Cleaning a very dirty barrel

[christian1]

Long and short is that I bought a bore scope and found out how inadequate my cleaning routine has been. 500 shots into this new gun and I have some spots near the middle of the barrel that are still black after an hour of cleaning. It doesn't show any signs of coming off after using C4, Wilson Carbon remover, nylon brush and at least 100 patches.

I'm looking for suggestions to get this thing back to mirror finish. There are certainly spots that look great and then there's spots that just look like the inside of a chimney.

Thanks in advance,

chris

 

[kevlar88]

Sharp Shoot R Wipe-Out Brushless Foaming Gun Cleaning Solvent 5oz

Sharp Shoot R Wipe-Out Brushless Foaming Bore Cleaning Solvent is fast and easy to use. Fill your bore with foam, let it soak overnight, wipe it out and...

www.midwayusa.com

Iosso Bore Cleaning Polishing Compound Paste 1-1/2oz Tube

The Iosso Bore Cleaning and Polishing Compound Paste is a bio-based formula. Highly effective concentrated paste formula that lasts longer and takes...

www.midwayusa.com

Alternate with these two and it'll be shinny as new in no time.

 

[christian1]

Sharp Shoot R Wipe-Out Brushless Foaming Gun Cleaning Solvent 5oz

Sharp Shoot R Wipe-Out Brushless Foaming Bore Cleaning Solvent is fast and easy to use. Fill your bore with foam, let it soak overnight, wipe it out and...

www.midwayusa.com

Iosso Bore Cleaning Polishing Compound Paste 1-1/2oz Tube

The Iosso Bore Cleaning and Polishing Compound Paste is a bio-based formula. Highly effective concentrated paste formula that lasts longer and takes...

www.midwayusa.com

Alternate with these two and it'll be shinny as new in no time.

Use with a nylon brush?

 

[BRTreedogs]

Put and ear plug in the bore and funnel in breach and fill it up, let soak

 

[SDHNTR]

I’ve tried it all, including Wipe Out/PatchOut, even with Accelerator.

Boretech Eliminator is better. I’ll clean until Snow White patches come out with WO or PO. Then run a patch of BT Eliminator through, let soak 15-20 min and there’s still some green to work out.

If a barrel is REALLY dirty, this is your ticket. It’s as effective, maybe even more so than JB Paste and Kroil, Iosso too, and less messy and easier to use.

 

[2muchhp]

Ditto on the bore eliminator. The best I've found .

 

[Rich M]

Sweets 762? It works.

I just don't understand why some spots are clean and others dirty. For me either the whole thing is kinda dirty or its clean.... ??? I clean and remove copper when the groups start to open, maybe 250-300 rounds?

I will go from back to front. Use jag and new patch every pass. It is amazing what even just one or two patches with some kind of cleaning lube will do for cleaning the barrel.

Anyway, might be the powder you're using.

The foaming cleaners do a nice job tho - should help.

 

[Dos XX]

This is Iosso suspended in oil. You can buy Iosso and oil and do the same thing, but here it is prepackaged.

ThorroClean Bore Cleaning System - 118ml Bottles - Bullet Central

ThorroClean Bore Cleaning System – 118ml Bottles

www.bulletcentral.com

 

[kevlar88]

I’ve tried it all, including Wipe Out/PatchOut, even with Accelerator.

Boretech Eliminator is better. I’ll clean until Snow White patches come out with WO or PO. Then run a patch of BT Eliminator through, let soak 15-20 min and there’s still some green to work out.

If a barrel is REALLY dirty, this is your ticket. It’s as effective, maybe even more so than JB Paste and Kroil, Iosso too, and less messy and easier to use.

@SDHNTR
That's why I alternate when cleaning the, patch out is great at getting the copper and the Iosso knocks out the carbon. If the bore is really dirty it'll layer up copper/carbon/copper/carbon and I have yet to find one cleaner to do it all. I'm not apposed to trying new stuff so next time a bore is ready to be scrubbed I'll try to source some gel.

 

[Formidilosus]

Long and short is that I bought a bore scope and found out how inadequate my cleaning routine has been. 500 shots into this new gun and I have some spots near the middle of the barrel that are still black after an hour of cleaning. It doesn't show any signs of coming off after using C4, Wilson Carbon remover, nylon brush and at least 100 patches.

I'm looking for suggestions to get this thing back to mirror finish. There are certainly spots that look great and then there's spots that just look like the inside of a chimney.

Thanks in advance,

chris

I would ask why do you care if it has spots in it?

Why are you cleaning at all?

 

[Ernie]

Use with a nylon brush?

If it is carbon, use their CARB OUT SharpShooter product

 

[SDHNTR]

@SDHNTR
That's why I alternate when cleaning the, patch out is great at getting the copper and the Iosso knocks out the carbon. If the bore is really dirty it'll layer up copper/carbon/copper/carbon and I have yet to find one cleaner to do it all. I'm not apposed to trying new stuff so next time a bore is ready to be scrubbed I'll try to source some gel.

BT Eliminator and or Chameleon gel will do it all.

