I own a rifle that has reasonably good accuracy but the barrel is prone to bad fouling, are there any fixes for this? I've been looking around and found a few products, but some scare me and others I just don't know anything about.

I've seen several fire lapping products that say they cure fouling, but shooting sand covered bullets down my barrel? I'd like some opinions on that before I do it. I'd hate to have a smooth non-fouling barrel with no accuracy.

The other products where bore polishing compounds. One was JB Polishing cream and the other was Lyman Polishing paste. Anyone ever use these and do they work?

That's all I've found, any other idea's short of taking the barrel off and replacing it with a better one?

Thanks,
Terry

Yes polishing does help. The finest bbl makers hand lap their bbls before shipping. I wouldnt reccomend firelapping but havent tried it either, it just seems too aggressive to me. I like JB's paste and use it regularly. I think hand lapping is the best way to obtain a mirror finish on a bore.

How about that Flitz stuff?

Ive never used it.

I use JB bore paste , Its supposed to be non embedding and not abrasive.

The frequent use of any abrasive product (JB is an abrasive product) on the bore of a weapon is not a real good idea.

Rick

I have been using Iosso Paste to remove the copper fowling in my 25-06, and it does a wonderful job. It is reputed not to harm the barrel when used sparingly. The accuracy has done nothing but gotten better over the years. I use a patch of Hoppe's #9 to start, dry patch, patch of Iosso, dry patch, patch of Hoppe's, 2 dry patches, patch of Hoppe's gun oil, 2 dry patches- job is done!! And I don't have to use a brush at all during the process. The Iosso Paste may be doing some light polishing of the barrel, but it is not a product that is designed to polish; only for removing fouling. I reason that I would probably shoot the barrel out before the Iosso harms the barrel.

Mike

I've cleaned up a couple Remington barrels using the NECO product. One Ruger and one Winchester barrel did not respond too well. Neither were hurt by the process.
JCN

About firelapping, if not done SPARINGLY, it can move your throat a good deal forward. Whether that is a problem or not depends on how far out you are currently seating bullets, and how much further you can go - determined by current seating depth in case, and magazine length.
- mike

Yeah, I go easy on the 220 grit and concentrate on the 800.
JCN

All firelapping does it wear out a barrel faster, its abrasive for goodness sake. The best way to polish a barrel is shoot it and give it a good cleaning every now and then...There is no "magic bullet"...

I always clean a new barrel with Kroil and JBs before shooting it and you can't believe what kind of gunk comes out of a new barrel..

Fire lapping is a joke IMO, I use flitz. JB is fine though it doesn�t brighten bores like flitz does. This is not because flitz is more aggressive (just the opposite is true in my observation), but because JB s crystals break down and remain sharp.... the stuff is probably 3-4F pumice as far as I can tell. Pumice has its uses but not *inside* a gun. The Flitz can be washed/disolved with solvents.

btt since Sean is to dumb to find it sorry Sean!

Despite what some of the old fogies say, there is a product called "Final Finish" that does work as advertised. I've used it on two rifles with complete sucess - and yes the throat does move forward slightly.

Stay away from the others as they are more difficult to use and move the throat quite a bit.

I believe that the Iosso paste you mentioned uses a chemical action, as opposed to an abrasive action, to clean out fouling.

I'm just not a big fan of using abrasives inside a rifle barrel. If it works for others, I'm happy for them, but I certainly won't be doing it with any of my rifles.

I use nothing but Shilen and Schneider barrels on my rifles and they lap and polish the bores before they send them out...and I have never had to resort to abrasive products to get them clean.

I started a big flap on here once by stating that in my opinion more rifles barrels are worn out by aggressive overcleaning than by just shooting the suckers and cleaning normally with solvent and patches.

If others like to scrub and polish the crap out of their barrels that's their business.

Rick

I've used JB's - on new factory barrels to polish them up before a conservative break-in process. It's a pretty mild abrasive. Before I shoot I clean the bore with Hoppe's a number of times, to make sure that I get the JB's out.

I use CR-10 occasionally on all guns after many rounds (min. 100) to get the copper fouling out. Again, right afterwards I use Hoppe's a number of times to get any residue of the CR-10 out. Leaving ammonia traces in the barrel may not be a very good idea.

Ask twenty people for the proper way to clean a rifle and you will get nineteen different answers...and one who will ask: "You mean you're supposed to clean them?"

Rick

Rick,



The Iosso Paste has an abrasive that I can feel as I work it into the patch. It also has a "paint" smell to it, so you may be right about the chemical action. When I first started buying it, they advertised on the packaging that it was a mild abrasive that would not harm the barrel. Yet it would remove powder and copper fowling that Hoppe's #9 didn't touch. I believe an abrasive that can cut copper fowling has some potential to wear the hardened steel of the barrel, but I could be wrong. Iosso has since stopped making the claim on their packaging. I use it sparingly, and take care to clean it out of the barrel as described earlier. I also believe that Hoppe's Sovent is able to effectively remove the Iosso because it has an oil base paste suspension. Accuracy in that rifle is exceptional, so it seems that use of a mild abrasive "as needed" (25 shots) may not be as harmful as not cleaning the copper out at all.



I have a Winchester with a Shilen Barrel on it, and I have no problem with copper fowling, so I don't need to use anything other than Hoppe's and patches. A polished barrel is a wonderful thing.



I don't know if this helps or not, but I also wait for a night with a full moon, sacrifice a chicken and dance naked around the cleaned rifle. Some say it's a result of smelling too many fumes in an enclosed area, but I know better!!!

I knew I was doing something wrong ! It was the damn chicken. I sacrificed it, but then I fried and ate it before I stripped down to do the dance thing. Never did get all the copper out that way.

Geronimo

When all else fails do what I do to get all the junk out....

Cut some pieces of 80 grit sand paper into the size of cleaning patches and ram about five or six hundred of them puppies down your bore between shots. Hey...the guy that sells me the sand paper said it worked for him!

Rick

Ya but you forgot to tell us what brand of 80 grit sandpaper to use as one brand must do a better job than the others.

Geronimo,

It's ok to eat the chicken!!! Waste not want not!!!

510wells,

Nothing weird here!! It's a "bench rest secret"!!!

Rick,

The Sandpaper works, but you forgot the part about the big hammer!!!

All kidding aside, I have noticed no reduction of accuracy in my 25-06 since I started using the Iosso about 6 or 7 years ago. The rifle presented me with an unsusual dilemma in that it shot very well out of the box, yet the copper fowling became detremental to that inherent accuracy. It is my understanding that a barrel that fowls easily is a sign of a rough finish in the bore. My objective was to clean the copper out, not necessarily to polish the bore. I have easily shot 700 rounds through this rifle, and it still fowls. If Iosso is "polishing" the barrel, it is doing it so slowly as to be negligable when compared to normal wear and use.

My other rifles don't fowl like the 25-06, and so there is no need to use Iosso to clean them. I do believe Iosso strips the "seasoning" from the bore, and would not be desirable for rifles that depend upon a seasoned barrel for accuracy.

Well of course...I didn't think I had to mention the naked dancing and the dead chicken since I assumed everyone already knew that part!

To read some of the posts on here it would appear that allot of people place more value, and derive more pleasure, in cleaning rifles than they do in shooting them...and they also seem to assign more importance to that exercise than reality, or necessity would dictate in most cases.

Spend all that time learning and practicing shooting skills and in most cases your "rifle" will magically become more accurate and consistent shot to shot than it was before!

Rick

No way, man! I ain't letting that secret out of the bag!

Rick