut Bore foam.

MtnHtr

Wipeout

IMO sweets works the best but wipeout foam is much less labor intensive.