What have you found to be the quickest and most effective way to remove copper fouling from barrels, that is safe to the barrel and user ?

Wipe Out foaming bore cleaner.

I use http://www.kgcoatings.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=4&pg=1 specifically http://www.kgcoatings.com/index.php?p=product&id=5&parent=4 It is the best I have used.

Bore Tech Eliminator, hands down. It's non-toxic, won't harm bores and can get both powder fouling and copper out quickly using just patches. If you're really in a hurry, you use a nylon brush with the stuff, but it's not really necessary. Simply run saturated patches through. They'll start out purple and then turn to blue, and then light blue. When they're coming out white, you're done except for a light coat of whatever lube you prefer. Best stuff I've ever found. No contest.

Gawd..don't you ever sleep.....

Ingwe

I'm on the left coast. Not all THAT late here. What's YOUR excuse???

Chesty Puller woke me up...again....


Ingwe

Thad dog's too damn smart. I see he even booted up your computer and logged you onto the fire!

What a good dog!

Yeah, I'm gonna have to send a pic of him doing that in my First update..

Seriously though Ive already got him hitting stuff with his paw ( a precursor to him pressing push plates to open doors...)

Cool little dude...if he would only sleep.....

Ingwe


To the OP...sorry....back on topic!!..

Wipe Out.

I resisted buying Wipe Out until I used up most of my other solvents laying around--wished I had bought some earlier......

I use Shooters Choice or regular ol' Hoppes first to remove most of the powder if the barrel is really dirty, then use the Wipe Out. With Wipe Out I have one newish M700 that was virtually impossible to get a clean patch--the first time I tried Wipe Out was the first time I saw clean patches from that rifle.



Casey

If I'm not in a hurry, which is 99% of the time, I use Wipe Out. One or two soaking with it gets everything there is to get and leaves the barrel completely clean.

I see that this is your first post here on 24 Hour.
Welcome aboard, and come back often.
I've never given wipe-out a try, but here good things about it for getting the copper out.
I have two bottles of Sweets Copper Remover, and will use them up before looking for another copper remover.

I'm using Shooter's Choice right now, but have heard good things about Bore Tech and would like to give it a try.

Along with Wipe-Out, I've been using a lot of Montana Extreme. This works just as well and can be left in a bore indefinitely.

But if a barrel really fouls, I treat it with Ultra Bore Coat. Life is too short to be scrubbing barrels. In fact I have quit scrubbing them, as they either get UBC'ed or have Montana Extreme left in the bore overnight.

I use Sweets 7.62 to remove copper fouling. I have used wipe out and have no complaints about it.

Montana extreme to clean the bore before UBC. After that, wipeout or Butch's Bore Shine.

I use Pro-Shot Copper Solvent IV.

Seems to do a good job on removing both copper and powder residue.

JM

What's a good source for Wipeout ?

My supply of Sweets is about gone.

GTC

I currently use Barnes CR-10, which is more or less the same as Sweets 7.62. I'll probably give something else a try when it's gone. Not because it doesn't work, as it does a decent job, but because I'd rather use something I can leave in the bore for longer than 15 minutes without fear of damage. Oh, and I'm not a big fan of the pungent ammonia smell.

Here's a test of a bunch of different products. If there is a cleaner you are interested in that is not on his list, he will accept a small sample size to test (my friend sent him the MPro-7). I'd like to see how Bore Tech Eliminator and Montana Xtreme Copper Killer stack up to the rest, but I won't be giving either a try until the CR-10 is gone.

http://www.frfrogspad.com/cleaners.htm

DMB, thanks for your "Welcome aboard".
This seems to be good site with interesting topics and has so many people offering info and ideas, and I appreciate all the responses.
It is also great to have gun writers such as Mule Deer pitching in with his well respected opinions as well.

I have used Wipe Out, along with a few others, but was hoping to find something even better, and you have given me some other cleaners to try that I haven't yet, such as Ultra Bore Coat and Montana Extreme.
Thanks to one all for your help.

