Soaking the bore - how to plug it?

Gum?

good chance the hoppies won't remove the lead, get some copper pot scrubber. check that its copper not coated steel. a few passes down the bore will get most lead out. then use a cleaner for lead.

Not sure it helps to soak it. I'd just wet patch a few times, then go wet/dry until clean enough. MAYBE Sweets once it starts seeming clean to make you unhappy again.

If you want to soak, make sure it's truly "Hoppes No. 9." They use that "9" branding on EVERYTHING now, including things like ammonia bearing solvents that will destroy the metal pretty shortly.

We have good materials science now. I'd just go to the hardware store and get a plug/stopper. The serv-a-lite cases will have a selection of rubber plugs, next to the selection of cork ones. I'd go with the rubber ones. If they have special materials, silicone may be better, but "normal rubber" is probably nitrile/buna/butadiene/etc. Note the "nitrile" name which you see on gloves you should be using while cleaning; it is pretty chemical resistant stuff. They may be in hardware or in plumbing. Think hard about measurements before you go. You cannot trim them and expect a seal so if they don't go that small... Shrug?

Not sure where to get in small quantities, but "dental wax" is also useful. I have some from printmaking stuff in the past. It resists everything, and we mean acid for etching metal plates everything.

Tapered wooden dowel, tapped into place with a mallet. Has worked for me for sealing bores, whether to clean or for tank bluing for over 20yrs.

You could carve up a white rubber eraser with an X-acto knife and push that into the chamber for soaking. It should form itself into a tight seal.
Afterward, I think that a couple of new bronze bore brushes would scrub out the bore quite well with Hoppes #9.

A bit of rubber gloves on a spent case.
I do this on mil surp rifles.

Old Stumpy said:

You could carve up a white rubber eraser with an X-acto knife and push that into the chamber for soaking. It should form itself into a tight seal.

Click to expand...

Always make sure that you use a plug that you can get to and readily remove when you're done with it.

Is there a lot of rust in the bore? If not, just use a bronze brush with Hoppe's solvent, if you can get it through the bore. I've rarely plugged a bore unless the bore is full of rust, then used Hoppe's, or Break-Free, letting it sit in the bore overnight, then flushing it out and trying to get a rod through it. The key is to remove any rust gently.

If it's not rusty and you can get a bronze brush through it, just use bore cleaner and brush it, then use patches to check the progress. I've cleaned a lot of .22LR bores and found that the wax on bullets prevents rust to a great extent. In fact, I've NEVER encountered a rusty .22LR bore! You can do more damage to a .22LR bore by being too aggressive in cleaning than by shooting.

Tread lightly and save the "plug" as a last resort.

rbernie said:

Always make sure that you use a plug that you can get to and readily remove when you're done with it.

Click to expand...

Pour out the Hoppes, push out the plug with a cleaning rod.

Varminterror for the win.

Silicone gasket maker?

I just realized that those disposable plastic mechanical pencils all come with a white rubber eraser that is .25" diameter X .4" long.
If you just "erase" the end a bit into a tapered shape and then oil it, you could push it easily into the chamber with a dowel or whatever.
No carving or fussing.

Picher said:

Tread lightly and save the "plug" as a last resort

Click to expand...

Good advice.

Wet the bore with a patch. Let it soak a few hours, repeat, brush. The longer it sits with a wet bore, the better #9 works.

Put the muzzle into a finger of the nitrile glove and tape/rubberband it tight. Take a bronze brush on a rod chucked into a cordless drill and slowly go down and back a few times.

troy fairweather said:

good chance the hoppies won't remove the lead, get some copper pot scrubber. check that its copper not coated steel. a few passes down the bore will get most lead out. then use a cleaner for lead.

Click to expand...

Works great and works fast. As previously stated make sure it’s solid copper and not copper coated steel.

I like Varminterror's plug, but if lead is the problem, I favor the copper choreboy.

Hoppes, Break-Free, and others also make foaming bore cleaners. They fill the bore nicely and no plug needed. I use them frequently on new-to-me rifles.

Legionnaire said:

I like Varminterror's plug, but if lead is the problem, I favor the copper choreboy.

Click to expand...

Since these are just copper mesh wrapped around whatever, why not just use the proper .22 caliber bronze bore brushes that have been sold sold for the purpose forever?
Why reinvent the wheel?

Old Stumpy said:

Since these are just copper mesh wrapped around whatever, why not just use the proper .22 caliber bronze bore brushes that have been sold sold for the purpose forever?
Why reinvent the wheel?

Click to expand...

Because that same brush wrapped with chore boy works better.

Fine Figure of a Man said:

Because that same brush wrapped with chore boy works better.

Click to expand...

I can't say that I have ever encountered any .22 rifle that ever needed more aggressive cleaning methods than a bore brush. Perhaps in a pitted centerfire you might, but there you might just as well use a stainless steel bore brush as well, since you won't be able to make it any worse than it already is.

Really, you can use whatever you like to plug the chamber as long as it doesn't leak.
Rubber, wooden dowel, or nitrile glove. Hoppes won't dissolve it.
I have plugged and flooded the bores of several rifles with Hoppes #9 bore solvent and let them stand for a week or more with no harmful effects whatsoever. It does help but it won't work any miracles.

Maybe I'm missing something, but is there any reason that it's better to fill the bore with Hoppes rather than just getting it good and soaking wet with the stuff?

toivo said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but is there any reason that it's better to fill the bore with Hoppes rather than just getting it good and soaking wet with the stuff?

Click to expand...

IMHO, if you just wet down the bore and let it stand, the solvent reacts with the copper fouling or rust and becomes absorbed or depleted.
So, a thin layer will require replacement, meaning that you will have to repeat the process frequently.
For some situations this is probably adequate.
But, for stubborn fouling or rust, a flooded bore supplies a reservoir of solvent that will remain active for several days.
Certainly old gunsmithing texts describe the process with various solvents, and I would assume that they knew what they were doing.

For those that use the tubes of RTV Silicone Rubber ...

After use for some purpose, just allow the silicone rubber to cure in the applicator tip (rather than sticking a nail in the hole to plug-up/seal it). The result, carefully removed, will be a long silicone rubber cone that lends itself to this type of small-bore-sealing task.