Bore cleaner

I have used Hoppe’s regular foaming bore cleaner and followed it up with Hoppe’s Copper Solvent and that worked out well. I would be hesitant to leave a foaming copper cleaner in the bore too long. Even with rubber plugs I have had seepage from foam cleaners. I wouldn’t want something like foaming copper cleaner to get into my action.

For copper fouling, Sweets 7.62 has always worked for me. But it is not a foaming cleaner, just a copper solvent. There aren't any foaming copper solvents that I am aware of.

Boretech Eliminator...Not a foam...but best I ever found.

wipe-out

Never had the chance to try wipe-out but heard good things about it. Is it worth trying ? How is it on copper fouling ?

Ditto Boretech Eliminator; I cannot say enough good things about this product’s effectiveness - melts copper fast, melts residue fast, zero odor, no scrubbing - great stuff for those who desire squeaky-clean bores with very little time and effort.

I have used Wipe-Out with reasonable results.

Midway has 20oz of bortech on sale for $20 when a 4oz is $15.

Have tried a lot of different bore cleaners over the years, mostly HP rifle. Used mostly Hoppe's Benchrest at range after a match, while barrel still hot. Let it soak a couple of hours, re-applied and soak overnight. BR cuts powder fouling well and is better for copper removal than #9. Once in a while, would give a barrel a treatment of Sweat's, following instructions on container. That was before bore scopes.

Bore scope revealed the barrel was not as clean as thought, so I experimented with a dozen or so different products.

Wipeout and other foaming cleaners worked better if powder fouling removed first with Hoppes. Bore scope reveals copper fouling still present after white patching indicated otherwise.

Long story short, the most effective removal method for both powder and copper was Tactical Advantage, applied by 8-10 passes with an Iosso stiff nylon brush, let sit minimum of 4 hours, better overnight. Dry patch, repeat if bore scope reveals any copper. Ooops, thanks, romulus......fixed the typo.
.308 Win. BAR after 30 rounds:

After overnight soak w/TA:




TA is from makers of Wipeout: https://sharpshootr.com/tactical-advantage/

https://sharpshootr.com/tactical-advantage-write-ar15-com/

Here's a pretty detailed discussion on bore cleaning: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-bore-cleaning-with-more-teslong-pics.860996/

Regards,
hps

Sweet’s is great but don’t let it soak. It will etch your bore.

KG12 is fantastic. I avoid ammonia based copper solvents because it can damage your barrel if left in too long. They work, but can be problematic. With KG 12 I use an eye dropper and drop a few drops down the bore with a rag in the chamber to keep it in the barrel. Then rotate the barrel around so it coats the inside. Then wait 2 minutes and follow with a nylon brush for 8-10 passes through the barrel. Swap the brush out for a jag then run clean patches thru it. Finish with a lightly oiled patch. Your barrel will gleam like you've never seen. I've had foam solvent, but didn't find that it worked nearly as well as KG12.

Wipe out and Bore tech hands down. Hoppes is not even in the same league.
I built an AR in 7.62x39 it sees nothing but cheap commie steel cased ammo. Just a few weeks ago I cleaned it, started out by checking out the interior with a borescope. Nothing but solid copper down the entire bore. Sprayed wipeout foaming cleaner, within minutes the foam was oozing out a dark blue color. Let it sit overnight, checked it again with the scope it was pretty darn clean.

Wipe out and Bore tech hands down. Hoppes is not even in the same league.

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Wipeout was doing pretty well on the copper, but letting carbon build up over the long haul. Using Hoppes Benchrest @ the range w/hot barrel was cutting powder pretty well and combined w/Wipeout overnight bore looked good but over long haul, borescope revealed a hard carbon buildup and sometimes traces of copper. Repeating Wipeout a time or two would remove, but the TA is much better one-product solvent than all I have tried. One application usually enough, rarely requires a 2nd dose.

Bore Tech is one of the few I have not tried, but from all reports it is an excellent product. Does it get carbon and copper or just the copper?

Regards,
hps

Doc Holliday45 said:

Can someone recommend a foaming bore cleaner that will remove copper fouling?

