solvent question

[walking arsenal]

ive been using hoppes #9 bench rest to clean out an abused lone eagle barrel. i let it soak over night like it says on the bottle. when i run a patch through it i get a green sludge on the first patch which i know im supposed to get. thing is after i clean it ALL out meaning, white patches, ill go shoot it and go to clean it like normal and i still get green residue. what gives?is this stuff bad for the barrel?

 

[JoeHatley]

You don't seem to be getting all the copper fouling out of your barrel. That's what the "green" patches usually indicate.

Once you start getting clean patches the residual solvent contunues to work loosening up more fouling. That's why you can get more green patches later.

Good Luck...

Joe

 

[49hudson]

Gun barrrels

have copper deposited in them every time you shoot copper jacketed bullets. The Hoppe's removes the copper in the form of the green sludge you see on the patches.
You are not harming your gun and Hoppe's is doing the job it is intended to do, by removing more copper.

 

[walking arsenal]

ok, i that i get coper depsoits in my gun barrel. thats why i bought the stuff. how can i get it ALL out. i also heard this stuff eats the barrel after a while.

 

[49hudson]

Every one has their own method for cleaning gun barrels. I leave the bore wet with hoppe's #9 over night and clean the next morning by running clean patches through the bore. I then wet the bore with Hoppe's and repeat the process for an other day or maybe 3 days total.
If your are in a hurry use Hoppe's Semi-auto solvent.

 

[Preacherman]

If you really have a problem with copper fouling, there are two products that will get rid of it for you. Both have upsides and downsides.

1. Sweet's 7.62 Copper Solvent: This stuff is truly excellent, but requires caution - it will etch your barrel if you leave it in too long. The following (from this link) is a good summary of how to use it:

After four or six normal cleaning in this fashion--or should you encounter a barrel which copper fouls badly, it is a good idea to use a good copper solvent. Sweets 7.62 is the best we have found.

Sweets 7.62 should be used on a patch or a cotton mop as it will "eat a brush alive". We suspect that a bore mop has the ability to "carry" more of the solvent into the bore and may be better suited for this operation. they can also be cleaned out with hot water, dried and re-used.

Apply the Sweets 7.62 solvent to the bore, swabbing back and forth as you do, let it set and work for 10-15 minutes and then push a patch through the bore, If the patch comes out with a green color jut repeat the operation until patches come out clean. DO NOT LEAVE SWEETS IN THE BORE FOR MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AT A TIME!

Quicksilver and Sweets 7.62 do not contain rust preventatives, al always follow up with a solvent that does, like Shooter's Choice.

2. Outers Foul Out III: See here for their Web site with full details. This product works really well, but is time-consuming.

Good luck!

 

[Mark whiz]

Yep............

Sweet's 7.62 and Barnes CR-10 are the BOMB when it comes to removing copper fouling................they work at least 100X faster than anything Hoppes offers.

But the warnings are real...............make SURE you get out all of those cleaners before adding a preservative lube to the bore - as ammonia attracts moisture and it's residual presence in the bore will cause corrosion quickly. Also do not use bronze brushes OR bronze jags with them - they too will be affected by the ammonia and their breakdown will give you false positive blue patches as you clean. Mops and plastic brushes are great for these solvents.

A good practice to follow is to clean out the powder fouling with a standard solvent, then go after the copper................ when it appears most all of the copper is out, clean some more with the standard solvent and then try the copper solvent again.................because with a lot of shooting (or failure to remove copper from previous uses), sometimes the carbon & copper fouling can occur in layers. Alternanting the two will prevent such "layering" - BUT MAKE SURE you remove all traces of each solvent before changing to the other.............in order to prevent any unwanted chemical reactions between the two.