Barrel cleaning -do they ever actually get clean??

[Lord Samwise]

I have never understood something, and I am to the point in my life where I need to address it. Whenever I attempt to clean a gun barrel, anything from one of my .38 revolvers to a .22 LR rimfire to my 300 win mag, I can NEVER get the barrel clean. No matter how many patches I run through the bore, they always keep coming up with more gunk on them. At a certain point I just give up, usually about an hour into the job. I know this isn't right, at least it sure doesn't seem right. Help me out here, what is going wrong? Do I have wrong ideas of what a clean barrel actually is? I will outline below my cleaning method just so you all know what I'm doing.

1. Start with Hoppes #9 on a bronze brush, run that through a couple times.
2. Run a couple clean patches through.
3. Run a couple patches soaked in more Hoppes through.
4. Run a couple more clean patches through, until bore is dry.
5. Repeat #3 and #4 until I give up, usually 7-10 times. Bore remains dirty with each pass of wet/dry patch.

Please help!

 

[JohnBT]

No, they don't.

Consider that the metal has tiny pores and cracks and defects that hold crud. The bore is not smooth like a bowling ball, a mirror or a newly finished wood floor. You clean what you can out of the barrel and then some more of that deeply embedded crud leaches out overnight.

I suppose if you clean hard enough and long enough and use some foaming cleaner you can make the bore all but sterile, but it's too much work for me. Hand lapped custom barrels clean up pretty good, but some of the factory barrels are dirt traps.

John

P.S. - http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2007/07/borescope-video-factory-vs-custom-barrels/ Here's a video by Dan Lilja showing 2 barrels; one factory and one of his. Google will turn up other borescope pics showing closeups of the microdefects.

 

[Haycreek]

Try some foam cleaner, it will clean old copper better than anything.

 

[Lord Samwise]

would something like this help?

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=513887

 

[kimbernut]

Try Butch's

Before you lap the barrel try some Butch's Bore Shine! Since I was introduced to it I use it in my rifles exclusively for copper removal then finish up with Breakfree CLP. However for hunting season once it is perfectly clean I'll fire fouling shots to check zero, run a single litely oiled patch and a single dry patch thru the bore. Each time the rifle is fired or gets damp from weather it gets the same single patch treatment damp and dry and after every trip it gets a good thorough wipedown.

How much has the rifle been fired? Just shooting will smooth the bore over time and a few treatments of Butch's seem to make the bore clean up faster and easier in my experience.

 

[Maj Dad]

Montana Extreme Copper Killer

I bought some of this to clean the bores of some military rifles (Czech VZ-24 7.92x57, Mosin 7.62x54, Brit & Savage .303s) on the advice of a rifleman's rifleman in Alamogordo, NM. Not only did it get the bores clean, it removed every last molecule of copper in about 2 -3 applications. It has some very potent chemicals and noxious vapors, and outside use (or power ventilation) is strongly recommended. Having said all that, it isn't Zyklon B or Agent Orange, just noxious. Don't stick your nose in the bottle, and don't sniff the bore; it will do the job with ease. It has ammonia, but it also has some other powerful chemicals that will leave your bore stark naked.

This kind of begs the question, if the first round fired puts copper back into the pores of the metal, does it really do any good to totally remove it? If the bore were so slick that copper wouldn't stick, maybe? Just a thought...

 

[CAWalter]

I used to clean like everyone else, but after re-barreling a few have adopted no more than a patch, and the bore does just get/stay cleaner on it's own. I do clean the action and chamber.

CAW

 

[Gik-tal]

One big problem is that people do not know what to clean their barrel with. If you shoot jacketed bullets then you need a solvent that will remove copper fouling. If you shoot lead then one that was designed for lead. Bore cleaner is not designed to remove fouling, and as a result leaves it right where it finds it. Another issue is bore brushes, if you are using a copper solvent to remove your fouling you should be usning a nylon or other synthetic brush, not a brass brush. Those brass brushes work great on lead however. After you use a solvent to remove the fouling you then need to remove the solvent. For this regular bore cleaner works just fine but you will find that Kroil oil works better. Just keep in mind to read the bottle of your cleaner and make sure it does what you want it to do. If you really work on it it will come clean

 

[Shadow 7D]

you don't want to

like others have said, most barrels are actually better properly broken in, CLEANED to the pores, will degrade the accuracy (if not damaging the barrel though excessive wear from the all the scrubbing) Lapped barrels are great in part because lapping removed the high parts and FILLED the low parts and pores.

 

[Coltdriver]

+1 for Butches Boreshine. I quit using hoppes years ago.

I also use sprinco plate+ in my bores after getting them clean. It helps seal up the metal and significantly reduces fouling.

Butches is close to effortless. Just a wet patch, let it sit 5 minutes and then a dry patch. Then once more. Unless you have really fouled the barrel it will be clean.

 

[bigedp51]

I have a lot of milsurps with frosted bores and the best product to clean a firearm with is foam bore cleaner.

Below a British .303 after firing 50 rounds and one shot of foam bore cleaner, no brushing and the minimum of cleaning rod time or abuse.



Before and after foam bore cleaner used on a artillery field piece.





If its good enough for the U.S. Military why aren't "YOU" using it?.