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WipeOut

Another I like is QMAXX.

hps1 said:

the most effective removal method for both powder and copper was Tactical Advantage, applied by 8-10 passes with an Oasso stiff nylon brush, let sit minimum of 4 hours, better overnight. Dry patch, repeat if bore scope reveals any copper.
.308 Win. BAR after 30 rounds

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Oasso?

Hps1, my experience with Boretech Eliminator is that it “swimmingly” removes copper and fouling from all of my firearm bores - squeaky clean with little effort. One cautionary note, this product will lightly dull the finish of a wood stock where contact is made - the upside is that the dullness will rub out easily with a cloth and oil rub - avoid contact with the finish and no problem.

I've always used Hoppes #9 solvent. It doesn't foam, it doesn't scrub, it doesn't dissolve. I swab it in the barrel and let it sit while I tend to the rest of the gun..then I take a bore brush which I dip in the solvent and run it thru the barrel a few times. Then a couple of dry patches to get the gunk out. Wallah! Clean barrel! Ready for the next session. Been doing it that way for over 50 years and it has worked great.

Boretech is very good but use plastic brushes and jags.

WheelGunMan said:

I've always used Hoppes #9 solvent. It doesn't foam, it doesn't scrub, it doesn't dissolve. I swab it in the barrel and let it sit while I tend to the rest of the gun..then I take a bore brush which I dip in the solvent and run it thru the barrel a few times. Then a couple of dry patches to get the gunk out. Wallah! Clean barrel! Ready for the next session. Been doing it that way for over 50 years and it has worked great.

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I've used Hoppe's #9 for 50+ years, also. I've been using it lately to try to get copper out of a 94 Winchester 30 W.C.F. that (by the serial number) is now 95 years old. It has been in my family now for 60-some years, but have no idea of its history prior to that. I've been trying to develop loads for it lately but just can't get anything to shoot. I just got a borescope camera to look inside the barrel, and the entire length of the bore looked more copperish-gold than grey-steel color. I've been running patches saturated (actually sopping wet) with Hoppe's down the barrel, letting it soak for 30 minutes or so, then running a dry patch. I've now repeated that process 11 times and I'm still getting copper out of the barrel. So, it's removing the copper, but very slowly. No telling how many layers of copper on copper there are. I'm wondering if some of the other copper solvents mentioned in this thread would work quicker?

I used to use Hoppe's but switched to KG-12 to remove copper fouling. It is NOT an ammonia based product which is much safer for your vintage Winchester. I'm including a link that demonstrates how to use KG-12 products. I use them exclusively now. I shoot quite a lot at prairie dogs so do get some build up of fouling after a shoot of 400-500 rounds. I use a little different process from the video. I drop a few drops of the KG-12 Copper Remover in the barrel and let it soak for 2 minutes. Then scrub the bore with a nylon brush. Other then that, the guy in the video does what I do. Gotta shop for that bore guide of his though...wow. Here's the link.

The Hoppe's #9 is removing the copper fouling, it's just a very, very slow process. The attached picture shows the dry swabs I've passed through the barrel after letting the Hoppe's soak for 30 minutes or more. They are laid out from right to left in the picture, and even after doing 14 cleaning cycles, I'm still seeing copper residue on the patches. I'm using a plated Tipton jag, so no copper should be coming from the jag . Like I noted in post #20, I have no idea of how this rifle was treated in the first 35 years of it life. Further, since the rifle has been in my family, it has never gone through an extensive effort to specifically remove copper fouling, just normal cleanings. So, even the best of the copper fouling cleaners might not have been a one-pass operation, but think I'll try a newer generation copper removing cleaner.

JDinFbg said:

The Hoppe's #9 is removing the copper fouling, it's just a very, very slow process. The attached picture shows the dry swabs I've passed through the barrel after letting the Hoppe's soak for 30 minutes or more. They are laid out from right to left in the picture, and even after doing 14 cleaning cycles, I'm still seeing copper residue on the patches. I'm using a plated Tipton jag, so no copper should be coming from the jag . Like I noted in post #20, I have no idea of how this rifle was treated in the first 35 years of it life. Further, since the rifle has been in my family, it has never gone through an extensive effort to specifically remove copper fouling, just normal cleanings. So, even the best of the copper fouling cleaners might not have been a one-pass operation, but think I'll try a newer generation copper removing cleaner.

