Bore cleaning problems -- please advise

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Emin

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After putting arround 250 rounds through my Sig yesterday, I went home and started the cleaning. I used the routine outlined here at TFL many times: Hoppe 9-wet patch through the bore followed by the brush about 20 times back and forth (also wet with Hoppe), and then a clean patch through the chamber end. Well, after repeating this cycle for probably 15-20 times, I still got a dirty dry patch at the end. There seemed to be no end to it -- I ended up spending almost an hour JUST TO CLEAN THE BORE! What am I doing wrong? I know, sounds silly, but it seemed to me I started to "dissolve" the steel of the bore itself. IT JUST WOULDN'T STOP COMING OUT DIRTY!! Every single "last" dry patch had dark indigo or blue color when coming out on the muzzle end. I also noticed that if I ran at least couple of more dry patches at the end of each "cycle", the very last one was, indeed, clean. "The hell with it", I said to myself, "I can't afford spending a whole hight breathing the Hoppe". So, I just stopped and spend another 20-30 min on cleaning the frame, spring, rod, and magazine. What in the world was it -- is it normal?
 
You just opened one big can of worms, everyone has a system and not one will be the same.
Almost all the ammo that gets shot through my P220 is lead. The best way I have found to clean is shoot about 10 rounds of FMJ for every 50 rounds of lead. Run a copper brush through the bore with Hoppe #9. Clean the rest of the gun, allowing the Hoppe's to work a bit. When it is time to clean to bore, use a .40 cal copper brush with a piece of rag. Making sure that it is a tight fit. Run it through the bore a few times. It's clean. Oil a patch and run it through the bore, done.

Robert
 
Emin ,
Las week after cleaning guns for 20 years I learned of a way to get the lead out of pistol barrels, that works like magic.

Take a water glass, and half fill it with vinegar. finish filling it up with hydrogen peroxide. Put your barrel in for 5 minutes. take the barrel out and run a patch through it. repeat as nessicary. usually twice is sufficient. but the lead in the barrel is totaly disolved by this process, and it is totally safe.

hope this helps.


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10MM Magnum.... tried the rest, now I got the best
 
Don't know if this is part of the answer to your puzzle, but you may be seeing the effects of the bore cleaner working on the bronze brush and not on the bullet copper, assuming you used a bronze brush. Although Hoppes #9 isn't a very agressive copper cleaner, it has some chemicals in it that may be giving you a false dirty indication. Try the procedure without a bronze brush or with a stiff nylon brush instead and see if it changes.
 
You might want to clean your brush between cycles. This can be done with either GunScrubber or Carb cleaner. This way you know that you are not taking the stuff your brush gets out of the bore and putting it back in the bore at the begingin of the next cycle.
 
Soaking works for me too. Find yourself a small container a little bigger than your barrel. Drop the barrel in and fill with enough solvent to cover. ( I use Hoppe Auto Solvent with silver label) Let it soak about 20 min. and use brass bore brush to scrub, and repeat a few times every 10 min. or so. Now do your regular cleaning with patches.
I soak clean my barrel about once a month, and the last patch out is so clean you can re-use it.....
 
Hi everyone,
Those were great suggestions, that's why I love TFL! I'll try all the advised methods to rule out what it is. Thanks a bunch.

Emin

P.S. By the way, is it all lead coming out of the bore? I shot FMJ (about 250 of them) but first, a few JHP at the begining of the session - never soft points. I always thought the junk in the bore was fried carbon deposits. Kind of shows how much I still don't know...

[This message has been edited by Emin (edited November 24, 1999).]
 
10mmrules, I'll have to give that a try.
Anything has to be better than scrubbing the
bore endlessly to remove lead. BTW, I'm
assuming it won't hurt the finish on the out-
side of the barrel (either blue or S.S.),
right?

Do you, or does anyone else, happen to have a
formula (home-grown or otherwise) for remov-
ing copper deposits? I've noticed some
copper fouling when I looked into the bore
with a bore light.

Thanks in advance for any help.
DAL

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Reading "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," by Ayn Rand, should be required of every politician and in every high school.
 
Bobo,

Do you know if Hoppe's Benchrest won't damage the plastic grips on a Sig? I visited the web site you suggested, and in the description of this product, it said "Dissolves heavy copper deposits, carbon buildup, lead and PLASTIC (emphasize is mine) fouling safely, by chemical action..." I know it won't damage the blueing but as far as for anything plastic... What do you think? Thanks a lot.

Emin
 
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