ATTN: CLR users...

[Thor357]

From when the rifles were brand new to now, there is very little difference if any.
And I've shot hundreds and hundreds of rounds through them.
Unfortunately I didn't think to take pics of the barrels when they were new but I remember what
they looked like very well.

 

[Chaotik]

Okay, lemme try to download some pics of my barrel(s) for you.
I'm pretty computer illiterate so be patient (read old ).View attachment 1301506View attachment 1301507View attachment 1301508View attachment 1301509Compared to what it was, this is spotless!!!

So I'm a little confused (happens a lot, actually)... Are you saying that these pictures of your barrel were taken after cleaning and it looks similar to when your barrel was new?

 

[Thor357]

So I'm a little confused (happens a lot, actually)... Are you saying that these pictures of your barrel were taken after cleaning and it looks similar to when your barrel was new?

Yeah, pretty much.
The difference between brand spankin' new and what I posted is minor.
I'm not claiming the barrel is perfectly spotless, just pretty darn clean.
The picture of the barrel without the mirror is misleading. the barrel may look carbon fouled but that's
just because the resolution is poor. The images with the mirror are more representative of what
the barrel condition is.

 

[Thor357]

My friend, Dave, is the one who turned me on to Hoppe's #9 foaming cleaner.
He has people from all over send him their rifles to develop reloads for their rifle,
so he shoots a lot of rifles every month. He finds what works and creates a spread sheet for
them so they can duplicate the recipe for themselves.
He cleans a lot of rifles and I trust him.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

My friend, Dave, is the one who turned me on to Hoppe's #9 foaming cleaner.
He has people from all over send him their rifles to develop reloads for their rifle,
so he shoots a lot of rifles every month. He finds what works and creates a spread sheet for
them so they can duplicate the recipe for themselves.
He cleans a lot of rifles and I trust him.

I know you may not trust me and thats ok but that barrel is solidly carbon fouled. Your hoppes is not going to clean it. A clean barrel looks like a mirror. Do a search on here for teslong pictures and youll see different types of fouling.

 

[jelenko]

To Dusty's point, Hoppes does not take any hard carbon out.

Even on the softer stuff, BoreTech C4 always take a bunch of carbon out after first thoroughly cleaning with Hoppes.

All that said, if you're happy with the way the rifle shoots, that's essentially all that matters.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Compare these to yours. This barrel is clean

 

[hicap40]

After many videos with Cortina, Litz aand Murdica.

"BELEIVE YOUR TARGET" test it for yourself!

Cortina likes Clr
Murdica uses a Power drill with a Iosso brush
Litz says 30 strokes with JB bore paste every 100 rounds.

Mix all 3 and you might come up with the Best cleaning regime known to man.

It really comes down to

Your Target!

these Pros show you what they use to be successful, test it for yourself


John Hiller

 

[Thor357]

Compare these to yours. This barrel is clean
View attachment 1301575View attachment 1301577

That's awesome!
However, my barrels did not look as good as that out of the box!
If I scrubbed my barrels 100 times and used the best cleaner known to man, my barrels wouldn't
come close to what you posted.
And yet I can hit a steel 8" plate @ 600 yards almost at will, almost.
I'll try to dig up some targets I have from 100-400 yards and post them. You tell me how I'm doing.

 

[Thor357]

To Dusty's point, Hoppes does not take any hard carbon out.

Even on the softer stuff, BoreTech C4 always take a bunch of carbon out after first thoroughly cleaning with Hoppes.

All that said, if you're happy with the way the rifle shoots, that's essentially all that matters.

I disagree, The patches I run through my rifles are caked with carbon.
It takes, at times, 30-40 patches to show nothing on the patch, sometimes more, sometimes less.
I often will foam up the barrel multiple times before I start my cleaning routine, depends on how
many rounds I shot that day.
The pics I posted are as clean as they've ever been and I get very satisfying results...most of the time.
I reload so most outings are good but not always.

 

[Thor357]

I know you may not trust me and thats ok but that barrel is solidly carbon fouled. Your hoppes is not going to clean it. A clean barrel looks like a mirror. Do a search on here for teslong pictures and youll see different types of fouling.

