ShtrRdy
Silver $$ Contributor
Jackie -- do you clean down to bare steel or leave the thin carbon fouling on the lands and grooves? I've been keeping on top of carbon fouling in the neck & freebore area and the copper fouling down the bore.
Competition barrel cleaning
- Thread starter Raydee
- Start date
Shooter13
Gold $$ Contributor
That small amount you may be trying to clean may just be a shadow of the bore scope light, I'm not Jackie but I've found no way to get that trace out. I'm not sure it matters but tell me how you can and I'll stand corrected!
ELR LVR
Silver $$ Contributor
THAT- I would not doubt, right about then I kept reading on the net about people bad mouthing the crap out of Sweets, and suggesting things like Butches Bore Shine instead.
Saying
- it'll ruin your barrel
- dont leave it in over night
etc etc
-------------
They likely said, ok fine we'll fix that.
3 hours of cleaning is wasting time and consumables. Get a tube of Iosso or JB paste. Use a very small amount on a nylon brush then clean it out with whatever liquid you use and it will be shinny as in 15 minutes. SRBR guys do this to great effect.
ShtrRdy
Silver $$ Contributor
I've used Iosso to get that thin carbon out of the barrel. But then it takes quite a few shots before it settles down .
I clean at the range when the barrel is hot. Here’s my advice and regimen. Use plenty of solvent. Anyone who knows me will tell you I go through it like it’s free. Solvent is your friend, not elbow grease. Clean brush with alcohol before going to each subsequent step. Spray alcohol 70-90% cuts the stuff quickly. Not a fan of brake cleaner.
ALWAYS WEAR RUBBER GLOVES AND USE AN O-RING SEALED BORE GUIDE, NON NEGOTIABLE. YOU AND YOUR RIFLE WILL BOTH STAY HEALTHY.
COVER YOUR STOCK WITH A STOCK BOOT OR PROTEKTOR LEATHER COVER. AND HAVE A RAG ON TOP OF THE BOOT/COVER TO CATCH THE GUNK! HAVE PLENTY OF RAGS!
1. Use a firm nylon brush with lots of Sweets mixed with J-B bore compound. I mix them in a 4oz bottle. It will look like brown pancake batter. I put some stainless steel ball bearings in the bottle to break up the JB. Do about 25 strokes. I also short stroke the first 5” of barrel here and in the next step. Push out with patches until that brown gunk is gone.
2. Now go at the barrel with straight Sweets on the nylon brush. It will get frothy like a rabid animal and that tells you the bore is saturated. Do about 25 strokes. Push out that gunk with patches until they are clean. Again, clean your brush with alcohol before going to step 3.
3, Next use Butch’s Bore Shine on the nylon brush with lots of it rolling through the barrel. This is cutting the Sweets left behind and getting any let over carbon. Again, use the solvent like it’s free. 25 strokes or so. When you patch out the barrel at this point the patches are pinkish-orange like the solvent is coming out of the bottle it came from. Good sign that you barrel is getting clean. Again, clean your brush with alcohol.
4. Remove bore guide and swab out the chamber to remove solvent left behind. I use a Dewey Chamber cleaning rod chamber mop that’s covered with a 3” patch. Return guide to the chamber when both chamber ad guide are clean.
5. Now apply Wipe-Out Accelerator with your nylon brush. It will foam up. Leave the Accelerator solvent in the bore and apply a shot of Wipe-Out spray in foam solvent until it oozes out of the muzzle. You can let the two chemicals do their magic for 15 minutes while you get a cup of coffee. Clean the brush with alcohol before getting your beverage.
Push this solution out until it’s gone. Remove the guide and swab the chamber and clean the guide.
6. Lightly oil the bore with Montana Xtreme bore conditioner.
7. Enjoy your coffee. You’re finished.
This takes me about 10 minutes from step 1 to 5.
I hope this is helpful.
ALWAYS WEAR RUBBER GLOVES AND USE AN O-RING SEALED BORE GUIDE, NON NEGOTIABLE. YOU AND YOUR RIFLE WILL BOTH STAY HEALTHY.
COVER YOUR STOCK WITH A STOCK BOOT OR PROTEKTOR LEATHER COVER. AND HAVE A RAG ON TOP OF THE BOOT/COVER TO CATCH THE GUNK! HAVE PLENTY OF RAGS!
1. Use a firm nylon brush with lots of Sweets mixed with J-B bore compound. I mix them in a 4oz bottle. It will look like brown pancake batter. I put some stainless steel ball bearings in the bottle to break up the JB. Do about 25 strokes. I also short stroke the first 5” of barrel here and in the next step. Push out with patches until that brown gunk is gone.
2. Now go at the barrel with straight Sweets on the nylon brush. It will get frothy like a rabid animal and that tells you the bore is saturated. Do about 25 strokes. Push out that gunk with patches until they are clean. Again, clean your brush with alcohol before going to step 3.
3, Next use Butch’s Bore Shine on the nylon brush with lots of it rolling through the barrel. This is cutting the Sweets left behind and getting any let over carbon. Again, use the solvent like it’s free. 25 strokes or so. When you patch out the barrel at this point the patches are pinkish-orange like the solvent is coming out of the bottle it came from. Good sign that you barrel is getting clean. Again, clean your brush with alcohol.
4. Remove bore guide and swab out the chamber to remove solvent left behind. I use a Dewey Chamber cleaning rod chamber mop that’s covered with a 3” patch. Return guide to the chamber when both chamber ad guide are clean.
5. Now apply Wipe-Out Accelerator with your nylon brush. It will foam up. Leave the Accelerator solvent in the bore and apply a shot of Wipe-Out spray in foam solvent until it oozes out of the muzzle. You can let the two chemicals do their magic for 15 minutes while you get a cup of coffee. Clean the brush with alcohol before getting your beverage.
