Thoughts on copper fouling?

[broncman]

While breaking in my new rifle, I had some thoughts on copper fouling. Are Hornady and Sierra bullets the same jacket material?

Does one copper foul more than the other?
I was using 150 Hornady SST (270 WSM) and they have a very long bearing surface. I am going to switch to 130 grain with shorter bearing surface and see how that effects copper fouling?

Any thoughts?

Ken

 

[Johnboy]

well for me we are not going to be able to stop it.all we can do is to try stuff to see if it works.some say that gun juice works but it cost a lot for me.so I just keep buying stock in gun cleaning products.for the bullets you asked about.sorry I do not know.but after breaking it in you shouldn't have that big of a deal.or at least I wouldn't think you would.sorry if I am not any help.

 

[Gearheadpyro]

It would make sense to me that a shorter bearing surface would foul less. It also would make sense to me that a milder load would foul less. I don't really have any proof for either thought though.

 

[watercam]

As far as breaking in a barrel goes use any conventional bullet (ie - jacketed lead). The gilding jacket material is a bit harder than any all-copper bullet and smoothes things out better. Also avoid any bullet coatings (moly, Boron-nitrate, etc.).

 

[tenring]

It seems that a majority of factory barrels retain copper fouling for a long time. Sometimes it lessens a bit, but not always. My new Rem 700, 22-250 has about 500 rounds thru it and patches still come out bright blue. I do not think it is necessary to get your barrel squeaky clean. Just clean it consistently at around 20 shots, more or less.

Supposedly Sierra makes their own jackets; all the others use J4.

 

[skeetlee]

One trick that was pasted on to me to help with barrel brake in and copper fouling is to run a couple patches of KROIL through your barrel often while doing the brake in process of your choice. I will shoot one or two shots and run a wet patch of KROIL followed by a dry patch and shoot one or two more shots and do it all over again. Its works and works well. That's all i know! Lee

 

[blawton]

One thing i do is use a patch on a brush a caliber or 2 smaller then the bore. I then apply 400 to 600 grit lapping compound and work the first few inches of the throat for about 15-20 strokes while i spin it every few. This will reduce the ammount of copper fouling in the barrel. Once the barrel is broke in and or those micro burrs are gone most barrel will go 80-100 rounds before loosing accuracy. I find they start to shoot the best when you are in the 60-80 round count after cleaning.