entropy
Member
Get some Sweet's 7.62 Solvent and some JB Bore Paste, or a new barrel.
Bore Solvent for Neglected 1911
- Thread starter AlFarkle
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I generally alternate between something that works on copper with something that works on powder fouling.
So a spray of some kind of nitro solvent and some brushing, then patch it dry. Then, some copper solvent, let it sit a few minutes, patch it dry. Assess and repeat the whole process as necessary.
If the bore is corroded, trying to make it shiny is only going to frustrate you. At some point, call it good and take it to the range. Even if the bore isn't pretty, it may still shoot well.
CoalCrackerAl
Member
Walmart carries the Hoppes elite foaming cleaner. I had a 1911 9mm i bought. It was severely fouled with lead. It took a lot of work. A few over night soaks with kroil. And a lot of scrubbing with brass pipe screens over a jag. This was before i discovered the elite cleaner. The elite cuts the lead much quicker than the kroil. And works well with copper and carbon fouling.
Detritus
Member
For copper fouling Sweets 7.62 is the best, but this doesn't sound like copper (your patches would be blueish after the hoppe's, not black)
For general "filthy bore syndrome" best stuff I've ever personally used, is Blue Wonder Gun cleaner, formerly sold as RB-17. It's a Gel that you coat your bore brush with, scrub the bore leave it to soak/work for a short time, scrub a bit more, and then patch out. for general fouling it's absolutely wonderful, will get most copper and lead, and specifically will strip any surface rust out. plus clean up is literally warm water.
For general "filthy bore syndrome" best stuff I've ever personally used, is Blue Wonder Gun cleaner, formerly sold as RB-17. It's a Gel that you coat your bore brush with, scrub the bore leave it to soak/work for a short time, scrub a bit more, and then patch out. for general fouling it's absolutely wonderful, will get most copper and lead, and specifically will strip any surface rust out. plus clean up is literally warm water.
entropy
Member
What I did to get all the black crap out of a 100 year old Mosin Nagant's bore was pull the action from the wood, grab my Dewey long rod and a tornado brush, strip, and hit the shower. (Might as well get clean myself!) turned the water on max hot, held the barreled action under the shower by the barrel (using a hand towel) then scrubbed the living heck out of it until the water started to drop in temp. Wiped down the outside while still hot then got dressed and ran patches through the bore until I got all the water out. (Most evaporated, which is why you want it as hot as you can stand.) Then I ran the Sweet's 7.62 through it, then the JB bore paste. It wasn't clean as a whistle, but it shot ok.
AJC1
Member
Soak the entire barrel in mineral spirits. If it's small just put it In a can or tube and fill it up. This is the base solvent for hoppies. I would scrub it for a few minutes and soak again. Spirits will never damage your barrel. Depending on how things go you may need something stronger but start slow and let it soak.
Coalcracker: It's nearly cleaned up. Spent a week waiting on liquid Kroil, but I started soaking it in Kroil today. It's almost there. What I thought might have been erosion in the throat, turned out to be carbon. I soak it, go out for a few hours and come back and scrub. Soak. Repeat. I'm seeing most of a nice bright bore now. And saved the cost of a new barrel and somebody to fit it. Thank you for your sage advice.
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Jim: Straight up Kroil in an olive jar did the trick. Soak / scrub / repeat. The process is working. Had a bunch of carbon, it looked like it was erosion and etching in the throat. Turned out that the Kroil did its job to remove carbon, and bore is pretty bright now. I doubt that a new barrel is going to shoot much better.
It is really hard to find the JB Bore Cleaner. I found it on an obscure sight, but most everybody is out of stock - Brownells, Cabelas, Bass Pro. Found it at some place called "10Ring.com"
Badly neglected bore at my place gets scrubbed as most have described... but, I load inexpensive lead projectiles over modest charges of appropriate powder, followed by filling case nearly Full with Cream of Wheat or Corn meal.. then cheap boolit.. shoot 'er clean..
Observation: Discussions of what is the hottest bore solvent is an awful lot like who makes the greatest set of golf clubs or the best motor oil. It's an argument you will never win. In my situation, the old standbys that aren't actually sold as bore cleaners did the trick - carb cleaner, and later on a soak in Kroil. Plus, I still have the jar of Kroil that I can use again on another barrel. And I get to keep the original barrel that fits. A win all the way around.
The only way to go for heavily fouled bores. Chemical cleaners will not dissolve impacted crud, some of which does not dissolve with copper, or lead solvents. With heavily impacted crud you have to use a mechanical cleaner like JB Bore paste. I learned this from Frank White of Compass Lake Engineering. He has seen a lot of rifle barrels that went bad, the owner soaked and wiped, and the barrel still shot bad. Frank bore scoped the throats and saw lots of impacted crud. However, a good JB bore paste session restored barrels to their former accuracy. I use JB bore paste all the time on my GI RIA M1911. I think the barrel is chrome plated. That thing lead fouls something awful, and the copper fouling is less, but still an aggravation. When I use JB, the barrel shines.
What JB won't fix is rust. Many neglected bores are rusted under that filth. You can't put in what rust took away. Rusted barrels are not worth shooting.
If you buy a gun from a seller who never cleans his firearms, I recommend never buying a car from the same seller. Slovenly attitudes and practices don't change based on the price tag of the item.
Dudedog
Contributing Member
Haven't bought any in a while, the last time I did Midway, Brownells, Midsouth, and a few others seemed to have it.
So now we have a primer shortage and a JB bore paste shortage
It is good stuff for nasty bores.
I don't know anything about 10RIng.com so I can't say if they are good or not.
I think Iosso makes something that is about the same but I haven't used that flavor.
Brownells has it in stock
https://www.brownells.com/gun-clean...bore-cleaning-paste/bore-cleaner-prod308.aspx
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So, how does the cream of wheat taste?
LOL aint ate none... But can smell it... I prefer Corn Meal... for Eatin and Shootin barrels clean, and it actually smells better too...
Tho such additives are Not recommended for Bottleneck ctg.s I have gotten a fairly Sad 8x57 Mauser quite clean indeed with corn meal..
It also removes lead fouling from revolver barrels very well..
Jim Watson
Member
I tried dried coffee grounds over powder to scour a gun barrel. Didn't work.
Too expensive
I was shooting Rice as Shot in the Barn to avoid damage..noticed some scrubbing effect.. looked around on internet, and Cream of Wheat came up quite often
not having that, I went with corn meal and it has become a staple... No... Not as food so much, as another Tool in the Gun Room
BTW I had already used Cream of Wheat as a filler when Fireforming...so this was not a Stretch as far as Experiments go
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I got down to bare metal with my Kroil soak. There's some minor pitting about a half inch up the barrel from the chamber. Minor, not too much to worry about. I want to keep her all original, so a new barrel not in the picture. The imperfections are far enough down the barrel that it probably wouldn't shoot a whole lot better, even with a brand new one. But she's clean...
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CoalCrackerAl
Member
Good to hear you you got it clean Al.
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