Butches Bore Shine

[boogershooter]

This seems to be some really good stuff,as recomended by alot of you fella's.I have been doing some experimenting by using different solvents followed by another. Today while in the process of breaking in a barell I used a well known solvent, and after the patches came out looking clean at the end of the job I went to Butches, and much to my surprise the patches returned to a grey color which tells me Butches did a better job.Anyway I thought I'd share it...Try it for yourself,let me know,Larry.

 

[fdshuster]

Larry: I've been using Butch's for about 4 years now. Had always used Shooters Choice beginning in '85 when it was called "Marksman's Choice", and was always satisfied with it. Then about 4 yrs. ago noticed it was taking longer to clean, and was told S.C. changed their formula (EPA?). My gunsmith recommended BBS & have been using it ever since. Does an excellent job of removing copper with an overnight soaking.

 

[JLDavid]

Frank,
Just sent you a PM with questions about cleaning procedures. Thanks.
JLDavid

 

[deadlyswift]

Boogershooter,
I love butches!!! I have cleaned factory barrels with this stuff and never had to touch things with a brush to get it clean. Much hrs needed for factory barrels to clean with out a brush. Anyway here is what I'm consistently finding with my Broughton barrel. 5 wet patches of butches. Then 5 passes, with a wet brush. Then 5 more wet patches of butches, and the barrel is clean. This is with 50 rnds fired and 20 of them in one string! I verified my cleaning with a hawkeye bore scope so this is a fact and not just theory!
Mark

 

[RonAKA]

Have not used it and based on the test at the link below, I will not be bothered to try it. It looks to me that it has a small amount of ammonia, but not enough to do a good job on copper. You should not have to soak overnight to remove copper. Barnes CR-10 works well for me. Of the more commonly available solvents Sweets 7.62 or the Barnes looks like a better choice.

http://www.frfrogspad.com/cleaners.htm

 

[SS427]

My last 16 oz bottle of Butches Bore Shine had a much stronger smell of ammonia to it. It works great. I can clean a barrel totally clean, then let it soak for 20 min with more BBS and I won't get more blue patches, so I assume it is getting all the copper out the first time.

Because the ammonia smell is so strong with this batch, I would not let it sit in my barrel more than 20 min, let alone over-night. That choice is based on Internet advice and not on anything more factual than that, so take it for what it is...more Internet opinion.

 

[LHSmith]

Have not used it and based on the test at the link below, I will not be bothered to try it. It looks to me that it has a small amount of ammonia, but not enough to do a good job on copper. You should not have to soak overnight to remove copper. Barnes CR-10 works well for me. Of the more commonly available solvents Sweets 7.62 or the Barnes looks like a better choice.

http://www.frfrogspad.com/cleaners.htm

Perhaps when I come across a problem barrel that Butches can't handle, I will certainly give the stronger solvents a try.........until then BBS is THE cleaner I'll use in any of my barrels, custom or factory. I believe there are hazards when using the potent stuff.....to your equipment, and you.

 

[RonAKA]

I guess I may be more comfortable with ammonia because I worked with it for many years in the water treatment business. I recall it was 35% and came in 45 gallon drums. It is used to raise the pH of water to prevent corrosion of steel piping and tubing. The problem with it is that it really is a gas and comes out of the water over time and at more elevated temperatures. Once the ammonia is gone then you are left with water, probably with a reduced pH, and if there is oxygen then you have rust/corrosion issues. The other issue with ammonia in piping corrosion prevention is that it just loves to attack anything that contains copper. So you can't use it in brass or copper piping. But for barrel cleaning that is a good thing!

For evaporation/corrosion reason, I wouldn't leave any solvent that has ammonia sit for a long time. First it does not do that much good because the ammonia evaporates anyway, and once it is gone, you are depending on what is left in the water to prevent corrosion. The Barnes CR-10 solvent also has glycol, and that may prevent corrosion, but I would not trust it. I do let it sit 15 minutes or so at times with my difficult barrel.

 

[LHSmith]

Also while the ammonia may evaporate, before it does it's the compounds it forms with the copper, carbon, and powder residues that prevent me from wanting to let it sit long in the barrel.

 

[RDavies]

What compounds does it cause when it sits for a long time in copper and carbon? I had always let mine sit for a long time, does it breakdown or cause damage doing this?

 

[RonAKA]

What compounds does it cause when it sits for a long time in copper and carbon? I had always let mine sit for a long time, does it breakdown or cause damage doing this?

