Bore cleaning, Noob question

It looks like copper fouling, are you using a copper solvent?

I thinks Hoppe's eats brass fouling and that is what it looks like. Looks like you got a dirty gun.

In my experience till the patches come out slightly dirty, as in off white colour. let the Hoppe's set a minute or so to let it desolve the brass then pull a tight fitting patch through. It works for me on my rifles. Now if only i could get my hands on a Garand

Hello friends and neighbors // ThePunisher'sArmory ;- ) I second that emotion.

gondorian,, I'm jealous of your problem ;- )

Run brush dipped into hoopes bore cleaner 10 times // then dry patches till they come out almost dry ( not necessarily clean) // Then lose patch dipped in solvent, let sit 5 minutes /// then tight dry patches ...repeat till clean.

You may have copper/brass deposits ia action area also.

enjoy

Hoppes is great stuff, and I've used it for years. However, I don't think it's the best copper solvent. Get yourself a dedicated copper solvent and you'll have better success.

Don't over-do it.

I few strokes with a brush and solvent.

A few patches.

Clean up any excess slop.

Apply rust preventative to areas that might rust.

You're done.

Do this whenever you fire the rifle.

Don't ruin the rifle by over-cleaning it.
Its a rifle - not a broiler pan on Passover.

that looks pretty bad, I would do a copper solvent, Hoppes does make one, that says for copper on it. if it is still bad, after another 30 patches, I would consider reverse electroplating for this bad boy. You can make one yourself, for about 15 bucks in parts.

There are better copper cutters (I use Sweets 7.62 and Wipeout Foam) and that is pretty heavy copper fouling.

However with patience, you can clean that up with Hoppe's #9 if it's all you have.

1) Soak the bore liberally with Hoppe's #9.
2) Let it soak 24 hours
3) Use a properly sized Jag (not a patch loop) to wipe the bore out. I run one wet patch, one dry one about four or 5 times. Start with a dry one since you already soaked the bore
4) Soak again for 24hrs and repeat as necessary until the patches are no longer green.

5) After you get the copper fouling out, use a bore brush and solvent to clean up any carbon that was trapped underneath.

6) Lightly oil the bore.

This might take a week. No big deal if you have a place to do it and don't need the gun right away.

Sweets 7.62 will clean that up in an afternoon and do not let Sweets soak more than 15min.


http://www.sharpshootr.com/wipeout.htm

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=643582

I'll second the above post....esp. the part about letting it sit for 24 hrs. Clean it again....then another 24 hrs., clean it AGAIN, then another 24 hrs.
Repeat as necessary. This gives time for the solvent to really work. Good pic.!!! You can really see the green color!!

My opinion: now that the carbon is out, use a good copper solvent like Montana Extreme (Xtreme?) and let it sit for 15 minutes or so. Run a few dry patches though, then an oiled patch, then another couple of dry patches. Done!

Some copper may remain in the bore, that's OK; it's just irregularities in an imperfect bore holding the copper. Once you've done the cleaning outlined above, you'll be GTG.

It took me a good 4 hours of cleaning the bore out on my Mauser with copper solvent (as noted above, let it sit then run some patches through, etc. and repeat) to get it clean the first time I did it.

I've used Hoppe's since I got started shooting with pretty decent results, but lately I've switched over to BoreTech Eliminator. Made the switch for several reasons, it has no ammonia. Ammonia scares me, and that is the primary copper cleaner in Hoppe's. No ammonia also means no or very little smell. People around the house now don't even comment on smell until I open up the gun oil. Boretech also cleans 10X faster than hoppe's, it takes maybe 10 mins of soaking to clean out the copper. I agree with the posts above though, a little copper left in the bore is not necessarily a bad thing. Its just filling in some imperfections. Be careful not to over clean either, cleaning is not a benine process.

you should invest in a bore snake ithink this would help youwith time and effort

Try Break Free Bore Cleaning Foam

If you use a solvent capable of disolving copper, don't use a brass cleaning rod or jag.
The solvent will continue disolving the rod with each patch.
You'll get a blue patch even if the bore is clean.

you should invest in a bore snake ithink this would help youwith time and effort

Click to expand...

Bore snake is great for the range I think but don't let it get you into the bad happen of just using it. It is not enough for a proper cleaning, just a quite one at the range or on the hunt. I made that mistake with my 30-06 and spent a day paying for it just like you. It must have been 10 or 15 patches before it was clean.

ANTS makes a great point!

I use butches bore shine and for the longest time thought I wasn't getting the copper out. Turns out my BRASS patch jig was making the patches green not the copper in the bore of wich there was none.

There is a foam spray that expands in the barrel that does wonders for copper fouling which is what your gun suffers from. You just spray it in the barrel from the breach let it set for 10 minutes or so the run a wire brush followed by a cloth patch.