Wipe Out.
I have trouble find it available at retailers around where I live, and ordering it online makes for expensive shipping. Oh well it's worth it.

Most of the stores around here carry the Gunslick foaming cleaner- have no idea if it is as good, better, or whatever, than Wipe Out, but I have had nothing but good results with the Wipe Out product.

John, are you using the Montana Extreme bore solvent, copper cream, or the 50 BMG solvent?

Thanks,
Ryan

I was just composing a reply asking the same thing.

Have gone to the store looking for "Montana Extreme" to replace my Sweet's and JB compound but ended up walking away shaking my head over which one to get.


Actually, I have the UBC kit but haven't gotten around to cleaning any rifle down to absolute bare metal yet to apply it.

Just a quick note. Ultra Bore Coat isn't a cleaner but a barrel treatment to keep your barrel from fouling excessively. I wasn't sure if you realized that from the way you worded it.

hey i got turned onto a product call ed wipe out it the best money can buy its a foam and you just spray it in the barrel let is stand for about 20 minutes and presto its done and dont get the wife mad about the smell eitherits made in kansas and you can contact them on the net @www.sharpshooter.com it kind of har to get from sporting good store i dont understand it maybe they need better marketing or something but its the best i have found and it really taking holdin the benchrest circles as a matter of fact as soon as i get off here iam going to ordera case tired of running out and having to orfer a few cans

Wipe out is a real mess to use when I have tried it. I still have two cans of the origional.

What technique do you use?

In case you missed my earlier post, Bore Tech won't harm bores, is non-toxic and works fast with nothing more complicated than using patches. I can't recommend it enough. I don't see it in many stores, but it's easy to order online.

I plug the bore with my bore guide, lay the rifle horizontally on it's side and give a small squirt of Wipe-Out into the muzzle.
You learn fast not to use too much or it doesn't seem to ever stop expanding.
The bore guide is already in so you just run a patch through it and push all the fouling out the muzzle.

Azar...thanks for the heads up about Ultra Bore.

That may be the kind of product I will try after getting these bores clean again, as I am getting tired of removing the copper

Kentucky Windage...thanks too for the info on Bore Tech...will check and see if it is available here in BC.
Glad it works so well for you...hope it does the same for my guns, as it sounds pretty simple to use.

Patch-Out is the same stuff as Wipe-Out but in a liquid form instead of a foam. You short stroke a patch with it in your bore and it foams right up. Let it set 1/2 hr and dry patch it out. The same results on copper without the mess.

Ryan and Jim,

I use the Montana Extreme bore solvent.

The 50 BMG is good if you want to get copper out right now, as it's one of the more aggresive solvents. But I don't put up with bores that really copper-foul anymore, instead installing UBC. So my bottle of 50 BMG has gone unused for a while now.

Just keep running saturated patches thru till they come out white. If you want to speed it up, use a nylon brush -- not bronze, as it will impart the same purple/blue color to the patch. Seldom takes me more than half a dozen or so patches. Your mileage may vary depending on the degree of copper buildup.

Since I last posted I have been to the suppliers here in Kamloops, and found that none of Montana Extreme, Bore Tech or UBC are available here.
So I will be giving the Patch Out version of Wipe Out a go.

Also, of the products available here, it is what is most recommended by the guys in the shops here.

Thanks guys for all your suggestions !

90%Kroil/10% JB's for 10 strokes with a bronze brush, followed by 2 patches of Kroil and 3 dry patches. If it still looks a bit dirty, I repeat, then follow with Butch's or Montana extreme. After all that, all the carbon has been removed. This will get you shooting again. If I'm finished for the day, then I do all of the above, plus Wipeout or Foamout. This gets the last of the carbon and all the copper.

For a truly fouled bore, after all the above, I keep running Wipeout through the bore until it no longer shows color. For one 6.5X55 I worked on (probably hadn't been cleaned since 1915), it took 3 days of Wipeout application. Afterwards, it came out clean and shot like a charm.

