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barrel won't get clean

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29 October 2006, 04:26
jcw0220
barrel won't get clean
I'm trying to clean my gun and I just can't get a clean patch to come out. I scrub with a bore brush the wipe out with patches intill one comes out clean. Once I get that I brush again and it comes out dirty again. Why can't I get it clean the gun is pretty new wiht less then 20 shots through it. I also cleaned it before I shot and got all the factory oil out.
29 October 2006, 04:53
J Stambough
are you using brass brushes? try running a wet patch through the barrel to soak the bore and stand the gun on it's muzzle with a rag under it for 15 to 30 minutes, then run a clean patch through and see what you have. good luck!
james
29 October 2006, 06:52
marlin55
Here is something else to try. Get some Bore-paste and wrap a cleaning pad around your brush. Then dip it in bore cleaner and smear a small amount of bore-paste on it and run the cleaning rod through the barrel. You will be amased the amout of crud that comes out of the barrel. the bore paste sets you back about $ 8.00. That little jar will last you a lifetime. Hope this helps
29 October 2006, 08:45
Alberta Canuck
It has been said that more barrels are worn out by excessive cleaning than by shooting. Don't know if that is true, but wouldn't be surprised.

What I'm getting at is this: "How clean does your bore have to be to shoot well?" Some rifles require squeaky clean bores, most do not.

If it is shooting accurately after your current cleaning(s), you are probably getting it clean enough.


My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still.

29 October 2006, 11:52
robz
Wipeout. Squirt,rest and patchout. Repeat if necessary.No scrubbing with brushes needed.Leave it in 24hrs if you like.It won't hurt the bore.
rob


"the older I get, the better I was"
29 October 2006, 13:04
Paul from nz
brushes get covered in copper too and they need cleaning. the patch jag thing i have also collects copper in its grooves.
29 October 2006, 14:29
JAL
jcwp220, all good clues above. You didn't say what sort of crud your getting out, black powder residue or greenish copper.

As said above if your using a bronze brush with a copper solvent, you'd be depositing some of your brush in the bore each pass.

If your bore cleaner is a bit on the mild side, (and a lot of the claims on labels are fairly
exaggerated,) you'd just be wearing minute amounts of crud out at a time.
Again as stated above, leave it soak for a while. And over time you are allways likely to get a bit more out that was lifted out of the pores of the metal.
IE as Alberta Canuck has said.
29 October 2006, 16:52
greenjoy
Poster robz gave the best tip, that is leave the bore cleaning chemical in the bore for 24hrs.

I doubt your bore is badly copper fouled with less then 20 shots throught it.

Wipeout bore foam in not sold where I live so I use other brands of foamin bore cleaner.
I have found that getting all the copper out takes a long time. That is a long time for the solvents to attact and disolve the copper. Try leaveing the solvent in the bore a whole day then push just two patches down the bore to clean out the old solvent then reapply a new coat of solvent and let it sit another day tnen repeat. This may take a week or more. The point is to do less physical brushing or patch pushing and let the solvent to the work.
I have noticed that sometimes the copper fouling seem to become immune to the solvent in use so I change solvents when I detect copper that is just not comming out after 2 days of soaking.
I have also noticed when changing solvents the first patch through the bore with the new solvent comes out black where the previous patch that pushed out the old solvent was mostly clean or had very little green or blue copper fouling on it. I right this off as the solvent attacking each other not that the new solvent has found more carbon or powder fouling.

You need to shoot this rifle more, 200 shots down the bore will burnish the inside of the bore or you could speed up the process by using the JB bore base (first the regular kind the the bore bright type)

Use a bore guide and a splater box.
Try a nylon bristle brush so you are not putting into the bore as much copper as you are trying to remove.
29 October 2006, 18:37
Jan
quote:
Wipeout bore foam is not sold where I live so I use other brands of foam in bore cleaner.


Greenjoy, send a mail to:
office@robertsoncomposites.com
They keep Wipe Out in stock, as I saw somewhere on this forum.
Nice day,
Jan.
05 November 2006, 02:50
ireload2
Don't worry so much about it.
Put some Hoppe's in it and stand it muzzle down in a polyethylene cup for a couple of days. Then clean again. It will eventually come clean with no work and no damage to the bore.

Some powders - mostly sphericals in my experience, leave fouling that keeps growing crap out of the metal for a while.
05 November 2006, 04:14
MyNameIsEarl
I had a 22 hornet like that once. I tipped it up on muzzle, bluged the end of the barrel with a piece of rubber and filled it with sweets. I let it sit for 12 hours, came back used a nylon brush on it for about minute. Ran dry patches through it. Then did the same thing with shooters choice. I let it sit for 12 hours and the gun finally came clean. THis guns problem was that it was lead and copper fouled. I could not believe how much copper I got out it by letting it soak.

