Horrible gun fouling

[173ABN]

A 2 or 3 years ago I bought a Gun on one of the auction sights. I have never shot it. It's aremington Woodmaster Model 242. Every year I give all the guns a over going. This year I decided to give this gun a good cleaning. I've clean a lot of guns. Took it apart and said WTH. This was a gun so filthy, I wanted to cry. This gun was made in 1965 and was never cleanedin the hidden areas. The fouling is so caked on, I can't break through most of it. I should have made this short. Fouling is on like stone. What should I use, I'm trying Hoppes with little luck.

 

[K22]

You can try some of the abrasive formulations like Iosso or JB. It sounds like you may need the aggressive approach of abrasives for hard carbon in a severely neglected bore.

You can also try saturating the bore with Hoppe's and letting is sit overnight. Hoppe's won't do much of anything for copper, but it can work on carbon fouling when using a bronze brush. A bore plug is sometimes used to fill the bore with solvent and let stand overnight to increase its effectiveness.

Bore Tech C4 in my experience does a better job on carbon than Hoppe's if you use it with a bronze brush. Letting it soak for about hour or so also helps before brushing. You may need several applications and sessions if the bore is badly fouled.

There are a number of effective copper solvents, Sweet's is one of the more aggressive ones and has been used for many years for heavy copper fouling. The fumes are toxic and severe, best used outside. Bore Tech Cu+2 is very effective on copper in my experience and more user friendly. It's odorless. This you want to use with a nylon brush.

I've never had this issue with my rifles because I clean them regularly. However, I helped a friend of mine and it took a lot of patience and effort with JB to clean his neglected 308 Win bore that had not been cleaned in many years.

 

[CT10ring]

A 2 or 3 years ago I bought a Gun on one of the auction sights. I have never shot it. It's aremington Woodmaster Model 242. Every year I give all the guns a over going. This year I decided to give this gun a good cleaning. I've clean a lot of guns. Took it apart and said WTH. This was a gun so filthy, I wanted to cry. This gun was made in 1965 and was never cleanedin the hidden areas. The fouling is so caked on, I can't break through most of it. I should have made this short. Fouling is on like stone. What should I use, I'm trying Hoppes with little luck.

I cleaned suppressors using CLR - Calcium, Lime and Rust remover - 2 older suppressors that can't be disassembled. I made a soaking tube from schedule 40 pipe.

Point is, an amazing amount of gunk foamed out of the suppressors.
It might work on your project rifle. It may also mess with the bluing.

I bought a 1955 mfd. Rem 870 12 ga last year and stripped it down to clean.
I don't think the action had ever been cleaned.
I soaked it in Hoppes overnight.
I used bamboo skewers to dig out the crud. sharp, no scratches and sturdy for detail work.
Worked great.
I've never used one, but I'd bet an ultrasonic cleaner would work.
good luck!

 

[michaelb]

disassemble and soak the parts in Kroil Oil. I have never found any other product able to work its way beneath carbon the way that Kroil does.

I drop my muzzle brakes into a film canister full of Kroil and leave them for a day or two, the carbon wipes off....

 

[wedgy]

Fill it full of Wipe Out foaming cleaner and let it set a few hours then squirt some more in, no need to brush it. You will see the blue residue(copper) leak out the end of the muzzle.

 

[173ABN]

You can try some of the abrasive formulations like Iosso or JB. It sounds like you may need the aggressive approach of abrasives for hard carbon in a severely neglected bore.

You can also try saturating the bore with Hoppe's and letting is sit overnight. Hoppe's won't do much of anything for copper, but it can work on carbon fouling when using a bronze brush. A bore plug is sometimes used to fill the bore with solvent and let stand overnight to increase its effectiveness.

Bore Tech C4 in my experience does a better job on carbon than Hoppe's if you use it with a bronze brush. Letting it soak for about hour or so also helps before brushing. You may need several applications and sessions if the bore is badly fouled.

There are a number of effective copper solvents, Sweet's is one of the more aggressive ones and has been used for many years for heavy copper fouling. The fumes are toxic and severe, best used outside. Bore Tech Cu+2 is very effective on copper in my experience and more user friendly. It's odorless. This you want to use with a nylon brush.

I've never had this issue with my rifles because I clean them regularly. However, I helped a friend of mine and it took a lot of patience and effort with JB to clean his neglected 308 Win bore that had not been cleaned in many years.

Thank you for the info.

 

[173ABN]

I cleaned suppressors using CLR - Calcium, Lime and Rust remover - 2 older suppressors that can't be disassembled. I made a soaking tube from schedule 40 pipe.

Point is, an amazing amount of gunk foamed out of the suppressors.
It might work on your project rifle. It may also mess with the bluing.

I bought a 1955 mfd. Rem 870 12 ga last year and stripped it down to clean.
I don't think the action had ever been cleaned.
I soaked it in Hoppes overnight.
I used bamboo skewers to dig out the crud. sharp, no scratches and sturdy for detail work.
Worked great.
I've never used one, but I'd bet an ultrasonic cleaner would work.
good luck!

Thank you for the info.

 

[173ABN]

I found this Noppes product to work great.

Thank you for the info.

 

[173ABN]

disassemble and soak the parts in Kroil Oil. I have never found any other product able to work its way beneath carbon the way that Kroil does.

I drop my muzzle brakes into a film canister full of Kroil and leave them for a day or two, the carbon wipes off....

Thank you for the info.

 

[173ABN]

Fill it full of Wipe Out foaming cleaner and let it set a few hours then squirt some more in, no need to brush it. You will see the blue residue(copper) leak out the end of the muzzle.

Thank you for the info.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

A friend asked me to clean his fathers(deceased) shotgun. The auto loader appeared to be never cleaned and was purchased in the early 60's. I had to completely disassemble and clean powder residue, feathers, dirt from the action. Barrel wasn't any better. But my friends expression when I returned it was worth it, he didn't believe it was the same gun. I function checked it with a few rounds, so I told him go head shoot it another 50 years.

 

[Ccrider]

I would plug the bore, fill it with Free All and let it soak for several days.

 

[divingin]

Sounds like OP was talking about the parts other than the barrel. I'd agree with the Kroil soak.

Carburetor cleaner and a stiff plastic brush works too, but can be less than economical (nor is it great for the environment or your respiratory system.) Check to make sure your carb cleaner is bluing-safe (I use Berryman's B-12, and it seems to be.)

Luck, OP!

 

[L.Sherm]

In all likelihood that barrel is a CM, I wouldnt let CLR within a mile of CM

 

[Pawnee Bill]

You may have to carefully scrape fouling out of the action. Get you a machinist scribe for the hard to reach nooks & crannies.

 

[gdbleb]

disassemble and soak the parts in Kroil Oil. I have never found any other product able to work its way beneath carbon the way that Kroil does.

Start with a parts soak in just mineral spirits (cheap). Brush with those nylon/brass toothbrushes. Then move up the expensive solvent ladder.
Same strategy for the bore.

Don't think CLR is good for bluing.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

742 is pretty easy to strip down(barrel off) for a complete cleaning. Spray with free all and wipe clean.

 

[acloco]

IF safe to do so, have found to warm up a barrel with 4-6 rounds at the range and spray carb cleaner from the chamber.

Seems to make cleaning easier, even if I don't get to the task in a few days.