An old benchrester told me about a 3:1 mix of Shooters Choice and Kroil, and I haven't really switched since then. I may have to modernize at some point. I dislike having to do the JB scrub in the bad foulers, but there are only two of those. I scrubbed out a new Savage tactical .308 and applied UBC before taking it out yesterday. Gotta run a couple patches through and see how it worked.

I just mix some JB in a small dropper bottle with Kroil. Its no more difficult to use, IMO, than your run of the mill solvent. For my better barrels, a few strokes of this stuff is enough.

I should try UBC. I inherited a badly pitted .30-06 that, for sentimental reasons, I would like to leave as-is. It has to be cleaned every 10 rounds, or it starts to pattern, rather than group.

UBC is directly ordered from their website. You won't find it on shelves.

I'm surprised at all the people that have found wipe out to be so messy. I wrapped a plastic straw with masking tape to the diameter of the neck and insert it in the chamber end and squirt two half second bursts (wait a little between squirts) into the barrel. Wait long enough for the foam to expand before pulling the straw out, set the rifle in a cardboard box with some V notches cut in it so that the barrel points slightly down and put a rag under the muzzle. Done. No mess.

It's by far the best copper cleaner I've used and I just haven't felt the need to try anything else since finding it. I clean the powder fouling first with some Hoppe's #9, probably for sentimental reasons more than anything, patch that out, foam the bore and let the wipe out do it's thing.

fish head

A UBC coated bore, and cleaning afterwards with Wipe-Out, is about the most user friendly combo I've found. Just doesn't get more simple. Give it a squirt, and sit a few hours. Patch it out, and give it another squirt, and let it sit overnight. Patch it out, and it's generally done! Involves about 10 minutes time expended, and no fumes. Nice to have products that work as advertized, for a change!

Jeff

Azar, thanks for the link concerning the testing for the various products.
It is very interesting and informative....and it looks like KG 12 would be a good product to try, if it were available here.

I use Wipe Out most of the time on a fouled bore....but if I have an old Winchester or double gun I will use my own mix, the stuff the old benchresters called "Blue Goop"..that is one quart of 25% Commercial Amonia, a cup of Hydrogen Peroxide and may toss a copper bullet in it to turn it blue..It really cleans the copper out, but be sure and get it all out with dry patches and oil the bore profusely..I usually give the bore a hot suds and rinse scalding water bath after using it, then oil the heck out of the squeeky clean bore. I do this about once a year btw..In the interim I just use a bore snake with some kind of oil on the brush..Wipe Out is easier to use and almost as effective, and I find myself using it more and more over the Blue Goop and save the Blue Goop for really bad bores only..

I have gone on line to order the UBC (thanks Keith for the ordering tip), and when it arrives, will use it to condition the bores, and then plan to continue to use Wipe Out/Patch out.

You guys have been a great help....Thanks lots.

atkinson, did you forget to use the hydrogen peroxide after saturating the bore with blue goop? Not many guys are old enough to remember the Blue GooP, this stuff was used prior to Sweets coming into the country....about all we had.

The problem with some of the cleaners is that they take time. Most rifles will need cleaning at the range while loads are being worked up. It is not uncommon for chrome moly factory barrels to need de-coppering every 12-20 rounds to see the accuracy potential for a load.

For you soakers, the MOntana Extreme Solvent can be left in a barrel over night(oil base) and I have got the same results as Wipe out or better.

The Montana Extreme Copper Killer (50BMG) is the best copper solvent that I have ever found. When this copper solvent is used with one of their plastic brushes, copper removal in a stubborn barrel is DONE in 15 minutes.

The Montana Extreme Copper Cream is as good as JB for the most stubborn, worn barrels such as military rifles. I use the copper cream on patches and/or thier plastic brushes. This application is usually on a rifle that has not been cleaned in hundreds of rounds or an old military rifle.

I am always trying every new solvent that comes out. The Bore Tec Eliminator is one thing that I have not tried yet.

I would urge all the readers to wear rubber gloves when using solvents, some of these chemicals are very caustic over a period of time....I would love to outlive my penis.