Guys, I need some help.

I have been using 230 grain WFS in my .338 for about 2 years. I suppose 250 to 300 down the tube. My groups suddenly expanded and became erratic. I regularly clean the barrel with Hoppe's #9 and a rod but have never used any "copper" cleaning materials.

Do I need to? Or, could something else be wrong?

Thanks,
Ski+3

There are two types of coating on FS bullets. One is a dry lubricant called "Lubalox," while the other is Molybdenum Disulfide. I Have heard lots of negative comments about "Moly," but not about Lubalox. Cabela's sells Lubalox coated FS bullets, and I have been using them for a few years without any problems.

I could be wrong, but I think your rifle needs a throughout cleaning. I would brush the rifling quite a few times with a bronze brush moisten with copper solvent. I had a similar problem a few years back, and I solved it by brushing the rifling as indicated above. Clean it well, then fire a couple of rounds at the range, and while the barrel is warm apply bore solvent.

Ski - The New Failsafes are now moly coated, no longer Lubalox. With 150 to 200 rounds you now have moly fouling and it needs to be removed. Hoppe�s ain�t gonna cut it. You need to adopt a moly cleaning routine. I will PM you several alternatives...

Rob,
I had an 06' with a problem like yours. Go to NAPA and buy yourself a can of their carburator cleaner. Spray the stuff down your barrel and plug the end by the boltface with a rag. Run your patches, and bore brush afterwards. I've also done several varmint rifles over on the east side this way. You'll have a nice clean bore. When you're finished run your Hoppes down the bore and finally a patch or a mop with a coat of gun oil. Moly is a bitch to remove. Go buy yourself a new bore brush and a "tornado brush" to make the job easier. Brass and Bullets or Snappy's should have what you're looking for plus some knowledgeable people. My 2 cents worth......

Gustavo - They did in fact switch from Lubalox to moly. All the coated Combined Technology bullets are now moly coated. While the other CT bullets come in a non-coated version, the FailSafes are only available in moly.

There are still a few suppliers with the old Lubalox version in the FailSafe. I would buy them before I decided to go the moly version. Moly is great, but it requires a different cleaning and care routine.

http://www.combinedtechnology.com/failsafe.html

A Tornado Brush should not be used in a rifled bore under ANY circumstances. They are the most abrasive thing you can do to your bore. They only scrape the lands and do nothing for the groves in the bore. Great for removing lead and plastic in your shotgun, bad idea for rifles.

Skiibum, unles you just love spending hours on cleaning I'd stow the Hoppes #9... I love the smell of it because of the memories it generates but frankly you'd do nearly as well peeing down the barrel!

Get yourself some Barnes CR10... don't use a bruch, just put it on patches... you'll be amazed how much copper will come out of your "clean" barrel... I'm guessing that's where your accuracy problem is, unless you got a bum batch of FS's.

Brad

If it's moly, buy some JB and some Kroil. Run 1 patch of Kroil followed by a patch of JB. Short-stroke the JB in 2" long strokes all the way through the barrel. Run a patch or 2 of Kroil through it. Then a dry patch. You should be good to go from there.

Try Sweet's for the copper fouling. Great stuff. If you barrel has layers it it you might have to do multiple cleanings. Use the powder solvent and DRY the barrel out. The use a copper solvent of choice. DRY barrel out. The powder again. Since you have Hoppe's on hand do you let it sit over night. That will show if you have fouling on a clean patch pushed through.

What is you stock material. If it is wood it could have shifted. Try some different ammo and see how it groups. Double check all you screws in both the stcok and the scope. Something might have shifted.

Hcliff