[Fatelvis]

I just bought a "Excellent" Rem 03-A3 (`44, 2 groove bbl.), and when I went to clean it for the first time with Shooters choice and patches, I got the usual powder (black) color for awhile, then copper fouling (blue), then just dark grey. I cant seem to get this barrel clean, even after about 3 dozen wet/dry patches!! Im getting nothing but this dark grey color on the patches. Does anyone know whats going on ? Thanks guys-

[Sisco]

Do you know any history of the gun?
Just a guess here... if it was an American Legion or VFW color guard rifle it would have had bunches of blank rounds (corrosive?) fired through it and probably never cleaned.
I had one of those once, when I did finally get the barrel cleaned up the pitting was obvious and pretty bad.

[Fatelvis]

I dont know the history of it, but the bore has strong rifling, and is pretty bright. I just dont understand why the patches keep coming out grey.

[Badger Arms]

Heck, I never get beyond the grey patch stage. Nearly all of my guns are at that point. I simply don't feel the need to clean any further. I was always told by my father that too much cleaning will do more harm than good.

[GD]

The metal is somewhat pourous. I have an old Turk Mauser which when heated will release oil out of the barrel. I never get it to come clean with the patches, even after dozens have been put through. Like it was said, don't clean too much and finish up with a light coat of oil.

[cheygriz]

Wet the bore thoroughly with Shooter's choice.

Let it sit overnight.

Then wet it again and hit it with 30-40 passes with a bronze brush, dipping the brush in Shooter's Choice about every 15 passes.

Wipe out with patches, and repeat if necessary.

A couple of old Mausers that I've owned required this treatment every night for a week, but ended up with near mint bores when all of the crud was FINALLY removed.

[Destructo6]

Run a Bore Snake down it and you won't get a grey patch. Well, you won't get any patch, but I'd call it, "clean enough" at that point.

[swingset]

Clean it till you know the gunk is gone, shoot it, then clean it till the gunk is gone.

Repeat.

:D

(old milsurpers like myself don't get too worked up about perfect patches. Chances are it shoots great even when the bore's not perfect)

[Badger Arms]

30-40 passes!!!! :what: :what: Am I behind the times? I altrenate between about 4 passes of the brush, dry patch, wet patch, repeat. Do this about 4 times and let the barrel soak overnight in Tetra-Gun Bore cleaner. The next day, altrenate wet and dry patches. Usually takes about 10 patches and then I put one soaked in CLP down the bore. One dry patch before the range next time and I don't look back.

I feel that it's easy to get caught-up in the 'detailing' of a gun and forget that it's a tool. Use it, clean it, but don't worship it. Unless you are a benchrest shooter, a super-clean bore is not to your advantage. Cleaning that much is bound to damage the bore.

[MLH]

:what: Don't worship it.:what: but, but,........why not?:D :neener:

[bogie]

When I clean a match barrel, I run the brush once for every round, and I don't shoot more than 20 between cleanings. Butch's Bore Shine cuts the copper pretty well, and is a good carbon solvent. Maybe you want to try a little JB.

[cheygriz]

Badger,

If you're dealing with an old milsurp rifle, and you don't know it's history, 30-40 passes is usually conservative!

There is an alternative, of course, and that's JB compound. But JB is such a hassle, I use it only as a last resort.

I agree with one pass with the brush for every round fired. The exception being military semi-autos, of course. I don't run the brush through the AR-15s' bore 500 times after a long weekend in the mountains.

[Badger Arms]

Reread the first post. I guess it didn't sink in that this was a milsurp gun. Yeah, I probably would do that many passes also.

[Gewehr98]

which made the bore in my No5Mk1 Jungle Carbine shine again. Cordite does nasty things to the inside of a barrel if not cleaned after shooting it. Then again, sitting in a small island country like Malaysia for 40+ years with minimal maintenance does nasty things to a rifle bore, too. (Mike Irwin alluded to that earlier)