Barrel soaking?

J

jhansman

New member
Just for &^%$ and giggles last week after a range visit, I decided to use a chamber plug I'd nearly forgotten I had in my Howa 1500 .223 Rem while cleaning. Popped it in and let the barrel soak in Butch's for a bout 5 min., dumped it, brushed it well, and the first patch I ran through came out jet black! It took twice as many subsequent patches as usual to finally get one to come out clean, and many of those showed green from copper residue. Next day, the rifle (which has always been accurate for me) shot sub-MOA consistently at 100 yds. after about 10 rounds had been put through it. Do any of you use this process on your target rifles, and if so, how often? I can only assume that cleaning to this extent was overdue, as my "normal" routine never produced such results. Just wonderin'.
 
Stripping copper completely (I use Wipe-Out foam overnight soaks) is part of the regimen I use, frequency depending on the rifle.

Many shooters do it when accuracy starts to deteriorate and carbon removal doesn't help.

Quality barrels with little to no machining defects won't take many shots to lay down a baseline of copper to restore accuracy after completely stripping. Just my experience...
 
Soaking will do that. Lets the solvent do the work. 15 minutes is even better. Best way to get a barrel that's been sitting or left un-cleaned, clean though. Best way to remove stuff like Cosmoline too. That gets soaked in mineral spirits for 24 hours though.
A chamber plug can be an empty case with a spent primer.
 
Hoppes over night here...maybe after 100 rounds or so. In my experience, much more than that is overkill if you are cleaning regularly.
 
Or you can use a modern non toxic non odor cleaner like Carbone Killer 2000.

I usually clean my guns as I finish up with them at the range (about 5 minutes) and they're ready to go for the next rodeo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top