Cleaning products rant

[TTE]

Every product says it's the best at this or that .....
and everyone wants the best, quickest, most thorough cleaning products available.

What does let set/soak for several minutes .... or shake well actually mean ?

Is several minutes 4 ? 7 ? 12 ? 53 ? Who knows

Is shake well 1 ? 3 ? 5 minutes ? Who knows

My several minutes and shake well may be a lot different than the makers of the product.

Ok .... rant over ........ I will just go with my interpretations

BTW ... Copper Killer scares me. Have a bottle but have not used it. Not sure how to get it ALL out of the barrel.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I always give everything a little shake before I dispense it. Several minutes to me is more than a couple, more like 4-7.
Boretech C4 and CU2 are specific.
Interpretations will vary.
If you go too long with some cleaners they can harm the barrels where others will not.
It's always good to try your best to be familiar with the makeup of the chemical(s).

 

[Dimner]

In my experience, several minutes is subjective more than 4 less than 10....but if the cleaner will harm a bore with prolonged soaking, the instructions should give you an exact time. If it doesn't, I'm not using it.

Using the barnes solvent copper/carbon solvent as an example of great instructions. They say let it sit for 1 minute. And state more than 15 minutes may harm the bore. Very good instructions on that product.

 

[AccelR8]

A technical trainer once told me remember, the product instructions are written by the marketing people not the technical people!

 

[LCazador]

Like many chemicals we use in our daily lives a little shaking to mix the ingredients after settling is always necessary. How long you have to shake depends on environment and how long it's been on a shelf last used. As far as how long to leave in the bore, it's going to be entirely up to your monitoring methods. A bore scope and some experience should answer that question. Lastly the question about how many strokes with a patch or cleaning brush does it take for effective cleaning? If you have a bore scope this is easy, if you don't it's just experience. That could take a while depending on how often you clean.

 

[DShortt]

Get a borescope. They're available for cheap these days. Then you can look in your bore and know exactly what your cleaning process is or is not doing.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Get a borescope. They're available for cheap these days. Then you can look in your bore and know exactly what your cleaning process is or is not doing.

It will tell you a bronze brush is needed sometimes and not the evil thing for barrels as some suggest.

 

[DShortt]

Agreed. But if a bronze brush alone solved all cleaning problems then there wouldn't be so many threads about cleaning products.
Cleaning requires multiple techniques and processes. It's impossible to evaluate what is or isn't working or even to determine what the problem is if you can't see inside the bore. Different barrels, powders, bullets and loads will necessitate different approaches.

 

[BoydAllen]

None of the stuff that you mentioned has every bothered me in the slightest way. I have always been able to figure this sort of stuff out without difficulty, and I suspect most who have read the OP have as well.

 

[Clancy]

I use wipeout with accelerator. I might flip the bottle over a couple of times if anything.

3 wets
15 minutes
Bronze brush strokes
Twist oversized bronze brush in the neck
3 wets
15 minutes
Dry patch it
Patch of lock ease
Dry the chamber
Dry the gun muzzle down or run a dry patch after the lock ease.

If I was on the clock I’d skip the waits and brush a few more strokes. I can clean in 7 minutes or 37 minutes I guess.

You’re way overthinking this… clean often and it’s easier.

 

[Sandstorm]

You’re way overthinking this… clean often and it’s easier.

And get a bore scope....Teslong is cheap and lets you know what your up against or how well you did.
Wipe out / patch out and Accelerator is all it takes like Clancy mentiond

 

[Clancy]

And get a bore scope....Teslong is cheap and lets you know what your up against or how well you did.
Wipe out / patch out and Accelerator is all it takes like Clancy mentiond

Yep, the flexible bluetooth teslong is $89

 

[AlNyhus]

There's no magic to cleaning a barrel. I have a routine with Butch's and bronze brushes that gives me predictable results and an idea of what each barrel wants or needs. The majority of shooters that obsess over cleaning and cleaning products would be shocked to see how BR shooters maintain their barrels.

But all of this stuff works. The only 'unobtanium' stuff is in the jar with the red top.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[Shooter13]

There's no magic to cleaning a barrel. I have a routine with Butch's and bronze brushes that gives me predictable results and an idea of what each barrel wants or needs. The majority of shooters that obsess over cleaning and cleaning products would be shocked to see how BR shooters maintain their barrels.

But all of this stuff works. The only 'unobtanium' stuff is in the jar with the red top.

Good shootin' -Al

We use to sell Marvel Mystery oil in our NAPA stores!

 

[Kracken McGraw]

And get a bore scope....Teslong is cheap and lets you know what your up against or how well you did.
Wipe out / patch out and Accelerator is all it takes like Clancy mentiond

This is basically my approach too. Right now I have a relatively new barrel (100rds) that leaves some carbon traces in the first few inches of the grooves. The start of the lands and where a carbon ring would form are perfectly clean. Not worried about it, but if it keeps doing it I may have to patch some Iosso paste in that area.

 

[AlNyhus]

We use to sell Marvel Mystery oil in our NAPA stores!

Marvel Mystery Oil has very good detergent qualities that can be helpful. It's also an excellent long term bore protector. The Black Powder Gel is good for hard powder fouling...the carbon ring. After cleaning, all my barrels get a patch wet with Hoppe's #9. It's a slow acting solvent that works on whatever is still left in there. You can see what's left by how a clean patch looks when you patch out the barrel before shooting it the next time.

There's even a bottle of the supposedly e-v-i-l Sweet's that gets used in certain situations.

 

[Cecil S.]

For me...a bore scope and Boretech products helped. But a bore scope will let you know how well you are doing as you figure out how to treat your barrels.

 

[Cecil S.]

I am a newbie and the aggressive stuff makes me worry.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Every product says it's the best at this or that .....
and everyone wants the best, quickest, most thorough cleaning products available.

What does let set/soak for several minutes .... or shake well actually mean ?

Is several minutes 4 ? 7 ? 12 ? 53 ? Who knows

Is shake well 1 ? 3 ? 5 minutes ? Who knows

My several minutes and shake well may be a lot different than the makers of the product.

Ok .... rant over ........ I will just go with my interpretations

BTW ... Copper Killer scares me. Have a bottle but have not used it. Not sure how to get it ALL out of the barrel.

Respectfully, but seriously, you need to chill.

About all of this.

And scared of copper killer?

If this is rant worthy to you, I think I might envy you. Find a product and a process that works for you and clean the barrel. First have a couple drinks. It’s going to be okay.

 

[Ccrider]

Better question- after you get your barrel clean, does it shoot better? If not, how many shots do you have to fire to get it dirty enough to shoot to its best potential?

Ok, better two questions.

Now my answer- it depends.