Savage Factory Barrel Issues and cleaning…

[FNSafari]

Yea. Accuracy went to pot around the 60 round mark. I do use a bronze brush to attack carbon as I have learned with a bore scope a nylon brush only gets the loose stuff. I’m thinking about using no. 9 for all the carbon and copper and a few passes of sweets to help. Hoppes will get copper but I have no idea how long it would take to use only it

IMO, if you want to get rid of carbon, use IOSSO or JB Bore Paste and a patch on a stiff nylon brush.

 

[DShortt]

This may sound odd and may not be practical depending on your situation but....

Years ago I had an old bolt action. 308 I bought used. Couldn't get it to group for anything and finally figured out it was heavily copper fouled. I pulled copper out of it for a week literally then discovered it would shoot pretty darn good but it had to be fouled. After several more hunting seasons I finally figured out that I could get by with only a couple of fouling shots IF I let it sit for a couple of days. Might be worth trying.

I got tired of dealing with it and sold the rifle for a bargain price eventually.

 

[Bottom Fodder]

One the reason to shoot a savage is you can rebarrel with a prefit yourself
plenty of good prefits out here

 

[Larryh128]

I have looked at that route. Seems like it’s a 50/50 split. Those it helped and those who wouldn’t dare try it, I know how my luck is. I wonder if I could just run 2 or 3 of the finer grit bullets down the tube or maybe just one of the course grit bullets then a couple fine grits. Not do the whole regimen

I've used it and while I wouldn't use it on a premium replacement barrel that's hand lapped, it will help your factory barrel. Don't be afraid of it or listen to naysayers who have never used it. I had a barrel that shot great but would foul easily, I fire lapped it and it didn't foul much and actually shot better.

 

[freebird22/250]

Get rid of that Barrel!

This site only exists because I got fed up with a Savage factory .260 Rem barrel that fouled like yours, tossed crazy flyers and had POI shifts.

I replaced it with a PacNor Prefit 6BR that shot in the high ones immediately, set a range record on Steel at 600, and requires virtually no brushing.

That barrel and rifle inspired me to start 6mmbr.com 19 years ago.

You are wasting time and money with that barrel — send it to a junkyard.

Make a tomato stake out of it, problem solved!

 

[DLT]

Make a tomato stake out of it, problem solved!

I don’t have the green some does, that is not a option.

 

[Fast14riot]

Devils advocate, are you shooting on the fast side and getting the barrel hot? Letting rounds soak in the chamber before firing? Could be heat related in addition to fouling. Also, some powders burn dirtier than others.

 

[DLT]

Devils advocate, are you shooting on the fast side and getting the barrel hot? Letting rounds soak in the chamber before firing? Could be heat related in addition to fouling. Also, some powders burn dirtier than others.

Don’t get it past warm, don’t let rounds soak. 39.5gr of H4350 6creed right at 3000 fps 105 hornady

 

[LHSmith]

After cleaning are you shooting the bore dry with no lube or residual solvent?

 

[M-61]

The barrel should be as dry as the cartridges you are feeding into it.

 

[DLT]

After cleaning are you shooting the bore dry with no lube or residual solvent?

After cleaning I have always got as much solvent out as possible (until dry patches come out) followed 1 or 2 patches of some type of gun oil down the barrel followed by some dry patches to get any excess oil out

 

[LHSmith]

A small amount of lube is good. A dry bore will promote copper fouling.

 

[Want2BS8ed]

Certainly can appreciate the relative costs, but I finally pulled the 308 barrel off my Savage 12B and had it replaced with a Bartlein 17-twist chambered in 30BR. Yesterday was the first trip to the range:

… a mix of 3 and 5-shot groups, fire forming virgin brass in a new barrel during break-in with reject bullets and essentially no load development (two shots on the left were a SWAG for initial load and the two on the right bumped up 1g).

FWIW, the barrel stopped coppering after the 5th round. Wish I had swapped it out long ago.

 

[Dgd6mm]

Everytime you shoot a barrel past it's useful life you might as well just be setting your money on fire. Your eventually going to need another one anyway, no time like the present.

 

[JBT47]

To echo others, a re-barrel would most likely make you much happier than continuing with the current factory barrel.

 

[CharlieNC]

Ever borescope a Savage barrel? Everyone I've owned looks like a rail road track, and if you try to lap the ridges smooth a bullet would probably fall through. Accept it for what it is or buy a profit.

 

[DLT]

Ever borescope a Savage barrel? Everyone I've owned looks like a rail road track, and if you try to lap the ridges smooth a bullet would probably fall through. Accept it for what it is or buy a profit.

I’m a big savage fan, this barrel looks like a zipper in the inside. You can usually count on a savage to be rough around the edges but most will hold their own

 

[K22]

Yea. Accuracy went to pot around the 60 round mark. I do use a bronze brush to attack carbon as I have learned with a bore scope a nylon brush only gets the loose stuff. I’m thinking about using no. 9 for all the carbon and copper and a few passes of sweets to help. Hoppes will get copper but I have no idea how long it would take to use only it

In my experience, Hoppe's 9, does an only a minimal job removing copper but that works for me similar to Shooter's Choice and Bore Tech C4.

It's a long story how I came to use aggressive copper removing solvent, so I won't get into that here. Suffice to say, what I experienced was a frustrating cycle when I used aggressive copper removing solvents. I would have to "re-condition" the barrel with 5 to 10 shots before I could re-establish POI. I then would shoot about 50 to 60 rounds satisfactorily then clean. The entire process would then be repeated. For a varmint hunter, this was totally unacceptable besides having to waste components.

So, after doing some extensive research, I embarked on an experiment, just using a milder solvent relative to copper. Now about 3 years into the experiment I stopped all aggressive copper removing and just use a standard solvent with a bronze brush. I have no more clear barrel flyers and the rifles shoot to POI consistently without any need to "re-condition" the bore.

So far nothing terrible has happened to my rifles or their accuracy. I know this goes totally against expert opinions but just maybe, your problem is too aggressive removal of copper. Therefore, you may want to experiment with just Hoppe's 9 or Shooter's Choice or Bore Tech C4 and a bronze brush and see what happens after the bore is re-condition with a layer of copper and cleaning about every 50 to 60 rounds. Just one other suggestion, make your assessment based on results on target, not how the bore looks inside.

 

[Txhillbilly]

While replacing the barrel is the easiest solution, I'm a firm believer in the Tubb's Final Finish fire lapping bullet system when it comes to a copper mining factory Savage barrel.
I had a heavy barreled Savage 25-06 that would only shoot 100gr bullet's, and copper fouled like crazy. I tried everything to get this rifle to shoot. It wasn't until I fire lapped the barrel that it brought it to life, and then it would shoot almost any weight / type of bullet I fed it, without copper fouling the barrel anymore.

 

[DShortt]

*If* I were to try lapping a barrel the only method I would choose would be by hand with a lead lap. That's labor intensive, time consuming and the outcome is never a given so I'd have to think long and hard before committing myself to such a project.