Rem 700 30.06 copper lines

[student]

My rem 700 30.06 only has about 60-80 rounds through it (ever). Upon cleaning it (every 20 rnds). I noticed the thin grooves in the rifling (maybe wrong terminology-I mean the raised part of the rifling) were copper colored after cleaning. I had done a standard hoppes #9 prior to a tiny bit of lube. So I tried some hoppes copper solvent, let sit for about 45 min and removed. It was no better for the copperish lines and the patch wasn't all green like I have experienced with my mini-14. So I broke out my lead remover patch (usually used on stainless revolvers to take off powder/lead stains) this did remove about 50-60% of the copper on the rifling.
So is this copper stuff normal? I was using some of the korean surplus (the non corrosive kind) ammo. Does this affect accuracy and what is a good way to remove this copper crap. Thanks

 

[dakotasin]

barnes cr-10 is the best copper remover i have found. just follow the instructions on the bottle, and you'll have 'er stripped down. remember to lightly oil the bore after cr-10.

hoppes #9 and hoppes copper solvent work fine, if given enough time (think weeks). barnes will have it done in a few minutes.

 

[djl4570]

Ditto on the Barnes CR10. It is the best all around cleaner I've found. Butches is the next best but not as effective on copper as Barnes.

The raised part is called the land or lands. The cut away part is the groove.

Shooting jacketed ammo in a rifle will leave some copper in the barrel. The amount of copper tends to be self limiting. It isn't necessary to clean down to bare metal each time you shoot. A few patches of Barnes will remove excess copper. If you really want to get the copper out 10% janitorial ammonia is available at places like Ace hardware. Add a few drops of liquid soap to a half a pint as a wetting agent and it should strip the copper out of the barrel very quickly.

In the days of yore when corrosive ammo was common it was desireable to remove the copper in case there was corrosive residue underneath the copper.

You will find that Barnes CR-10 and Butches Bore Shine will often remove fouling left behind by milder cleaners like Hoppes. I like Hoppes a lot and it's what I use for basic cleaning and storage. I clean the .45-70's with it because the low pressure doesn't leave deposits that cannot be removed by Hoppes and I think it's better at removing bullet lube than other solvents. In the higher pressure cartridges I've found that there is some kind of fouling that Hoppes just will not remove that is removed easily by Barnes and Butches.

 

[ocabj]

I use Butch's Bore Shine to clean most of my rifles exclusively. It takes care of both lead/carbon/powder and copper. Montana Gold is supposed to be pretty good stuff, too.

 

[student]

Thanks for the info guys! I will try some barnes because I have seen that bottle in stores around here.

 

[kudu]

Another vote for the Barnes CR 10. I use it for all my high pressure rifles, the faster you push a bullet the more copper it leaves in the barrel. My 300WM really leaves the copper, but the Barnes takes it down and out.

 

[30Cal]

The Hoppe's should have come out green. Are you dipping your bronze brushes into the bottle (or have you in the past)? That is the quickest way to exhaust your solvent and to ensure that it's spent before it ever goes into the barrel.

 

[ocabj]

Are you dipping your bronze brushes into the bottle (or have you in the past)? That is the quickest way to exhaust your solvent and to ensure that it's spent before it ever goes into the barrel.

I see this quite often when people clean at the range, either dipping a brush or patch directly into the solvent bottle.

I use some plastic solvent bottles that I got from Sinclair Intl. They're really handy because 1) they don't break if you drop them and 2) they have a 'dropper' style cap so you can control pouring out the solvent onto a brush or patch.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=01-250&type=store
http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=SB&type=store

If anything, you can use pipettes which are pretty cheap (or free if you know someone that works in a laboratory).

 

[Khornet]

My go-to copper solvent

Is Sweet's 7.62. I clean with Hoppe's, and if there is visible copper I run a pathc with Sweet's through and let 'er soak about 15 min. That almost always does it. I tried Butch's, wasn't satisfied. Hoppe's Bench Rest- also not satisfied. Plus it doesn't have that nice Hoppe's smell.