870 Police Magnum Question

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vitesse9

New member
I've had my 870P for about a month and I've had it out almost every weekend. I was cleaning the barrel today after a slug session and I noticed that a layer of the finish is flaking off the inside of the barrel.

It's funny because, until now, every time I tried to clean the barrel, it seemed like I couldn't get the fouling out. I never really scrubed the thing raw (just ran a brass brush through it a few times each cleaning session). But, today, I realized that what I thought was stubborn fouling is really a layer of some sort of finish flaking off the inside of the barrel. What is this?

Here's what I've fired through the barrel so far: approx 75 rifled slugs and approx 150 shot loads of various size. I've cleaned it with Hoppes #9, Hoppes #9 Copper cutter (the stuff that is advertized to remove lead, plasic and copper fouling), Birchwood Casy bore scrubber and Birchwood Casy gun scubber (the degreaser stuff). Like I said, I haven't really gone at with with a brass brush, just a few passes per cleaning and a lot of patches.

I should also note that the barrel is a fixed improved cylinder.

Anybody know what this stuff is and why it's flaking off? Something to be concerned about? Dosen't seem to affect slug accuracy at all . . .
 
It sounds like plastic residue from the shotshell wads. Pull the barrel and chuck up a cleaning rod in a battery drill and polish with a new brass brush or a tornado brush.
 
I agree with kudu. Give it a good cleaning. You may also want to try different ammo to see if the situation will present itself again.
 
What you're seeing is either plastic residue, or more likely, lead from the slugs you shot.

Either of these can look like streaks in the bore, or like something peeling off.

Since the Remington Police HAS no "finish" inside the barrel, there's no way the barrel itself could be peeling.

Give the barrel a GOOD scrubbing with solvent and a new bore brush.

As above, you can chuck a brush in an electric drill to speed things up.
 
Thanks guys! I assume that the cleaning rod in the drill won't scratch the bore? It sounds like a real labor-saving technique.

Will a cleaning rod and a brass brush on a drill damage rifled barrels as well? Not really a shotgun question, but the forcing cones on my revolvers never seem to lose that powder ring (and they keep getting worse as I shoot more). Would be nice to get brush on a drill and see if I can get those forcing cones clean as well.
 
vitesse...
a single little carbon ring that creeps up on you won't sink you, nor the reliability of your favorite arms...As best you can clean them, lube them, and shoot them. No worries...the hell with the residual carbon here and there
 
My 870P has the same streaks. Tried some gunscrubber and it got most of it off, but not all. Does anyone use a 10 gauge brass brush in your 12 gauge bbl? Or maybe the larger brush just for the breech end?
 
My 870P with the IC 18" barrel has about 3000 rounds through it. I used to worry about the plastic and lead build-up in the barrel, but not anymore. I clean the barrel after every range session and if there is any residue left I don't worry about it. Dose not seem to affect accuracy.
 
DO NOT use the electric drill technique in ANY rifled barrel. This can ruin the bore.

DO NOT use stainless steel brushes on gun barrels. These are for gunsmith use on barrels so badly neglected you have nothing to loose.

The electric drill technique is best reserved for use in very badly neglected shotguns.

There are a number of methods of removing lead and plastic from shotguns.
One is to use a "Tornado" brush, which is a brush made of curly ribbon-like sections instead of bristles.

Another is to buy a jar of JB Bore Paste from Brownell's. This is a paste that really cleans all gun barrels out, WITHOUT damaging anything.

Another good cleaning item to have is a special shotgun chamber cleaning brush.
Shotgun chambers are bad about getting a build-up of plastic that can cause jams, and worse, allow the chamber to rust UNDER the plastic.
Standard bore brushes don't always get all this fouling.

Be careful of using internet "expedient" cleaning methods and chemicals.
Many of them will damage the gun.

The best cleaning tool for revolvers is a Lewis Lead Remover.
This is a special tool available from Brownell's, that very quickly and SAFELY cleans lead from revolvers.
The tool includes a special cleaning head that cleans all the lead out of the forcing cone, and is in fact, about the ONLY way to really get the cone clean.

Although the Lewis also cleans lead from revolver chambers, a faster method is to buy a bronze chamber cleaning brush from Brownell's.
These are special extra-stiff brushes that clean all fouling from the chamber very quickly, and with no damage.
 
The electric drill technique is best reserved for use in very badly neglected shotguns . . .

Be careful of using internet "expedient" cleaning methods and chemicals.
Many of them will damage the gun.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I did use the electric drill technique to clean the 870 bore. Got most of it off. I also let it sit overnight with Hoppes #9 copper, plasic, lead remover. That seemed to get a little more. I can't say that this was a "very neglected shotgun," but it was very gunked up. I think I'll take your advice and stop using the drill.

As far as I can see with my naked eye, the bore doesn't seem to be scratched. In the areas where the fouling has been removed, all I see is a sleek, shiny bore. I hope I didn't damage the bore . . . It dosen't look like it, though.
 
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