I received a contender 222 barrel yesterday that I had bought off ebay. The bore looks terrible and after cleaning with 4 different methods/products it still looks bad. I spoke to a friend more knowledgable than me and he thinks it's moly fouling. It's got quite a bad case if that's what it is. I may take it to a gunsmith to make sure but you can see the fouling in the bore by looking through the chamber or from the muzzle end. Both equally bad. My magnifyer from the muzzle end shows me that it is black. This is why I think it is moly. If it is, what's the best way to clean it? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

HUh. That sounds odd to me. I have molyed some of my barrles and I cant really see it.after I burnish and dry patch. You can see carbon fouling on top of moly though. But to answer your question. Wipe-out will remove moly. Sorry that the fella didnt have the decency to clean the tube before he shipped it. Good Luck.

Greetings! That sounds really dirty! I have seen a few rare moly fowled barrels like that: typically hundreds of rounds fired with no cleaning in between, and I suspect other things at work, like some cast bullet use and lead fowling adding to the mix

I have in the past soaked barrels like that overnight in a product made by Tecrolan called "Sweetshooter" which breaks this stuff up well. Good old Hoppes #9 and Shooter's Choice MC #7 bore cleaner should work well also, but be carefull not to soak over-long in anything like Sweets 7.62 or anything "heavily" ammonia based.

I have tried the Wipe Out "spray on" foamy brushless bore cleaner, and while I have not put it to the test on such a bad barrel, it did work rather well cleaning the fowling off of the front face of a SS .41mag revolver cylinder as well as in the chambers, so I suspect it would work well for this application.

[ 03-03-2003, 18:16: Message edited by: Sean VHA #60013 ]

There was an article in Varmint Hunter several years back, and the guy was using dar threading lubricant, or something like that. From his writing he sounded pretty knowledgeable.? I'll look it up again and let u know.

Oh Yeah, the guy was using Rigid, which i think is some sort of machinists lubricant that just happened to clean moly out of barrels well --for that particular guy, that is. Call Varmint Hunter mag.-- they are without a doubt one of the best sources of info. out there. I bet you they'd send you the article, if not let me know, i'll dig it up and send you a copy. it was very well written.