What are some good copper fouling solvents

Sweet's is my favorite.

AD

Sweet's and a quality custom barrel are my two favorite remedies.

Wioeout & several of the other bore foams also work great. Also staying away from Barnes 'X' helps.

I have found that Brek Free Carbon Cutter and Iosso Bore Paste are the fastest ways to remove copper off a bore.

I have used all other methods (Sweet's, Wipe Out, Hoppes) and nothing works as well as a patch around a jag, saturated with Iosso and wetted with Carbon Cutter. Don't let the name fool you, this stuff is very effective on copper all by itself, and even more so when combined with an abrasive.

Also, if your barrel fouls a lot, consider giving a treatment with the Final Finish fire lapping kit. It've used its milder counterpart, Throat Maintenance System, to smooth out an AR15's throat with about 3300 rounds through it to noticeable effect.

WIPE OUT!

Butch's--and for a one not easy to clean, JB Bore Paste for a few treatments.

I use Barnes CR-10. They sell that stuff to deal with the fouling their bullets leave. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.

I use sweets mixed with flitz metal polish make like watery toothpaste and polish the smack out of it then clean with straight sweets

Had good luck with CR-10.....

IV

I like sweets, and save Iosso for the tough stuff. I use a 25%/75% mix of Kroil and Shooter's Choice for general cleaning tho.
This year I've been using TW25B for a lube, and I be likin' it.
Have you ever cleaned your old mauser with windex? You wouldn't believe what ammonia D can remove!

The new BORE FOAM products (Gunslick, etc.) are the best I've run into for removing copper fouling. Easy to apply, easy to remove, and easy to see the blue color, indicative of copper fouling. When the blue color no longer appears on you patch, you know you've got it out.

Wipe Out or Gunslick bore foam

Sweets is very good but I like to wipe it with #9 and then a brush, wipe again and then use Rem Clean.

Shine a pen light on the muzzle of your rifle and see if all the fouling is gone.

I find the problem with copper fouling is not so much in removing it, but in trying to control its reappearance. This is why custom barrels that are hand lapped are so desireable.
They're so smooth inside the copper has little to get attached to. Copper fouls in layers. I suspect that's the reason for the popularity of JB Bore Compound. It's an abrasive and will expose the next layer of copper when present. Some people resort to abrasive bullets like Tubbs Final Finish, but I think that might be a bit drastic for most rifles. There's probably nothing more gratifying than the groups fired immediately after copper removal. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I use to swear by CR-10, till I gave Wipe-Out a try and now that is all I use on all of my rifles, MLs, and rifled bore bolt action slug guns.

Wipe out works about 90%+ as well as advertized, at least based on MY experience. What I like most about Wipe-Out is #1- you can clean two or three firearms, or as meny rifles as you have cleaning vises at once. #2- W-O will not harm your bore, any metal parts, or your stock finnish, #3-you can leave it in your bore for extended periods of several hours with compleat safety. Try that with CR-10, or Sweats and you will be buying a new barrel.

A new product I read about in Gun Teast mag was called Montana Extream 50 BMG Bore Solvent and copper remover. G/T mag gave it a vary favorable review sawing it removed the most copper from bullets thay soked in it and other copper sovents.

Household ammonia... its cheaper and generally the active ingredient of most copper solvents. Smell wakes you up too...
Cheers...
Con

Montana Xtreme. I have been using it for a couple of years and it works really well.

Con, I like your idea - household ammonia. Could you elaborate on what product you use and how you use it? I'd love to get your technique and try it. Regards, AIU

quote:

Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
Con, I like your idea - household ammonia. Could you elaborate on what product you use and how you use it? I'd love to get your technique and try it. Regards, AIU

If you realy want to go the ammonia route I suggest you get a gallon of 28% ammonia from a drafting supply shop. Household ammonia is only 2-3%. Talk about take your breath away!

For a really bad barrel I plug the breech like an Outer's Foulout and fill the barrel (this after at least one pass with bore cleaner to clear some carbon). Let it stand an hour or so and dump it in the sink, swab with some more bore cleaner and see what you got. Practice will help you develope your own technique over time. US armorers used this method to clean out battle-abused barrels and I think Ackley mentions it in his book. I've even added some 28% to old tired bottles of ammonia-based bore cleaners to perk them up with some success.

quote:

Originally posted by Cal Sibley:
I find the problem with copper fouling is not so much in removing it, but in trying to control its reappearance. This is why custom barrels that are hand lapped are so desireable.
They're so smooth inside the copper has little to get attached to. Copper fouls in layers. I suspect that's the reason for the popularity of JB Bore Compound. It's an abrasive and will expose the next layer of copper when present. Some people resort to abrasive bullets like Tubbs Final Finish, but I think that might be a bit drastic for most rifles. There's probably nothing more gratifying than the groups fired immediately after copper removal. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Cal, Final Finish kits include bullets coated in a range of abraisve grits and also instructions on how to proceed depending on the type of barrel you have and the severity of the fouling it produces.

