Cleaning Question

[F-TR]

Hi Guys. I’m sorry about the EXTREMELY long post but I think some history might be needed for you to answer my question.

The rifle is a Rem700 .308 with a 1/12 twist, 26” factory barrel, sitting in an AICS stock with Badger Ordinance rail and rings holding a Nightforce NXS NPR2 8-32x56 scope. I broke it in by cleaning after each round for the first 20 and I’ve put 250 rounds of Rem and Hornady 168 BTHP down it so far. I generally shoot 20-40 rounds each session and then clean it when I get home from the range.

The rifle was consistently shooting around .5 moa at both 100 and 600 yards, (if I do my part). When I hit the 220 round mark it opened up to 1.5 – 2 moa. I soon realized that my cleaning procedure wasn’t getting all the fouling out, (I was only leaving the solvent soak in the barrel for about 1-2 minutes).

I then spent 3 nights cleaning and soaking the barrel with Tetra-Gun and Birchwood Casey Bore Scrubber until I was getting white patches coming out after a 30 minute soak.

So, back to the range and while the Rem 168 BTHP is now only holding at the 1 moa mark, the Hornady 168 BTHP is back shooting at .5 moa. I put 30 rounds down it and went home to clean. I soaked the barrel and ran patches until all the blue and purple from the copper was gone but, no matter how many times I soak it I keep getting brown/black rifling marks on the patches and I can see dark coloured streaks either side of the rifling when I look into the muzzle.

Questions:

Is it possible that all the copper fouling could be gone put there’s still some caked on carbon and that’s what I’m seeing?

Or

Could there be some old copper fouling bedded in there because of my incorrect cleaning procedure for the first 200 rounds, even though I was getting clean patches after my rigorous 3 night cleaning session?

And

What number of rounds are you putting down your .308’s before you see a drop in accuracy and a serious clean becomes necessary?

 

[moooose102]

i have a similar situation with my rem 700. what i do is this. i change solvents. i use hoppes bench rest copper solvent to get the copper out. when i am certain that ALL the copper is out, i run 5 patches soaked with brake cleaner through the barrel. then another 5 with hoppes elite gun cleaner. i guess each one has its specific area that it cleans the best. but after all of these, the patches come out clean. then, just to be sure, i run the dry bore snake down it 3 times. and finally a mop saturated in oil (which is a mix of mobil 1, marvel mystery oil, and 3 in 1). then one clean dry patch to remove the majority of the excess oil from the way over oiled bore. then i wipe down the outside and put it in the safe. i dont know why one cleaner does not get all the fouling out. maybe, we are just to fussy. but when i shoot, i want a nice clean bore to run my first bullet out of anyway. i hope this helps you, Moooose!

 

[Highland Ranger]

Isn't there a product out there that uses a reverse electroplating to remove copper?

I forget the name of it - in any event, seems odd at such a low round count you are getting that noticeable an impact . . . .

 

[Horsemany]

I made my own electrolysis bore cleaner out of a steel rod and a battery. It works well but is not at all necessary IMO. Good solvent used regularly is all that's needed to keep a barrel clean enough even for competitive shooting IMO.

F-TR

If that was my gun here's what I'd do. Get some Gunslick foaming bore cleaner and some Hoppes 9 or Hoppes Benchrest. Shoot the bore full of foam let it sit for 30 min. Patch it out with 2 patches. Foam and patch a second time soaking for another 30 min. Your bore will now be VERY clean.

Now take the Hoppes 9 or Hoppes 9 Benchrest and soak the barrel so it's very wet. Keep the muzzle slightly pointed downward so nothing runs back into the action. Let this soak overnight. Soaking is the key to deep cleaning bores IME. The next morning patch that out well and I guarantee you that bore will be clean.

The foam alone will keep the bore clean enough you will never have a problem with fouling assuming you clean at the intervals you have been.

I have a huge bin full of most of today's most common solvents and lubes. This is usually how I clean a bore even before a match.