 

[SDHNTR]

I would ask why do you care if it has spots in it?

Why are you cleaning at all?

I don’t have the luxury of not cleaning a barrel. I live in a humid environment out on a peninsula surrounded by ocean. Left alone long, moisture gets up under that fouling and creeps. Pitting happens fast. This was a friends rifle barrel who went less than 6 months without cleaning.

 

[Wrench]

I'd use that scope to check the carbon ring.....and rock on. They're always blackened down the bore.

 

[Formidilosus]

I don’t have the luxury of not cleaning a barrel. I live in a humid environment out on a peninsula surrounded by ocean. Left alone long, moisture gets up under that fouling and creeps. Pitting happens fast. This was a friends rifle barrel who went less than 6 months without cleaning.

A couple things with that-

1). Did the gun not shoot, is that why the pitting was discovered?

2). If a barrel isn’t cleaned, and the entire thing is coated with copper and carbon, how does anything get under it?

3). If moisture does get under it, wouldn’t a patch of oil down the barrel do the same thing as a clean barrel with a patch of oil?

 

[Coyote Assassin]

A couple things with that-

1). Did the gun not shoot, is that why the pitting was discovered?

2). If a barrel isn’t cleaned, and the entire thing is coated with copper and carbon, how does anything get under it?

3). If moisture does get under it, wouldn’t a patch of oil down the barrel do the same thing as a clean barrel with a patch of oil?

2). Have you ever seen anywhere that water can't go? The powder fouling is hydrophilic. Moisture reacts with the fouling and forms an acid. Then ^^^^^ that happens.

 

[SDHNTR]

1. He was having me bed the action and install a new scope. So he wanted a fresh baseline. It shot ok before. It shot incredibly well after. I’m sure that was more due to bedding than the cleaning. So I don’t really have a fair before and after to provide anything conclusive.

2. Im no metallurgist and I don’t claim to fully understand it all, but there is a phenomenon common with moisture being attracted by some metals and corrosion creeping under some industrial coatings, hydrophilic something or other. Copper, especially after oxidizing from heat and exposure is hydrophilic, it attracts moisture. Ever seen corrosion creep/wick up a copper wire? Anyone who owns a boat in a saltwater environment knows what I’m talking about. It’s my understanding this is a similar concept with stubborn copper fouling which is why the corrosion can look wormlike as it is attracted to the copper and then creeps under the spots of heavy fouling/coating. We all know there are spots in a barrel that foul more than others. Hence the corrosion in spots. The entire bore surface is not evenly coated with copper, which likely wouldn’t be a good thing either.

3. I’m sure that would help, and probably be better than nothing, but from what I understand and what I’ve seen from my own experience, for long term storage you need to remove the fouling that serves as the coating. Then run a patch with oil to protect.

 

[Jeff_Gibbons]

Glad I don’t have a bore scope. I run till the patches are white, coat the barrel with thin coat of clp and sleep the sweet slumber of ignorance.

 

[Formidilosus]

2). Have you ever seen anywhere that water can't go? The powder fouling is hydrophilic. Moisture reacts with the fouling and forms an acid. Then ^^^^^ that happens.

I’ve lived a significant portion of my life in some of the highest humidity and highest temperature areas in the US. I do not clean barrels ever, and do not have an issue with rifles not shooting because they weren’t cleaned in a high humidity environment. When I use standard chrome moly barrels with no lining or treatment, and I am not going to shoot them for months at a time (though it’s rare), I will put oil on a patch and run it through the barrel, knowing that rifle isn’t ready until it’s been shot 5-10 times afterwards.

It has nothing to do with copper or carbon spots in a barrel.

 

[Formidilosus]

1. He was having me bed the action and install a new scope. So he wanted a fresh baseline. It shot ok before. It shot incredibly well after. I’m sure that was more due to bedding than the cleaning. So I don’t really have a fair before and after to provide anything conclusive.

2. Im no metallurgist and I don’t claim to fully understand it all, but there is a phenomenon common with moisture being attracted by some metals and corrosion creeping under some industrial coatings, hydrophilic something or other. Copper, especially after oxidizing from heat and exposure is hydrophilic, it attracts moisture. Ever seen corrosion creep/wick up a copper wire? Anyone who owns a boat in a saltwater environment knows what I’m talking about. It’s my understanding this is a similar concept with stubborn copper fouling which is why the corrosion can look wormlike as it is attracted to the copper and then creeps under the spots of heavy fouling/coating. We all know there are spots in a barrel that foul more than others. Hence the corrosion in spots. The entire bore surface is not evenly coated with copper, which likely wouldn’t be a good thing either.

3. I’m sure that would help, and probably be better than nothing, but from what I understand and what I’ve seen from my own experience, for long term storage you need to remove the fouling that serves as the coating. Then run a patch with oil to protect.

I’m not trying to be a douche, I understand that the moment people get borescope they obsess over things that do not matter. The o my thing I care about is how the rifle shoots- how the fire looks is immaterial. As I stated above I have lived, hunted and shot in very high humidity and temperature environments with blued barrels, and an oil patch ran through the bore keeps rust from forming.