HI ALL....Been doing this for awhile now.....got myself two chamber plugs from sinclair int'l...308 and 30/06.....remove the bolt..insert chamber plug and fill bbl with Hoppe's #9...tape muzzle to keep the Hoppe's from evaporating...and voila...within 24hrs ALL traces of copper & powder fouling are GONE...!!!! To be fair the hoppes I am using is from brunoshooters supply that I obtained about 4 yrs ago....they added back the benzine the EPA made hoppe's remove....sadly now they don't list it anymore on their website....
this works..no more scrubbing...possible damage from aggressive cleaning...etc.......
Pete

Or you could squirt Wipe-Out down the bore or Patch-Out(the same stuff if you don`t like foam) and dry patch the the bore the next day.
I`ve used Hoppes off and on for 40 yrs and no way will it get copper out in a 24hrs soak IMO. Wipe Out can and a bore scope will verify it.

quote:

Originally posted by Ol` Joe:
Or you could squirt Wipe-Out down the bore or Patch-Out(the same stuff if you don`t like foam) and dry patch the the bore the next day.
I`ve used Hoppes off and on for 40 yrs and no way will it get copper out in a 24hrs soak IMO. Wipe Out can and a bore scope will verify it.

My experience mirrors Joe's, although sometimes I have had to do two applications of Wipe-Out, but 30 mins to an hour on the second round does it.

How are you assuring yourself that "all traces" of fouling are gone?

For me it's just a look with the HawkEye borescope....I will say that sometimes there is a trace
but it really works for me, EXTREMELY clean

I've used this method (plug/fill with Hoppe's/tape) with success but am now wondering if I had "old" Hoppe's.

I'm also wondering if we're taking this "spotless clean" too far? Does it make barrels more accurate or last longer?

last longer maybe

more accurate yes indeed--depending upon the quality of the barrel. If the throat is burnt out or burred it does not really matter how clean the rest of the barrel is. If the barrel is full of tool marks or wildly inconsistent in diameter or the rifling is burred or inconsistent--no amount of cleaning will help.

You may say that a hunting rifle need not be spotlessly clean since only a few rounds are shot in the course of a hunt. But fouling gets harder to remove as it ages in the barrel. How will the gun shoot next hunt? or sight in? Varmint hunters will likely disagree with deer hunters and vehemently. Match shooters want the rifle to start each relay in as exactly the same condition as the last as they can possibly make it. Does this involve leaving some unknown amount of fouling in the barrel? The only way to ensure that accuracy is not degraded by obstructions in the barrel is to ensure that it is completely clean. These days there is really no excuse for leaving any fouling in the barrel since there are several inexpensive bore scopes available and anyone who is not afraid of doing a little bit of scrubbing can use JB to clean any rifle bore. There is even a tutorial on the Brownell's website that explains how to use the compound. Hint: the secret is a fairly tight (but not ridiculously tight) patch and some elbow grease. It works and you can see the results yourself in your under $300 borescope.

amamnn, Tell me more about the bore scope please.

Get a Hawkeye.

I bought the "under 300$" one and promptly sent it back for a refund