Chemistry Question

[Area Man]

If I leave my bore wet with Hoppes No. 9, later I push out a green patch. If I leave my bore wet with Sweets, later I push out a blue patch. This is copper correct? What's with the different colors?

 

[A j shooter]

Be careful with sweets it's harsh and does not need to be left in barrel to long.

 

[MrMajestic]

Push a patch with KG-12 and it comes out Brown!

 

[dkhunt14]

I am thinking that the sweets is stronger and bringing out more copper. Hoppes 9 is not very strong and doesn't work very fast on copper. Be careful with sweets and don't let in for a long time; it can etch your barrel. Matt

 

[Snuggie]

You are correct in that the different chemical compositions of the bore cleaners will yield different reaction products of varying colors. And yes, be careful with the sweats. After it gets the copper it goes for the steel! 8)

 

[M-61]

Why not put a drop of what ever cleaner you have on a penny? See what happens and see what colors you get.
I assume there still is some copper in a penny.

 

[CatShooter]

http://www.laniganperformance.com/kg12testresults.html

 

[dkhunt14]

I see they didn't include Montana Extreme 50 BMG. in there test. Matt

 

[jonbearman]

The test almost seems like since they picked up the KG chemical line they published a test from KG themselves meaning it may be a slanted look at what works and what doesnt.

 

[butchlambert]

So why has my barrel stub been in a jar of Sweets for 20years. How much longer before it starts to etch? Just an old wife's tale.

 

[BoydAllen]

If I have a barrel that needs one of the stronger copper cleaners, my first thought is not new solvent, but new barrel, or different rifle. All of my good barrels show little to no copper, once they have been broken in, and did not take very long to break in. My go to solvent is Butch's. I think that cleaning discussions should be divided into lapped and factory, and which is being discussed mentioned in the first post. In my experience, the requirements for each can be very different.
This is not to say that all of my rifles have fancy barrels, but the ones that I have kept, broke in so that the do not take extraordinary measures to clean.

 

[Eddie Harren]

I'm with you Butch. Never had a bad experience with Sweets 7.62 in 25 years of use. I've left it in barrels for 3 days and seen no signs of the mythical etching.

 

[butchlambert]

If I have a barrel that needs one of the stronger copper cleaners, my first thought is not new solvent, but new barrel, or different rifle. All of my good barrels show little to no copper, once they have been broken in, and did not take very long to break in. My go to solvent is Butch's. I think that cleaning discussions should be divided into lapped and factory, and which is being discussed mentioned in the first post. In my experience, the requirements for each can be very different.
This is not to say that all of my rifles have fancy barrels, but the ones that I have kept, broke in so that the do not take extraordinary measures to clean.

You break them in?