Copper Removal Test: A Discovery 2

[LHSmith]

The Lock Ease treatment helped immensely! Two sessions of pre treating the barrel and after the second session there was only tiny spots of copper in one area of the lands!

I even managed to do a "brushless" cleaning. Wipeout foam with accelerator. Two - 1hr sits. Flushed with alcohol, dried the bore and reapplied the Lock Ease. Ready for next shoot!

So, up to now you have been shooting first shot with a dry-( extemely dry if you use alcohol ) bore ?

 

[Gargoyle]

So, up to now you have been shooting first shot with a dry-( extemely dry if you use alcohol ) bore ?

No, a micro layer of oil.

 

[Cecil S.]

I think you will be happy with this system. But there is many with more experience than me on this site. Boretech seems to have a good product line.

 

[LHSmith]

A dry bore is the quickest way to strip copper off the first bullet - and each succeeding shot it magnifies. After cleaning with bore solvent I apply a high pressure oil like Marvel Mystery Oil liberally (not to the point that it drips off the patch but saturated) and put the gun away. Before I shoot, I run one loose patch thru to remove the excess. Most of my guns require only one fouler to begin my shots for record - barring any unusual mirage condition.

 

[Cecil S.]

Good advice right here.

 

[Gargoyle]

A dry bore is the quickest way to strip copper off the first bullet - and each succeeding shot it magnifies. After cleaning with bore solvent I apply a high pressure oil like Marvel Mystery Oil liberally (not to the point that it drips off the patch but saturated) and put the gun away. Before I shoot, I run one loose patch thru to remove the excess. Most of my guns require only one fouler to begin my shots for record - barring any unusual mirage condition.

That is what I have done with breakfree until the Lock Ease. I apply the Lock Ease after the alcohol in the bore dries. Heavily saturated. I will be recording my clean cold bore shots now that I have a load dialed in. See how the graphited bore handles those first rounds.

 

[K22]

The Lock Ease treatment helped immensely! Two sessions of pre treating the barrel and after the second session there was only tiny spots of copper in one area of the lands!

I even managed to do a "brushless" cleaning. Wipeout foam with accelerator. Two - 1hr sits. Flushed with alcohol, dried the bore and reapplied the Lock Ease. Ready for next shoot!

I'm happy for you, you seemed to have reached firearm "cleaning nirvana."

 

[Cecil S.]

A little off topic here but....I bought a Smith 38 special at a yard sale K-frame it took me 3 dayy of cleaning to get it to work again. I wanted a Smith and i shoots better than me!

 

[Gargoyle]

I'm happy for you, you seemed to have reached firearm "cleaning nirvana."

An upside to cleaning, which kinda sucks, but has to be done, is after I am done at the range I am now excited to get back to the shop and see what happened inside the bore!

 

[drop_point]

I know somebody above said to "save your money and don't buy Boretech", but I've had excellent luck with Boretech's copper cleaning solvent. I had a badly fouled hunting rifle that I picked up used that just wouldn't shoot. I verified with a bore scope that Boretech worked, but it appeared the copper wasn't the cause...the throat was gone. It is in line for a new barrel now.

 

[Gargoyle]

I know somebody above said to "save your money and don't buy Boretech", but I've had excellent luck with Boretech's copper cleaning solvent. I had a badly fouled hunting rifle that I picked up used that just wouldn't shoot. I verified with a bore scope that Boretech worked, but it appeared the copper wasn't the cause...the throat was gone. It is in line for a new barrel now.

Oh how I love me an experiment to see for myself! I was once told to read less and test more. I can't stop reading, but I have exponentially increased my testing! So with that said. Boretech eliminator is enroute.

Further thoughts/hypothesis are:

How different are the cleaning products and methods going to be between these junk factory barrels of mine and the premium hand lapped, cut rifled barrels like Brux, Bartlein, Lilja, etc. So 2023 goal is to get a premium barrel or two and find out!

 

[K22]

An upside to cleaning, which kinda sucks, but has to be done, is after I am done at the range I am now excited to get back to the shop and see what happened inside the bore!

You have my deepest sympathy.

 

[divingin]

How different are the cleaning products and methods going to be between these junk factory barrels of mine and the premium hand lapped, cut rifled barrels like Brux, Bartlein, Lilja, etc. So 2023 goal is to get a premium barrel or two and find out!

My Kriegers normally get a few wet patches of Boretech Carbon remover (usually 3-5; first one pushed through, the rest short-stroked) until they come out pretty much white. Then BT CU2+ with 5-10 minutes soak until they come out very lightly blue-tinged, if not white.

I decided to clean my factory 308 barrel which was sitting in the safe after converting the rifle to 6BR; it took literally dozens of patches (with the same or longer soaks) until they stopped coming out looking like new blue jeans. As an aside, it didn't get cleaned as completely as the custom barrels, but still... I ended up giving that barrel to a friend of mine, mostly so I didn't have to think about it anymore.