You don't have to give all barrels the same dose.

montana x-treme is what I use, and use to good effect. Just dont breath in when using it.. it HURTS...

28% ammonia is probably too strong. The commercial bore cleaners are much stronger than household ammonia, but closer to 7% than 28%.

Some, but not all, Ace Hardware stores carry janitorial strength ammonia, which is 10%.

2 parts of that to 1 part cheap, thick, liquid detergent makes a good approximation of Sweet's, at about $.50 per bottle instead of $8 per bottle.

Too strong in what regard? Ammonia can't hurt steel but 28% WILL get your attention if you get some in a cut! It will burn mucus membranes too but so will 10% I've been using it for 7 years now, especially on pawnshop finds. It is the cheapest form of ammonia you can readily buy and it can always be diluted. A gallon jug is pretty much a lifetime supply for gun work.

Household ammonia. Plug the chamber, stand the rifle muzzle up, and fill the barrel. Let it soak for about 4 hours, then pour it out and check the bore. Repeat if needed.
Wipe the bore dry then oil lightly. Works on both stainless and moly barrels.

I will have to get some ammonia. How do you plug the chamber?

With a chamber plug.

I have done cleaning rod duty for hours with Flitz and Sweets on a patch on a jag. All I can see in the first 1/2" of muzzle. If I keep seeing copper, it is frustrating.



To prevent Copper fouling, in some guns with nice bore I use moly bore cream and work it in before shooting moly bullets. This seems to work for me.

quote:

Too strong in what regard?

Nasty to handle, toxic. As you say, it certainly won't hurt the steel.

Ahhh. That's what I thought. Put an ounce of 10% in a bowl in one room and an ounce of 28% in another and tell me which is which. They will both drive you to another building!

Honestly didn't know that they made chamber plugs. Growing up, I was taught that you NEVER let any liquid sit in a barrel over night, much less fill the barrel up!

Hence I never thought of filling up the barrel with ammonia.

No offense to anyone but a $10 can of wipeout will cost probably less than $.25 cents per cleaning. I'm sure not gonna screw around with nasty amonia and hope I get my bore plugged properly etc etc. I'll let the guys who make the gun cleaning stuff make a living cause they make it easy for me at a more than reasonable price.

I use Shooter's Choice and Barnes CR-10. I heard about all these good Ideas but I always go back to what works for me.

Day to day I now use Wipe Out as well. But I keep my ammonia on hand for the occasional pawn shop find that was never ever cleaned. There are a lot of guns out there that lazy or ignorant owners think are "shot out" and truth be known, they are so fouled with 10 or 15 years of abuse that they shoot patterns.

One good ammonia cleaning takes them back to normal again. The first one of these super cruddy barrels I tried with Wipe Out burned up a whole can.

Think about this. Work your tail off with whatever you like. Assume your bore is 100% clean (it isn't). Go to your local range and fire a "fouling" shot or two before shooting those real tight groups.What have you done? For one thing laid a nice layer of copper fouling over the rough spots in those crappy "remchester" barrels.

Another Wipe Out fan here. Works much easier and quicker than the CR 10 or Hoppe's Bench Rest that I used to use.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
Too strong in what regard? Ammonia can't hurt steel ....

Hey tiggertate, Somewhere in the back of my mind I had the impression that if you leave a strong Ammonia solution in a barrel it can begin removing some of the "Carbon" from the surface of the barrel steel, thus creating microscopic pitting. Is that full of beans?

Just went and looked at the directions on the Sweet's 7.62 and it said, "Harmless to steel".

Maybe I am mixing this up with the Outer's Foul Out System.

Getting old......

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
Just went and looked at the directions on the Sweet's 7.62 and it said, "Harmless to steel".

Really? So why do the same directions tell you to not leave the solvent in the bore for more than 15 minutes?

quote:

Originally posted by ajwsm:
What are some good copper fouling solvents

Step 1: don't use Barnes bullets any more.

Hot Core, I do remember a lot of controversy about ammonia combining with certain barrel contaminants to make acids that could pit the bore. Seems moly was in the equation somewhere. It required that the ammonia traces be left in the bore over extended periods of time (weeks or months).

I don't think I ever heard about the carbon leaching , though. The Outers system will leach iron if there is sufficient rust in the bore to contaminate the solution.