Copper plating in barrel??

[MattM]

I was cleaning my 300 win mag tonight after hunting season ended and after running Patch Out several times and a round of Iosso bore paste thru it, I checked it with my borescope. Is it normal to see what appears to be patches of copper plating stuck to the lands and grooves of the barrel? Please see the picture attached. The gun went about 150 rounds without a thorough cleaning as I had no accuracy issues with it and it always seemed to shoot better when fouled. I'm also curious if the barrel is done at this point...my preference would be to get it clean and keep using it as it shoots some great groups.

For reference, it is a Savage 110 with a heavy barrel. Barrel has about 1500 rounds down it and accuracy has never been an issue. I'm shooting Sierra 180 grain game kings with Reloader 22, running at about 2900 feet per second. Any input is appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[Liven The Dream]

At 1500 rounds and it still shoots! Copper Killer and keep it .

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Clean it better if you want it all gone, otherwise...shoot it. Borescope strikes again. Lol! BTW, that bbl looks way better than the average Savage. Doesn't mean it shoots better...just looks better than most.

 

[whatsupdoc]

Clean it better if you want it all gone, otherwise...shoot it. Borescope strikes again. Lol! BTW, that bbl looks way better than the average Savage. Doesn't mean it shoots better...just looks better than most.

Yes that is a fine thread savage barrel not the typical coarse thread.

 

[Bill K]

You can clean it more and rid that copper spot, but at the same time, if the rifle is still shooting accurately, I would not worry too much over it anyway.

 

[LVLAaron]

a rifle is a tool. If the tool does what you need it to, don't change it. However, that's a lot of copper. IF you want to get it out, I think you'll need something more aggressive than patch out.

 

[243Lapua]

I never clean my rifles to the full extent. A little bit of copper will not affect it. I learned my lesson with my 6.5 x 47, I over cleaned it till there was no copper or carbon, and it took at least 10 rounds to settle it. Now I just follow the instructions on the Wipe Out or Boretech bottle. I let the solvent do its thing. A couple of dry patches, then ai run a patch with Lockeze. And done. Don't over do the bore scope thing. I became addicted to it and I would over cleaned my rifles. Now I just use it every once in a while.

 

[Hoot]

It is often postulated that its ok if the copper fills up voids that extend beneath the surface of the bore to where they are even with that surface. I believe that once those copper deposits rise above the surface of the bore, that's when they do no good. To me, the challenge lies in effacing those built up areas and then stopping the removal of any additional copper. You will still see copper smears but they will not have a three dimensional appearance like the stuff in the image you posted. When faced with that condition, after what I thought was a thorough cleaning, I reach for the Parker Hale jags, wrap then with patches sufficient to obtain a snug fit, load them up with JB compound slurry made from JB compound cut with Kroil and get the elbow grease working. every time the wrapped patch is black, I stop, run a few patches wet with just Kroil through the bore until they stop coming out black as well, dry patch and have another look with the scope. Eventually, the 3-D areas will be the same height as the rest of the bore's surface and you can feel the resistance to pushing a patch through, go down significantly from back when you started.
All that wind having been expelled, if the barrel still meets your accuracy expectations, just patch out the carbon at the range, while they're still hot and put them away wet inside with a little Kroil. When you get to your next range visit, dry patch out that small amount of Kroil before shooting again. If its going to be next season or some other protracted amount of time, I dry patch the barrel once I get ready to store it and lay down a layer of Eezox on a few patches until I'm ready to go back out with it. You all know what they say about opinions right? This is just mine.

Hoot

 

[Orr89rocz]

Kg-12 soaked in the bore and couple patches run thru will remove it quick. Seen a few rough bores copper terribly but i guess it aint a problem if it shoots? My er shaw barrel for my savage was bad til i ran david tubb bore finish bullets thru it to basically fire lap it. Then it shot very well and cleans easy

 

[RustyInBend]

Are you using something made specifically for copper removal? If not, get some M-Pro 7 Copper remover and follow the instructions. That's what works for me.

 

[Liven The Dream]

Are you using something made specifically for copper removal? If not, get some M-Pro 7 Copper remover and follow the instructions. That's what works for me.

Montana Copper Killer works also

 

[David Milisock]

I was cleaning my 300 win mag tonight after hunting season ended and after running Patch Out several times and a round of Iosso bore paste thru it, I checked it with my borescope. Is it normal to see what appears to be patches of copper plating stuck to the lands and grooves of the barrel? Please see the picture attached. The gun went about 150 rounds without a thorough cleaning as I had no accuracy issues with it and it always seemed to shoot better when fouled. I'm also curious if the barrel is done at this point...my preference would be to get it clean and keep using it as it shoots some great groups.

For reference, it is a Savage 110 with a heavy barrel. Barrel has about 1500 rounds down it and accuracy has never been an issue. I'm shooting Sierra 180 grain game kings with Reloader 22, running at about 2900 feet per second. Any input is appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Keep doing what you're ndoing! If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[David Milisock]

Kg-12 soaked in the bore and couple patches run thru will remove it quick. Seen a few rough bores copper terribly but i guess it aint a problem if it shoots? My er shaw barrel for my savage was bad til i ran david tubb bore finish bullets thru it to basically fire lap it. Then it shot very well and cleans easy

I have a 90 year old 8x57 Mauser that would foul like crazy, although it always shot very well. I ran some JB through it a few hundred times and it got much better but that old broach cut bore just needs copper removed regularly. It still made a damn fine scout rifle.

 

[lotech]

I never clean my rifles to the full extent. A little bit of copper will not affect it. I learned my lesson with my 6.5 x 47, I over cleaned it till there was no copper or carbon, and it took at least 10 rounds to settle it. Now I just follow the instructions on the Wipe Out or Boretech bottle. I let the solvent do its thing. A couple of dry patches, then ai run a patch with Lockeze. And done. Don't over do the bore scope thing. I became addicted to it and I would over cleaned my rifles. Now I just use it every once in a while.

Very good post but the Internet cleaning disciples probably won't buy it. When I toured Ed Shilen's barrel shop some years ago, Mr. Shilen mentioned that it wasn't necessary to remove all the copper fouling. I've found the advice holds true for carbon fouling also. I scrubbed the carbon out of a Cooper .270 one time and it took a dozen rounds to foul it suficiently to shoot small groups again.

 

[MattM]

I truly appreciate everyone’s replies. This is the first real deep cleaning I’m doing on this rifle so I’m gonna try to 90% of it out. Wanting to see how accuracy is after. I usually leave a bit of copper/carbon to keep it fouled. My wife’s 7mag likes to be totally clean for best accuracy.

 

[JMayo]

Lol that isn't copperered up bad at all !
I retired this one.