Cleaning... Multiple questions...

[Afy]

So how on earth do you clean down to metal?

1. Specifically a VZ24 with all of WWII inside of it.
Have tried ATF to JB but copper solvents still come out blue and powder solvents grey...

2. .260 with a Walther barrel... still getting grey from patches. In all honesty the barrel shoots most accurately between shots 20-60. But I still want a truly clean barrel to compare with.

3. .22lr after about 1000 rounds of SK Match, and about 10K total.. the bolt is etched and the action and barrel gumy enough where am not able to extract cases. I think the rifle is EOL then again...

4. What is the best way to clean chambers. I tend to use bore guides... so am getting paranoid about it.

Products I currently use:

1. Parker Hale rods
2. Various bore Guides.
3. VFG Wads
4. Robla Solo Mil
5. Shooters Choice
6. ATF
7. Hoppes #9

 

[Mark whiz]

For copper cleaning of really used firearms, I'd suggest a much more aggressive cleaner such as Barnes CR-10 or Sweets 7.62. These WILL clean out the copper. Also when using these chemicals, do not use brass brushes or jags - as the bronze is also affected by the ammonia in them and will give you blue patches even when all the copper is out. On a really fouled piece, I like to use a bore mop soaked in those cleaners and just scrubb the fire out of it, alternating with a plastic brush soaked in it as well.

As far as the gray patches, I don't think I have ever gotten back a perfectly clear patch, even when I knew it was as clean as I could possibly get it. I typically use MPro7 for cleaning as it does a bang up job on carbon fouling - I've never been happy with the Hoppes products as there are just better cleaners on the market. Better living thru modern chemistry.

For cleaning chambers, find a plastic brush that is slightly larger than the chamber diameter and scrubb the chamber down with a good cleaner. Then wrap a patch around the brush and use that to mop out the chamber to verify it's cleanliness.

 

[skinewmexico]

Get some KG12, if you can. I don't know what's available overseas.

 

[Afy]

I havent been able to source KG12 in Europe. However Robla is the next best option... as far as copper goes.

 

[cinteal]

A few tricks

Copper (PURE Copper) scouring pads for removing lead and to some extent, copper. Most grocery stores here in the states carry them, but in a nice rifle, at least, one needs to make sure they don't have hard metals alloyed witht he copper. Anyway, cut these into strips (the pad will unroll into a sleeve) and wrap around your brush, just enough to slightly increase diameter. Don't use chems at this point, go dry. The edges of the copper pieces basically cut at the lead and copper in the lands and grooves. On Pb alone, it gets the bore clean (forward pass only please). On Cu, it makes cleaning with solvents easier. Great job on chambers as you're typically trying to remove powder residue. Sometimes, I just jam a rolled up piece of the pad into the chamber and twist around (the copper, not me). Try it, it will become clear how it works.

Sweet's is the best copper solvent I have found. However, in old surplus rifles, sometimes it doesn't cut it . . . pun intended. Enter Kano's Kroil. Take an old shoestring, something you can tie a knot in. Do so and make it big enough to fill up the chamber quite snuggly, but leave a couple of enches beyond the knot. What' we're going to do here is keep the Kroil in the barrel. Pull the non-knotted end of the string through the barrell from the chamber, snugging the knot into the chamber. Fill the barrel with Kroil. Let this sit overnight (put it on something nonabsorbet as some kroil WILL get through the knot). You're not hurting anything letting it sit, there's no ammonia, etc., to eat at any metal. The idea is that the Kroil gets under the copper/gunk. I have done this and then with a patch on a jag the next morning, pushed out little sheets of nasty revealing a perfectly clean barrel. BTW, the extra string left beyonf the knot is so you can get the knot out of the chamber.

Happy cleaning.

 

[OOOXOOO]

+1 on the Kroil
I have used it on a number of things and it works great. I have unstuck parts of all kinds of machines with it. It penetrates better than any thing else I have tried.