I recently put a shilen match barrel on a savage action. I did there break in yesterday and shot a total of 40 rounds. Its a 260 rem 8 twist and this thing copper fouls like crazy. It shoots good with the factory ammo i used but man it seemed to copper worse and worse. I used boretech eliminator to clean untill no traces of blue was there after a 10 minute soak. After the last 5 round group it took 6 rounds of soak the bore and brush and then soak for 15 min to get it clean. Will this stop at any point? I was under the impression that these are lapped barrels.
When did copper fouling stop in your barrel.
- Thread starter Mtstalker
- Start date
Part of the equation is the type of bullet you are using; some companies bullets foul at a greater rate than others. Try using a bullet from a different manufacturer or, use a bullet that's moly coated.
Caution using moly bullets. You have to use a special cleaning regiment. If you don't get it out, it promotes rust and pitting.
I gotta agree...it seems like not all copper jackets are made out of the same alloy. Some seem to be softer than others. I am surprised to hear that your Shilen barrel is coppering up that bad. I am not sure whether or not they lap the match barrels, I believe they do lap the "select match". Still,I have used 3 match barrels for my own use and installed several for others...none copper fouled bad at all and they all seemed to shoot great.
I would just keep doing what you are doing, keep it as clean and copper free each time you shoot it and try some different bullets. It wont break in and stop as easy if you shoot it with copper in the bore.
Just because a bore has been lapped doesn't necessarily mean it wont still foul bad...I have one now that is the best looking, most flawless perfect bore I have ever scoped. I was certain it would never foul and shoot lights out and I was wrong on both counts. About 100 rounds later it calmed down and quit fouling and started to shoot the way it should.
Edit; sometimes copper fouling is caused by the throat being rough from the chambering reamer. When this happens the throat usually has annular or "radial" tooling marks. These shave copper from the bullet as it passes thru the throat area. The heat and expanding gases melt it and turn it into a plasma. It coats the bore as the gases expand behind the bullet.
After the first 5 round group there was one spot that you could feel with a patch in the throat that was a bit rough. I used a little iosso on a nylon brush and hit the throat about 5 passes and it smoothed out. I dont know if that was carbon or copper. The next 2, 5 shot groups shot .4 inches, i was suprised with factory ammo. The previous had been in the inch range.
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My recent shilen savage prefit quit coppering on the 3rd shot
Of course i never use Hornady bullets
You are not using bronze brush are you?
Of course i never use Hornady bullets
You are not using bronze brush are you?
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Well it certainly does not sound like a shilen hand lapped.barrel
I have used probably a half a dozen and never had a coppering problem. Usually after 5 it is just clean and shoot.
I would.call them and see what they say.
I have used probably a half a dozen and never had a coppering problem. Usually after 5 it is just clean and shoot.
I would.call them and see what they say.
Link
Silver $$ Contributor
Reading the break-in/ cleaning procedure from Krieger Barrels may shed some light on the topic:
https://kriegerbarrels.com/faq#breakin
This suggests the copper fouling originates mostly from reamer marks in the newly chambered barrel, as opposed to the barrel itself being the source of the fouling.
This would seem to apply to a custom barrel, as opposed to a 'factory' barrel; an observation many appear to ignore in the endless discussions of the topic.
https://kriegerbarrels.com/faq#breakin
This suggests the copper fouling originates mostly from reamer marks in the newly chambered barrel, as opposed to the barrel itself being the source of the fouling.
This would seem to apply to a custom barrel, as opposed to a 'factory' barrel; an observation many appear to ignore in the endless discussions of the topic.
shoot4fun
Gold $$ Contributor
I use Iosso or ,better, J-B Bore Brite on a patch over a nylon brush to polish out the rough edges and tool marks from chambering. I do it (and I see a bunch of cringing from the crowd) carefully with a battery powered drill. I do this before I ever fire a round. I feel like this is where your copper fouling is coming from.
Brians356
Silver $$ Contributor
There may be something to that, but I've never seen it.
For my part, I shoot moly-coated bullets in a custom stainless barrel (250 Ackley). Not a single bare copper bullet has ever been through it. Probably only 800 rounds over 20 years. No special cleaning regimen, no accuracy issues to address. Then a couple of years ago I got a Lyman borescope, and looked through the chamber and barrel for the first time. I was shocked by just how pristine it was, no build-up of any kind evident, and (incidentally) no tool marks in the bore. FWIW it's an electro-polished BlackStar AccuMax II, "SS700" (aka LW-50?) alloy.
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