By the way, my borescope is a Teslong, I've seen many pictures of "cleaned" bores and some look better than
mine and some don't but none have looked as clean as yours not even my friend Dave has bores as clean as yours. He's been doing this for 50+ years.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

By the way, my borescope is a Teslong, I've seen many pictures of "cleaned" bores and some look better than
mine and some don't but none have looked as clean as yours not even my friend Dave has bores as clean as yours. He's been doing this for 50+ years.

Ive only been at it for 30+ but ive had a borescope and looked at multiple barrels daily for maybe 25. That is butchs bore shine, bronze brushes, and iosso on good patches. That barrel is not an anomoly, if you take a look at some of these teslong threads youll see a majority just like that with these cleaner tester type guys. Your barrel would look the same in a few minutes of cleaning like we do around here. Butchs, bronze brush, pro shot patches, iosso and possibly some JB if the carbon is ironed on. A 5 minute soak with a wet butchs patch and a bronze brush would make a huge difference. You got nothing to lose except some carbon if you give it a go. Be sure to let us know how it goes.

 

[Thor357]

Ive only been at it for 30+ but ive had a borescope and looked at multiple barrels daily for maybe 25. That is butchs bore shine, bronze brushes, and iosso on good patches. That barrel is not an anomoly, if you take a look at some of these teslong threads youll see a majority just like that with these cleaner tester type guys. Your barrel would look the same in a few minutes of cleaning like we do around here. Butchs, bronze brush, pro shot patches, iosso and possibly some JB if the carbon is ironed on. A 5 minute soak with a wet butchs patch and a bronze brush would make a huge difference. You got nothing to lose except some carbon if you give it a go. Be sure to let us know how it goes.

Well, I think I should offer you an apology. I thought just for grins-n-giggles I'd go back and try cleaning one of my rifles. And I'll be dipped! The patches came out nasty! I really thought I had thoroughly cleaned my barrels and as you said they aren't. I don't think I got all of the carbon out but I think I got enough out to make me happy.
With that being said, Is it necessary to have a polished, bright, squeaky clean barrel like you showed? Certainly doesn't hurt...but is it necessary?
Targets are 100, 200, and 400 yards.
Savage model 11 .308 bolt action. 22" standard barrel.

 

[Thor357]

Ive only been at it for 30+ but ive had a borescope and looked at multiple barrels daily for maybe 25. That is butchs bore shine, bronze brushes, and iosso on good patches. That barrel is not an anomoly, if you take a look at some of these teslong threads youll see a majority just like that with these cleaner tester type guys. Your barrel would look the same in a few minutes of cleaning like we do around here. Butchs, bronze brush, pro shot patches, iosso and possibly some JB if the carbon is ironed on. A 5 minute soak with a wet butchs patch and a bronze brush would make a huge difference. You got nothing to lose except some carbon if you give it a go. Be sure to let us know how it goes.

Could you do me a favor and provide a detailed list of the products you described in your post?
Butch's?
iosso?
JB?
Any other stuff you use/recommend.
Thanks!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Could you do me a favor and provide a detailed list of the products you described in your post?
Butch's?
iosso?
JB?
Any other stuff you use/recommend.
Thanks!

