Barrel cleaning

[Bryontrantham]

I shoot 45s and 9mm. The 45s are FMJ. The 9mm are plated -copper. I bought my first borescope. The groves in 45 barrels are coated with brass - no surprise. The 9mm barrels are coated with copper, again no surprise. I have read [here] that copper needs to be cleaned out. No findings for brass. I use Hopes cleaners. I also use brass brushes. How clean is clean for these deposits in the barrels? The deposits in the groves are quite distinctive. Thanks for your input

 

[jelenko]

Just to confirm, how did brass get in the grooves of the 45 barrel?
Aren't the FMJ's copper coated?

 

[GLShooter]

Just to confirm, how did brass get in the grooves of the 45 barrel?
Aren't the FMJ's copper coated?

Mine are copper jacketed or plated. I've never seen a brass 45 FMJ.

 

[Bryontrantham]

Just to confirm, how did brass get in the grooves of the 45 barrel?
Aren't the FMJ's copper coated?

Sorry about the confusion. I went by the color. The "brass" ones are yellow or gold so I thought they were brass. The copper plated ones are copper colored.

 

[358WCF]

Since you specified Hoppe's there's this...

No. 9 Bench Rest Copper Solvent 4oz. Bottle

No. 9 Bench Rest Copper Solvent 4oz. Bottle by HOPPE'S Product Overview: Got a copper problem? Hoppe's Bench Rest copper cleaner can fix it. Shooting rounds down your barrel causes copper fouling where the jacket of the bullet meets the grooves. Hoppe's cleaner removes the residue restoring...

www.midsouthshooterssupply.com

There may be better solutions.

 

[old codger]

Montana extreme works wonders but you need to use it outdoors. Smells just like household ammonia.

 

[K22]

I have over 50,000+ rounds of copper jacketed bullets through my current various 357 magnum and 38 special revolvers. For the past several years, I have cleaned the bore every 100 rounds with Hoppe's 9 and a bronze brush.

Furthermore, I've been shooting jacketed bullets in revolvers, including the 44 magnums for a time for over 50+ years and all I ever used was mild solvents such as Hoppe's 9 or Shooter's Choice with a bronze brush. Accuracy has always been excellent. Of course, I'm shooting high quality revolvers, S&W's. Even my Ruger's respond well to this cleaning regime.

Yesterday, I shot a 93 on an NRA B16 25 Yard Slow Fire Target. Even at 76 years old, I'd say that ain't too bad and the accuracy is pretty darn good.

The caveat I would add is that I don't shoot rapid fire strings, just five shoot strings in precision slow fire mode.

The visual image of your barrels aside, how does your pistols shoot? Is there performance need to change your current cleaning method?

 

[PopCharlie]

I just put 500 rounds of a mix of lead and jacketed bullets thru my Colt Series 80 1911 .45 acp. I cleaned it the same way I clean my BR rifles. I run a few patches of a general purpose bore cleaner thru the bore to get the soft, loose copper, carbon, powder etc out. Then I run a patch of a penetrating (Kroil, or Free-All) oil thru the bore. I let that sit a minute while I wrap a patch around a bronze brush and coat it with JBs. Then scrub it back and forth about 30-40 strokes. A couple more patches of penetrating oil, then dry patch it out. Check it with a scope. All clean.

PopCharlie