I think the new foams may eliminate the need for soaking sweets so long.
06 November 2006, 04:42
vgmhunor
jcw, you seem to have a rough barrel. Sounds like my Sako AV 30-06. I have tried every conceivable bore cleaner, I could still see copper streaks in the grooves looking into the muzzle.Finally I have vised up and bought the Foul Out III electo chemical bore cleaner. It's a tedious process untill you get the hang of it. I do it once a year, regular cleanings in between. None of my other rifles have such a rough bore but I still use the Foul Out on them and be done with it for a year.
07 November 2006, 00:02
MikeMichalski
Be careful with the Foul Out. I had it take the bluing off the crown of my #1 .270. It was clean though.


NRA Life Endowment Member
07 November 2006, 09:19
Paul from nz
when i first had my kimber, it was a shocker to clean, fouled so bad. trying to clean between shots took 3 hours + with bore-tech elimator, now 150 shots later its finnally becoming a little easier to clean
07 November 2006, 12:36
Wink
If you are using a bore cleaner which also strips copper, while using copper coated brushes, you are just pushing the copper fouling around in the barrel and not cleaning it. Try using the copper coated brushes in just the beginning of the cleaning process to get the fouling crud out and then use nylon bristle brushes after that for the removal of copper fouling.


_________________________________

AR, where the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history become the nattering nabobs of negativisim.
09 November 2006, 18:48
RogerK
jcw0220, go to this site. Place an order. If this stuff doesn't do the job, I'll refund your money, shipping and handeling included.

http://warthog1134.com/
09 November 2006, 20:10
577NitroExpress
quote:
Warthog 1134 is a strong Ammonia compound specially formulated to dissolve copper fast.


I wouldn't use Warthog in you have concerns with Ammonia. I won't use the stuff in my guns.


577NitroExpress
Double Rifle Shooters Society
Francotte .470 Nitro Express




If stupidity hurt, a lot of people would be walking around screaming...

10 November 2006, 07:14
JAL
I'm thinking if ammonia (in it's self) harmed barrel steel, no one would be game to sell it in solvents. Sweets would have gone out of business years ago. Instead it just keeps getting dearer. Smiler
14 November 2006, 18:06
RogerK
Right on JAL. A good bunch of the solvents on the market are ammonia based, including the Montana Extreme line up to and including 50 BMG. It's what goes with the ammonia mix that can and does make a difference in cleaning speed and safety. That's the problem I solved when I came up with Warthog 1134. Abuse any ammonia based solvent and it will harm your barrel. If it doesn't, it isn't worth a damn and won't clean the copper out of your bore. If you use our product, follow the instructions. If you use a competator's product, follow the instructions. If you ignor our instruction or that of our competator, you're on your own.


warthog1134.com
01 December 2006, 16:48
rugeruser
quote:
"...trying to clean between shots took 3 hours + with bore-tech elimator, now 150 shots later its finnally becoming a little easier to clean"


Ummm, just how 'clean' does a barrel have to be?

You'll wear that barrel out quicker by cleaning it than shooting it Wink


********************************
A gun is a tool. A moron is a moron. A moron with a hammer who busts something is still just a moron, it's not a hammer problem. Daniel77
03 December 2006, 03:18
JAL
quote:
Originally posted by Paul from nz:
brushes get covered in copper too and they need cleaning. the patch jag thing i have also collects copper in its grooves.



And powder fouling also, I wash mine in a jar of Turps. between usage. Is that the best cleaner? or Metho?
04 December 2006, 01:00
robz
I have a jar with metholated spirits and leave the brushes to soak when not in use.They dry out quickly once you take them out of the spirits.I also run a patch or two soaked with metho down the bore (if I'm using different cleaners)just to make sure that all traces of the chemicals are removed.This is just to make sure there is no reaction between two different chemicals.
rob


"the older I get, the better I was"
08 December 2006, 12:36
shootaway
if it won't clean then throw it away and buy one that will clean
12 December 2006, 01:32
jcw0220
I finally got around to needing to clean my gun out again. This time I brushed it a little bit and ran some butches bore shine through it to get all the big stuff out. Then I put some foam cleaner in it for a few hours and after a few dry patches they were coming out clean. Just out of curiosity I brushed it again and sure enough the patches came out dark again. After reading your recomendations I'm pretty sure it's just the brush breaking down. So I'm just going to brush in the early stages of cleaning
Thanks