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Been shooting centerfire rifles for nigh on to 70 years; my round count was a lot lower back then in my first CF rifle, a model 92 Winchester, used for plinking and hunting. Copper wasn't a problem as I shot mostly handloads w/cast lead bullets back then. My round count has increased exponentially over the years, and for the most part evolved to jacketed bullets.

Different barrels foul differently and the degree of difficulty in removal of (all) carbon and copper fouling from any barrel, IMO, depends largely on bore finish, how many rounds have been fired since it was last cleaned, etc. To further complicate the matter, many solvents work better on one (copper) or the other (carbon) but not both. Furthermore, clean means different things to different people.

The fact is, some barrels seem to shoot better with a bit of fouling than they do when squeaky clean. That is why many competitions allow for a couple of "sighter, or fouler" shots before starting a string for record. Every barrel is a study in it's own in that regard, IMO.

Lots of folks have found one or more solvents that do the job of copper and/or carbon fouling effectively. What works great for one shooter, and his/her shooting/cleaning habits, in one or more barrels, might not be the best for cleaning a rifle that has been shot for years without a thorough "squeaky cleaning", as baked on powder becomes hard carbon and usually results in much more difficulty in removal.

Will a deep clean benefit every barrel? I doubt it, it may or may not help some barrels. Only one way to find out. I believe there is such a thing as beneficial fouling that helps some barrels, but not so much in other barrels.

As for the various solvents, I too used Hopes 9 for many years and believed my barrels were clean, based on color of the patch and Hopes today is not the same old Hopes we grew up with, again, just my opinion. (Just for the record, I have always cleaned my rifle barrels after every outing, whether I fired one round hunting, or a couple hundred rounds+ in a match. (I believe that higher round counts between cleaning tends to bake powder fouling into (hard) carbon fouling, which is much harder to remove.)

Even before affordable bore scopes, I began to realize that many, if not most, solvents were more effective on either powder (carbon) or copper, but not usually both. Tactical advantage is the best dual purpose solvent I have found to date. There are most likely others, as well, I just stopped looking.

Hopes is one of the milder solvents and I found that even after I got white patches, dry patched and lightly oiled the barrel, the dry patch I always ran through barrel before next outing would come out grey or even a slight blue color, even with the old Hopes.

When I was shooting 100-300 rounds a week, I discovered Hopes Benchrest was a little more aggressive and reduced the amount of grey dry patch prior to next session, so used that for years, supplementing that with an occasional deep cleaning with Sweats (following instructions on the bottle!) and even a rare abrasive application of JB paste. This kept my match barrels (and me) happy for an average of 7500 rounds of mild 30-06 rounds/barrel.

Had to give up competition shooting BBS (before bore scopes) and shooting habits changed drastically to far fewer rounds/outing (1 hunting to a rare range session of up to 50 rounds) ABS. My barrels for the most part are no longer the super smooth match barrels, but factory barrels with all their warts. As such, they are much more difficult to remove fouling from than the finer finished barrels, but I still clean after every outing and doubt seriously that I'll wear out another barrel.

After trying a dozen or more solvents in several factory barrels and comparing results with the borescope, I settled on Tactical Advantage and the procedure described in post #10 above to fit my use in my barrels.

Note the faint carbon traces in pictures after TA procedure, I am experimenting with "beneficial fouling" in this particular barrel, as it seems to take 3-5 rounds to settle down after a thorough cleaning but the jury's still out on that. If I don't see all that much difference, I may go back to "squeaky" clean, which may require an abrasive or another treatment or two of TA to get any remaining carbon. I prefer the milder TA, but a judicial application of JB will get the hard baked carbon and I also plan to give Flitz a try for comparison.

ETA: @Sniper66 Thanks for the heads up on the trap patch/guide. That looks like it would save a lot of mess w/bolt guns. Have one on order. https://www.amazon.com/Tipton-777999-Rapid-Deluxe-Guide/dp/B0035LU0O2

Regards,
hps

What is interesting, my love for wipe-out continued with my new start in black powder shooting. It really made a huge difference in time and cleaning. It is called Wipe-out Painless