Push this solution out until it’s gone. Remove the guide and swab the chamber and clean the guide.
6. Lightly oil the bore with Montana Xtreme bore conditioner.
7. Enjoy your coffee. You’re finished.
This takes me about 10 minutes from step 1 to 5.
I hope this is helpful.
Last edited:
drop_point
Silver $$ Contributor
This pretty much what I do. It takes about a dozen shots for my gun to settle down when I get it too clean, but I can go from very fouled to pristine in my bore in about 15 minutes.
drop_point
Silver $$ Contributor
I like doing the same when I can, not only can you clean it easier, but you can also foul the barrel back in before you leave if you have an upcoming match.
It is well understood about using gloves when cleaning, but lately, there's this "THING" in the world that I now notice that I never noticed when I was younger. People are afraid to touch firearms and parts. I always see these images when people are selling firearms. The person is holding the firearm and parts for display with gloves on (no cleaning is being done). Are people now afraid of their own shadows and the Boogie Man under the bed???????
Danny
Definitely young folks have phobias about firearms. I work in the medical field. Many oncologists I know see too many people who have crazy cancers. I also have had a close friend, and men he worked with, get diagnosed with bladder cancer leading back to solvents used at their place of work. Skin is easily penetrated by solvents. No boogie man here just a word of precaution. You would not drink poison. Why put it on your skin? An ounce of prevention…….. that’s all I’m saying.
drop_point
Silver $$ Contributor
I also work in the medical field. I used to never use PPE before my education and the start of my professional career. A few years ago, it was suspected I had cancer and I was referred to the the cancer center in another city due to the rarity of cancer in the organ affected. After a trip to interventional radiology and a spleen biopsy, it turned out to be an inflammatory/auto-immune granuloma.
To be such a rare disease, the provider that diagnosed me stated he is seeing more and more of it. Officially, there is no known cause but chemical and environmental exposure are hypothesized to be contributing factors. My wife and I combine know about half a dozen people that have contracted it in the last ten years or so. I definitely am more careful around chemicals that ever before and wear PPE any time practical.
piaa1209
Silver $$ Contributor
Andy gave me the same information about two yrs ago and it works.
I agree with you, we are realizing the implications of having lived with chemicals and the smart people are learning to mitigate their exposure to chemicals by using gloves when handling chemicals, however, guys just handling firearms when photographing for internet sales, etc., gloves are on ONLY for handling a firearm. I got a real wakeup call when I mentioned school lunches and peanuts to my neighbors that had elementary school children. They had this look of horror on their faces like I was talking about committing a Jonestown Kool Aid session by thinking that Peanuts could be anywhere near a school. When I was a kid, we got pumped full of Government subsidized peanuts and for the most part, NOBODY had issues. Very confusing ..
I guess the point that I'm making here is that I'm not talking about firearms and exposure to chemicals. I am a glove and safety glasses type of guy, but I'm talking about guys that have been photographed only handling firearms, and they are in "Glove mode". I appreciate your medical field input
Danny
In recent years, we have more powders being produced which feature an "anti-coppering agent". I suspect this is usually bismuth. These powders do seem to make copper removal easier, but they seem to leave the bore a little black. It almost seems like we are trading one form of fouling for another.
I was just testing a new barrel (a 308) with some TAC powder. No copper but pretty black (makes bullet holes easier to see!). I cleaned the barrel with a bronze brush, Hoppes#9 (with nitro benzene, I have some old stuff) and it cleaned up fine. I cleaned after each shot for the first three, wiped with a damp patch after four and five, then shot five. Cleaned with the brush and#9 and shot ten. For the rest of it's life, the barrel will probably not see more than ten without cleaning. I should mention, if I'm seeing much of what seems to be carbon, Liquid Wrench penetrating oil (aerosol) seems to work pretty well. WH
I was just testing a new barrel (a 308) with some TAC powder. No copper but pretty black (makes bullet holes easier to see!). I cleaned the barrel with a bronze brush, Hoppes#9 (with nitro benzene, I have some old stuff) and it cleaned up fine. I cleaned after each shot for the first three, wiped with a damp patch after four and five, then shot five. Cleaned with the brush and#9 and shot ten. For the rest of it's life, the barrel will probably not see more than ten without cleaning. I should mention, if I'm seeing much of what seems to be carbon, Liquid Wrench penetrating oil (aerosol) seems to work pretty well. WH
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
If you go back 20 years ago and read Cleaning protocols from Krieger, they advised that cleaning their cut rifled barrels down to nothing but stell was a waste of time, because after one or two shots, those very small traces of “whatever” that gets in the linear tool marks that are a result of the cut rifling process will simply reappear.
As Krieger said, we do not shoot matches with clean barrels.
They recommended a brushing with a good solvent such as Shooters choice and later Butches Bore Shine, followed by saturated patches untill they were clean.
I have been following this advise for years. The key was cleaning it often.
I think the only reason they modified their stance on this was the advent of bore scopes. Shooters would see anything in there that did not look like bright shiny steel and scrub away untill the bore scope was satisfied.
The next time you clean your barrel down to bare stell, shoot two rounds and then take a look.
I quit looking at barrels with my bore scope years ago. It is sitting on a shelf somewhere at my shop. I clean by brushing with Butches, then running enough saturated patches through untill they come out clean, then dry it. And yes, I try to clean after every group or score target.
And then let the target do the talking.
An early mentor of mine (name of Art Bourne) told me there would be a slight copper wash, along with powder residue, deposited in the barrel in the first couple of shots. Further, he felt that cleaning it out completely was a waste of time. Hell, its existence might even be beneficial. So, I think he was saying much the same thing that Jackie Schmidt said. WH
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