Very interesting question. What I observe is that ammonia based cleaners turn the patch a bright robin's egg blue color. I have saved these patches for a few days. What I find is that after several days these patches turn a green color. Have not bothered yet to research the chemical reactions, but I suspect an intermediate compound is formed from the reaction of ammonia with copper - blue color. Then later when exposed to oxygen the copper transforms to the typical copper oxide which is green. Think of the copper roof color on old buildings - green.

That said, I only worry about the loss of ammonia, not the ammonia, and especially in a carbon steel barrel.

 

[fdshuster]

After all the overnight soakings with BBS, with approx. 10 various barrels, by the big name makers, both button and cut rifling, chrome moly & stainless, I see no signs of rusting, pitting, etc. when using the borescope. My basement/workshop/storage area is extremly dry with no dampness whatsoever. Even my tools that are plain steel, like saw blades are completely rust free, so maybe that has something to do with it, I don't know, but will revisit my thoughts about overnight soaking, since it seems to be the majority's thoughts that it can cause damage. I am going to try another product, highly recommended to me by a member on this forum, who says it is extremly effective in quickly removing copper & carbon, so hopefully it will work as advertised, and overnight soaking will no longer be required. I'm always interested in better ways to clean, not one of my favorite "things to do".

 

[boltman13]

I use Butches in all my rifle barrels. It's the best powder fowling remover I have ever seen. My premium barrels will clean up completely with it. My factory barrels need some Montana Extreme Copper Killer to get all the copper out.

 

[xring]

Have no direct experience with BBS , but a Gunsmith and 1000 Yard Pa. Competitor I knew tried it and went back to his old Formula which is what I have used for many years , Shooters Choice plus Kroil . My Hart Barreled 223 has over 10K Rounds thru it , and still chugs along . I will say this : I bought a used Rifle a few years back and always Clean the Barrel first thing . I think it was the first time I got nothing out during cleaning . This guy said he used BBS .

 

[DEC]

This is not about BBS, but barrel cleaning in general. My gunsmith recommended that I use Windex window cleaner on patches to clean my barrel. Does anyone here have any feelings or experience doing this?

Thanks

 

[LHSmith]

This is not about BBS, but barrel cleaning in general. My gunsmith recommended that I use Windex window cleaner on patches to clean my barrel. Does anyone here have any feelings or experience doing this?

Thanks

Get new gunsmith. Surprise,surprise, ain't no ammonia in Windex with Ammonia d, it's over 90% water, up to 5% isopropanol, and the rest anti-freeze.....look up the MSDS fact sheet. Probably OK for smoke-poles though.

 

[RonAKA]

This is not about BBS, but barrel cleaning in general. My gunsmith recommended that I use Windex window cleaner on patches to clean my barrel. Does anyone here have any feelings or experience doing this?

Windex has a very small amount of ammonia, some soap, and mainly water. Bad choice.

 

[bobcat30]

+1 on Butches works well for me. Another treatment is to use gunslick foaming bore cleaner leave it sit over night patch it out then run couple butches patches thru it. Clean as it can get

 

[fdshuster]

I gave up on using Windex as a window/glass cleaner several years ago. Use it to remove powder, copper and carbon fouling? I don't think so. Tried the new recommended solvent, following directions to the letter, and comparing results before and after using my Hawkeye borescope, saw zero results: another expensive experiment, and yet another container of snake oil sitting in my cabinet. Will continue to use BBS for normal cleaning, including soaking as I see fit, (BBS label says nothing about a limit on soaking times) and JB bore paste with a bronze brush to remove the stubborn carbon, methods that have worked for me, and friends, time and time again.

 

[Rock Knocker]

As long as this thread has sort of turned to bore cleaning. I have not used Butches before but i may have to check it out.

I just started shooting to get the smallest groups, i used to just shoot the deer rifle a couple times a summer and have fun. What i have been using lately though is the Gunslick Foaming cleaner after shooting, 20 minute soak and run a bore snake through it.

When im at the range trying to shoot as small a groups possible with my .223 i never know when to stop and give the gun a quick cleaning. So far i shoot 3-9 shots and run the snake through it with no solvent or oil on it and get back to shooting. I just bought some Hoppes Elite so i had a solvent i could run through quick intead of a foam soak. To my supprise the Hoppes has absolutely no odor??? I havent used it yet.

But i was just wondering what some of the benchrest guys are doing to clean there bore at the range.