The dreaded green stain: Magtech.

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rpenmanparker

rpenmanparker

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Well, it finally happened. I was cleaning the Ruger SR 9 last night and had patches come out green. Copper finally bit me. I got a good deal (?) on 1000 rounds of Magtech 9mm FMJ for the range. They had the same price on the S&B, but I have been using that and wanted to try something different. Dumb move. So I’ve ordered some Bore Tech Cu+2 cleaner, and I hope it works. With 900 rounds of this stuff left, looks like I’m going to need it.

But why would one similar brand deposit copper when others don’t?
 
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Or don't worry about it.

From Schuemann Barrels on Barrel Cleaning http://www.schuemann.com/Portals/0/Documentation/Webfile_Barrel_Cleaning.pdf

My Personal Practice has become to never clean the bore of my barrels. I do use a brass rod to scrape the deposits out of the chamber. But, I've learned to leave the bore alone and it very slowly becomes shinier and cleaner all by itself. Years ago I occasionally scrubbed the bore with a brass bore brush. But, doing so always seemed to cause the bore to revert to a dirtier look with more shooting, so I eventually stopped ever putting anything down the bore except bullets...
Click to expand...
 
JTQ is right. Unless you're getting leading, pistol barrels usually don't need cleaning.
 
After I went more than 10k without cleaning a barrel on one of my competition guns with no discernable ill effects, I decided those "don't clean pistol barrels" might be onto something. You'll likely put more wear on the barrel by cleaning it after every range session than you would by shooting it. I clean pistol barrels early on in their life, but other than that, I've pretty much quit. Causes zero accuracy or reliability problems. I'm not shooting black powder or corrosive ammo.
 
It is hard for me to believe that Hoppe's regular cleaner or their aqueous Elite spray cleaner and a nylon bristled bore brush would do any damage.
 
The nylon probably won't. It won't do anything demonstrably positive, either.

Try an experiment. You've now got some ammo that you are pretty sure leaves some copper residue. Sounds like you've got 900 rounds of it left. Shoot it up. See if you can tell any difference. Put off cleaning the barrel (not the rest of the gun) until it makes a difference. If your experience is like mine, it will be a long, labor-free wait.
 
ATLDave said:
The nylon probably won't. It won't do anything demonstrably positive, either.

Try an experiment. You've now got some ammo that you are pretty sure leaves some copper residue. Sounds like you've got 900 rounds of it left. Shoot it up. See if you can tell any difference. Put off cleaning the barrel (not the rest of the gun) until it makes a difference. If your experience is like mine, it will be a long, labor-free wait.
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I think I will. Meanwhile would you like to buy 16oz of copper remover? ;)

So regarding lead .22LR bullets: what is the best cleaning (or not) approach in a pistol barrel? I have been shooting 100 at a time and then following with about 25 copper washed ones to hopefully scrub out the lead. When I use this bare lead bullet supply up, I don't plan on shooting that type any more. I plan to standardize on the copper washed ones.

Thanks for the help.
 
There is no need to clean rimfire barrels until accuracy falls off. Lead bullets of any quality have a lot of lube on them. Most match shooters never clean their precision rimfire barrels until a change in consistency forces them too.

They will the expend many many rounds getting the barrel seasoned with bullet lube again.
 
As for my pistol barrels, obvious heavy leading gets cleaned out if accuracy suffers. This is readily evident in my HK polygonal rifled barrels if I run hard cast lead bullets. My conventionally rifled barrels take much much longer to lead up to the point they need to be cleaned unless the alloy is dorked up, or the bullet lube sucks.

Shooting jacketed bullets I don’t even worry about it, if I do anything I run an oily patch and follow with a dry patch. Usually if the pistol is going to be stored for awhile.

I do clean chambers though, that’s for reliability.
 
I don’t clean barrels either. And these days I only shoot jacketed 22 lr so I don’t have to mess with those either.
 
If I shoot a bunch of lead, I make it a point to clean every 1000 or so whether the gun needs it or not. The soot from the lube generally has the gun filthy by that point. Shooting plated or jacketed, I'll clean it when I'm bored and just want a clean gun.
 
The range that I am a member of sells a lot of Magtech ammo, and a lot of this ammo is used with their rental guns.

I don’t shoot this ammo, but one of the range officers advised that they have not experienced the green copper oxide problem that the OP is talking about.
 
JDR said:
The range that I am a member of sells a lot of Magtech ammo, and a lot of this ammo is used with their rental guns.

I don’t shoot this ammo, but one of the range officers advised that they have not experienced the green copper oxide problem that the OP is talking about.
Click to expand...
Well, there you go! My guess is witchcraft.
 
I clean every gun including the barrels when I fire them. 1 shot or 250. Leaving a barrel Dirty is something I would never do. Will it hurt the gun? Probably not. But cleaning them doesn’t hurt them either and I like a clean gun.
 
Personally, I'm not a fan of magtech. Bought some in 30 carbine that had loose primer pockets, the fired primers were falling out of the brass causing malfunctions. Had some that was fine in other calibers, some that was a bit janky. All in all seems to be fine 85% of the time...generally I pass unless it's the only thing available at the range if I run out
 
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