Cleaning a new barrel

[caleb]

Hello all, I just picked up a Remington 700 5r Milspec in .308. I soaked a patch to run through the barrel and much top my surprise it came out black along with the following 15 patches. The patches looked like the ones that came out of a recently bought K98 RC with a frosted barrel. That one cleaned out quicker. It that normal for a new barrel? After the first 7 patches I looked through the barrel and swore I saw pits, but after the patches started getting cleaner I looked again and it seems shiny. I normally don't clean new barrels (I know), but does anyone have and experience of this sort? Thanks C

 

[627PCFan]

Its just oil/grease. Sometimes they come shipped covered in it so they dont get rusty in transit. Be generous with the hoppes #9 and use a bore guide-

 

[Uncle Mike]

You know...they do shoot those rifles at the factory before they ship them, also, they do not clean them before the firearm ships.
They shoot them, coat them, and ship them. One of the reasons you clean a firearm before you shoot it for the first time!

 

[rangerruck]

no whheeeyyy the factory will do this; totally man hours, and physical at that, would take an hour per bbl- that would severly jack the cost of the rifle.
You have to clean new bbls, they are almost all like this. As a matter of fact, I consider the initial bbl cleaning to be the most important one you will ever do; will effect the ability of the rifle for a long time to come.

 

[Uncle Mike]

Not to argue but... check out all the new rifles at your local gun emporium, take a flashlight, magnifying glass, whatever, and take a good look at the lands and grooves, if that doesn't convince you..... run a copper solvent patch down a new barrel, it'll more than likely come out green on the other end, and that aint from leprechauns living in there!

Or...... a bore scope up a new barrel will most always reveal fouling and some carbon in the throat area along with many little specs of powder residue.

Or...call any production manufacture and put the question too them.

The firearms are shot for function testing and, as some manufactures say, to ensure the firearm achieves their minimum accuracy standard! Not set up and bench fired with mounted optics (though it would have been fun), but plopped into a machine rest, loaded and cycled for the applicable amount of rounds called for by engineering.