I have been trying to remove some bad powder fouling in a swede military barrel and it is going very slow. The first half of the barrel from the chamber out looks great but the last half looks so rough it almost looks like pitting and the last inch or two looks great also.

I thought at first it was pitting then noticed it was built up in the grooves. Reminds me of the old varnished/burnt oil under the intake manifold on an old runout V8 engine.

I have tried sweet's, JB bore paste and Hoppes #9 and my arms and brushes are about worn out. So any good ideas to cut through this stuff. I thought maybe plugging the muzzle and filling barrel full of safety clean or some other solvent or maybe heating the barrel and then scrubbing the dog out of it.

Anybody been down this road before?

Thanks,

RJS

I've never had anything quite as bad as you describe but when I want to save some effort on someone's rifle that is really fouled (some of my friends don't ever seem to clean their rifles) I put a plug in the chamber and let it soak at least overnight in Butch's Bore Shine. Sounds like yours might need a couple of treatments.

RJS,

I went to a barrel cleaning seminar that Kenny Jarrett put on in January, 2001 at the SCI Convention.

Kenny says you are looking at a combination of powder fouling and jacket metal fouling in layers. He showed some interesting videos of barrel exams with a microscopic lens and a fiber optic feed back to his videocam

He recommends cleaning with Shooters Choice, followed with Sweets 7.62 to go after the powder adn the metal.

Your other alternative would be to use one of the electrolytic bore cleaners.

I used t do a lot of load development for friends using their rifles. I asked them to buy the dies, and I kept them for payment. I had some pretty dirty barrels, fortunately I have not had a barrel that badly fouled!

jim dodd

------------------
"if you are to busy to
hunt, you are too busy."

RJS,

If JB paste won't get it out, it must be very hard. If it is glazed powder fouling try Ed's Red. (Equal parts K1 kerosene, transmission fluid, low odour mineral spirits and acetone.) Or just try the acetone. Use in an open area away from flame. If Ed's Red won't shift it, it's not powder fouling.

I suspect it's not powder fouling, but it's in a weird place for pitting.

Don

My first M96 had the same kind of fouling. I used alternating sessions of Barnes CR10 and black powder gel. It took nearly 2 weeks of evenings to get it all. Later I started using Ed's Red and swear by it. Alternate your sessions though, because it consists of layers of jacket and carbonaceous deposits. Some of the guys will insist that swedes don't jacket foul due to iron jackets on the military ammo. Don't believe it! The iron jacket has a copper-nickle flash on it and it fouls beautifully.

Another thing that may help is Outboard Moter combustion chamber cleaner in a spray can. It is sold at most boat shops. It is petroleum based and foamy. You can spray it in the bore and leave it over night. Possibly this would help soften it. I'll bet a warm bore and Ed's Red will probably do as well though.

Scott