Cleaning with a chamber plug

[Gina1]

Hi Guys

I was wondering if any of you have used a chamber plug to clean your rifles and how well it works. One of my fellow shoots swears by it. He loads the plug into the chamber, and closes the bolt. The plug has an O ring on it, which seals the barrel. He than fills the barrel with Butches Bore Shine and leaves it standing upright over night. He said he called the company that makes Butches Bore Shine and they said it would not damage the barrel if left over night.
He said it removes all carbon and copper and leaves it looking like brand new, with minium patch cleaning.
Anyone else have any experience with this cleaning method ??

Much thanks

 

[artbosco]

I was wondering if any of you have used a chamber plug to clean your rifles. One of my fellow shoots fills the barrel with Butches Bore Shine and leaves it standing upright over night.

I considered it once years ago. And, it's certainly another way to clean. Practical? I don't know. In ten minutes I can get all my cleaning done and not waste an inordinate amount of Butch's which is running about $20+ for the large bottle at Cabela's. Depending on the diameter and length of your barrel, you can be pouring a lot of solvent into it. I shoot competitively and have never met or heard of anyone who uses that method.

 

[nhm16]

Tried it once. Have the chamber plugs for the .308 and .284 cartridge families. Didn't seem worth the time and amount of Butch's used.

 

[CatShooter]

I have a bunch of them and love them...

I just stand the rifle in a rack and soak the barrel, and run a few patches through it, and it's done.

Meow

 

[fdshuster]

I've never seen the need for that degree of soaking. My Kriegers, Bartleins and Harts cleanup easily with normal applications of Butch's as verified with my Hawkeye borescope. I've yet to find a liquid solvent, and I've tried a lot, that will remove carbon from the bore. For that I use JB bore paste as needed. To each his own, whatever works for you.

 

[Gina1]

Oh... I forgot to mention that the rifle is a Savage .223. All though they shoot extremely well, the grooves do have a lot of machine tool(chatter) marks, and they do accumulate a good amount of copper after 50 rounds. This was his way of making sure he got it all out of groves and tool marks.
So anyone else have experience with the chamber plug and Savage rifles. BTW re recycles (reuses) the solvent.

 

[artbosco]

Oh... I forgot to mention that the rifle is a Savage .223. All though they shoot extremely well, the grooves do have a lot of machine tool(chatter) marks, and they do accumulate a good amount of copper after 50 rounds. This was his way of making sure he got it all out of groves and tool marks. So anyone else have experience with the chamber plug and Savage rifles. BTW re recycles (reuses) the solvent.

Don't ever reuse solvent. It would be akin to jumping into tube of water that you used to scrub your body day in and day out for a week. Yuck!

I had a .223 Savage once and after a month or so I replaced that $65 barrel with a Krieger. It was like going from coal to diamonds. It cleaned up nicely with two patches of Butch's Bore Shine, a nylon brush passed through the barrel 10 rounds trips saturated with BBS, and then two dry patches. Every 50 to 60 rounds a little JB Paste [on 2 to 3 tight fitting patches] in conjunction with the regular cleaning, ensured all the carbon was removed.

 

[Gina1]

Thank you Lawrence, your answer explained why some were for it, and why others said it was not necessary.

Gina

 

[RAG]

I am a huge fan. Not necessary all the time, but certainly does the trick after a day of varminting. Minimal wear! I attribute this technique to the long barrel life I typically get...have a 6br with 7000 rounds that still shoots in the 1s and 2s!

 

[LHSmith]

I know that o-rings used on bore guides are short-lived......they tend to deteriorate quickly.....I wouldn't use this cleaning method for the above noted reasons plus the high probability of the trigger and action getting doused with bore cleaner once the o-ring fails.
I can not understand the reasoning for getting factory bores TOTALLY void of copper and carbon when the next shots from the pristine cleaned bore will re-fill all those tool marks. I would think that POI will vary greatly between when using such a stringent cleaning regimen. So, what is the point?

 

[fredhorace77]

I've never seen the need for that degree of soaking. My Kriegers, Bartleins and Harts cleanup easily with normal applications of Butch's as verified with my Hawkeye borescope. I've yet to find a liquid solvent, and I've tried a lot, that will remove carbon from the bore. For that I use JB bore paste as needed. To each his own, whatever works for you.

I completely agree

 

[DaveWhite]

I suppose the method makes sense where a new barrel is not an option. It does seem to me that I would rather have the barrel filled with the muzzle down so as to preclude any chance of the solvent draining into the trigger group.

tough to argue with the quality of hand lapped barrels, wish I had them on all of my rifles...

 

[nwkman]

wipe out!!!!

 

[RAG]

If some people are afraid or don't want to do it, that's fine. But I think people who haven't tried and do high-volume shooting need to know this method is amazing. It cleans a barrel perfectly without all the wear of running brushes and patches through dozens of times. Certainly not needed after 20 shots, but after a long, successful day in the field, it is just the ticket! It's not the copper, it's the carbon that will get you over time. Like I said, I have a 6BR with 7000 HOT rounds fired that still lives in the 1s and 2s, and I attribute much of this cleaning technique...I usually run a few patches through first and then plug the chamber, fill with BBS and come back 10-24 hours later and drain...not needed often, but after a heavy day of varminting without wasting time on mid-day cleanings, it really does the trick.

Nope...no noticeable or "unusual change in impact point" after cleaning this way. Yes, one should replace the O-rings every couple years, but even if it were to leak, you're not going to hurt the action or trigger group with BBS...you could simply flush out with gun Scrubber and re-lubricate as desired (something people should do every year or two anyways).

Don't be scared

 

[LHSmith]

I must be using bad batches of BBS......I find I need to cut the carbon with something other than BBS.....even after using those dastardly brushes and letting BBS soak overnight. Amazing how well BR guns shoot with those oversize bores resulting from brush and patch erosion. :
Do not fear the brush.....it can be your friend.
It's not the BBS that will hurt the trigger, it's the gunk that it removes from the bore and holds in suspension....which tends to gum up quickly ( esp. 10-24 hrs), and I doubt you could flush it all out to obtain a 100% reliable trigger function.
If your gun shoots 1's and 2's regularly, with no noticable change in impact point after soaking w/ BBS.....I hope you realize you have an exceptional barrel....esp. w/ that many rounds thru.