Im glad you were able to get more out of it. Thats why we’re here. No sir its not necessary to clean barrels as clean as we do. Its best to see where your accuracy falls off and keep it in the acceptable range. Sometimes ill clean a barrel for a week- run a patch thru one nite, another the next nite maybe some brushing, maybe try a new product and patch it out the next day to see how it did, etc. Of course i think you need a bit of everything because you never know whats going to work with the particular fouling you have at the time. At a minimum i recommend a bottle of butch’s bore shine, some montana extreme 50bmg (for emergency use only- its rough), some real good bronze brushes (i like to make sure they are brass core and are looped on the end not cut), a damn good bore guide (not a universal one you need one for your action AND cartridge- not just caliber, and with o-ring seal), good cotton flannel patches- i use pro shot. I use 1.75”sq and a 22 pierce type jag for a 6mm. You can adjust accordingly. I use a 2” round and a 30cal jag for 30cal. After that id get a toothpaste tube of flitz polish, one of iosso, and a jar of JB non embedding bore cleaner with the blue label and a jar of the red label. I use a 45cal bore mop to dry the chamber after cleaning and be sure the bore is pointed slightly down while cleaning. I use custom ivy cleaning rods for my BR rifles but use the montana extremes or dewey for everything else. Stay away from the cheap rods without actual bearings and the carbon fiber ones. Always run a dry patch thru if you swap chemicals and i run a patch of carb cleaner thru after cleaning before shooting. Youll see shortly after this post how wrong i am and how theres a better way im sure but this is just my experience actually shooting matches and having to clean between relays, plus a ton of experimenting between matches and on customer barrels getting replaced. Im a firm believer in keeping them spotless. They seem to last longer. The only thing harder than carbon is a diamond so i dont like having it around. Oh, on the abrasives i short stroke them all the way down the barrel. When you have a perfect patch and jag you can feel the carbon so concentrate on those areas and ask a ton of questions. One more thing, neutralize your brushes in a bottle of water after cleaning. The bore cleaner eats them up and use aluminum dewey jags to not get a false copper reading on the patches.

 

[Thor357]

WOW!!! Lotsa info there.
Thank you very much for your insights.
I'll give the items you described a try.
As for my target results?

 

[gdbleb]

Of course i think you need a bit of everything because you never know whats going to work with the particular fouling you have at the time.

I'm glad to read this as it reflects my (limited) experience.
Great writeup. Thank you.

I also like these VFG pellets as the carrier for the abrasive cleaners. (JB, Iosso, & KG2)

I only wish my liquor cabinet was as well populated as my cleaning solvent shelf.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.

 

[HTSmith]

Im glad you were able to get more out of it. Thats why we’re here. No sir its not necessary to clean barrels as clean as we do. Its best to see where your accuracy falls off and keep it in the acceptable range. Sometimes ill clean a barrel for a week- run a patch thru one nite, another the next nite maybe some brushing, maybe try a new product and patch it out the next day to see how it did, etc. Of course i think you need a bit of everything because you never know whats going to work with the particular fouling you have at the time. At a minimum i recommend a bottle of butch’s bore shine, some montana extreme 50bmg (for emergency use only- its rough), some real good bronze brushes (i like to make sure they are brass core and are looped on the end not cut), a damn good bore guide (not a universal one you need one for your action AND cartridge- not just caliber, and with o-ring seal), good cotton flannel patches- i use pro shot. I use 1.75”sq and a 22 pierce type jag for a 6mm. You can adjust accordingly. I use a 2” round and a 30cal jag for 30cal. After that id get a toothpaste tube of flitz polish, one of iosso, and a jar of JB non embedding bore cleaner with the blue label and a jar of the red label. I use a 45cal bore mop to dry the chamber after cleaning and be sure the bore is pointed slightly down while cleaning. I use custom ivy cleaning rods for my BR rifles but use the montana extremes or dewey for everything else. Stay away from the cheap rods without actual bearings and the carbon fiber ones. Always run a dry patch thru if you swap chemicals and i run a patch of carb cleaner thru after cleaning before shooting. Youll see shortly after this post how wrong i am and how theres a better way im sure but this is just my experience actually shooting matches and having to clean between relays, plus a ton of experimenting between matches and on customer barrels getting replaced. Im a firm believer in keeping them spotless. They seem to last longer. The only thing harder than carbon is a diamond so i dont like having it around. Oh, on the abrasives i short stroke them all the way down the barrel. When you have a perfect patch and jag you can feel the carbon so concentrate on those areas and ask a ton of questions. One more thing, neutralize your brushes in a bottle of water after cleaning. The bore cleaner eats them up and use aluminum dewey jags to not get a false copper reading on the patches.

It is good to have you back. When do you sleep?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

It is good to have you back. When do you sleep?

I dont

 

[D55]

I have not had any better success on carbon or copper fouling than BLUE MAGIC chrome poshish that costs about 6.99 at Malwart. Patch a nylon brush with this heavy ammonia based polish and stroke the barrel. Repeat as necessary. I would neutralize with alcohol also. Don't knock it til you try it. I don't use boretech eliminator any longer after being turned on to this product by a friend.