Bore scopes will tell you that you need to replace any factor barrel is my experience. I have inherited a few Ruger M77 a few years back. All decent shooters. Owned by a man that loved and carried for his guns. I got an older tang safety M77 243 Varmint out this Fall and started playing with it. I started with shooting some groups with his reloads Nosler 90gr BT. Consistent 0.75" 5 shot groups. No flyers. Then I bore scoped it. I have never seen such a dirty carbon and copper filled barrel. I made a video for before and after comparison. I cleaned Hoppes 9 - tons of black patches ,then Butches Bore Shine - tons of blue patches, then I soaked over in Wipe-Foam with a plug in the chamber. When I pushed the foam residue out it looked like a penny's worth of copper particles in the patch trap. It was crazy. I didn't have my phone. I should have stop and taken a picture. More dry patches then followed with a 2 hour soak of Butches Bore Shine - this is a NOS bottle of the old BBS with ammonia in it. Still tons of blue. Bore scoped again. Moderate fire cracking in first 0.5" barrel to the lands. Fair amount of corrosion near the muzzle in a few places. Some more carbon to remove near the throat. I would be thinking this is a piece of junk. It looks like a kids train track in most of the barrel. But then I look at the groups it just shot.
The gentleman I inherited these from took care of his guns. We was a retired mechanic and machinist. When I was cleaning up his reloading/gun room after he passed - the thing I notice was the lack of cleaning supplies. He had more than 150 firearms in +50 calibers. He only had one cleaning rod. He didn't own a bore guide. He didn't have a single brush. He only cleaned with a wet patch and I am not even sure what his favorite cleaning solvent was. He definitely didn't have any dedicated copper cleaners. Yet all of the guns he pasted to me will shoot sub-MOA and these are well used factory rifles.
I understand if you want to shoot benchrest or other competitive shooting you need the greatest edge. I am still trying find a balance of how much to clean a factory barrel that is just going to collect copper for the next few shoots. Do I take a different approach to my custom hand lapped barrel - yes without a doubt. I want to see clean lands so I can follow the degradation of the barrel with its life span. I never scoped a factory Savage barrel that I though had a chance of shooting a sub-MOA group - yet I own several of them that will. They look terrible when compared to the glamour of custom barrel.
I think I am getting to the age of shoot and mildly clean until there is a problem.
Things we get obsessed about in the winter....
Luck, Tim
The gentleman I inherited these from took care of his guns. We was a retired mechanic and machinist. When I was cleaning up his reloading/gun room after he passed - the thing I notice was the lack of cleaning supplies. He had more than 150 firearms in +50 calibers. He only had one cleaning rod. He didn't own a bore guide. He didn't have a single brush. He only cleaned with a wet patch and I am not even sure what his favorite cleaning solvent was. He definitely didn't have any dedicated copper cleaners. Yet all of the guns he pasted to me will shoot sub-MOA and these are well used factory rifles.
I understand if you want to shoot benchrest or other competitive shooting you need the greatest edge. I am still trying find a balance of how much to clean a factory barrel that is just going to collect copper for the next few shoots. Do I take a different approach to my custom hand lapped barrel - yes without a doubt. I want to see clean lands so I can follow the degradation of the barrel with its life span. I never scoped a factory Savage barrel that I though had a chance of shooting a sub-MOA group - yet I own several of them that will. They look terrible when compared to the glamour of custom barrel.
I think I am getting to the age of shoot and mildly clean until there is a problem.
Things we get obsessed about in the winter....
Luck, Tim
