Bore cleaning???

M

mrcooper

Inactive
Any body got a better way????
I bought a used Ruger #1 and cleaned the barrel, I'm not bad mouthing the previous owner here, but i spent hours and a 5 gallon bucket 1/3 full of black patches before i got it clean, i used Hoppies and a brush and patches, Is their a better way??? I hope so any help would be appreciated.
 
For the past three years the entire (huge) collection of bore maintenance products have sat on the shelves unused. We only use one now for carbon, copper and all other fouling... Wipe Out Brushelss Foam Bore Cleaner.
Pass one dry patch down the bore, plug the breech end, flow in the foam (not too much! It expands like you won't believe!) place it in the rifle rest, plug the muzzle end and leave it over night. That's for the worst case scenario. Otherwise we only leave it for an hour.
Pass a few dry patches down the bore from the breech end and... that's it. A quick check with the Hawkeye Borescope will tell the truth. :D
 
I'm not bad mouthing the previous owner here....
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From the sounds of some of the replies in the various threads on cleaning, here and other places, yours was clean in their eyes. Probably a Bore Snake user who thinks thats how you "clean" a gun. :rolleyes:

I know how you feel. I cant imagine selling a gun that was dirty, but most of what Ive bought always seemed to be.
 
I doubt it. Doesn't add up. I know a bore snake is not the ultimate cleaner. It's just a useful tool that has it's pro's and con's like most things. However, I don't think a bore snake would leave as much residue as the OP describes. I get maybe a couple two or three dirty patches using Butch's Bore Shine after using a bore snake. Certainly not enough to be measured in a bucket.
 
KG-1 for the powder, and then KG-12 for the copper.

After pushing the "initial" crud out the front of the barrel a few times w/ KG-1, soak down the barrel again w/ a wet patch.
Then hit it with a brush just 3-4 swipes to get into the groove corners/break into the hard stuff.

THEN LET IT SIT -- BRUSHED & 'WET' -- for 10 minutes so the solvent can do its real work.

Dry patch out and you're 98% GTG for the next stage of KG-12 copper removal. No brush needed here
Just wet it down, walk away for 10 minutes, and then dry patch out. 99-44/100th's done at this point.




Your real problem may better be described as "layering." The 1st owner probably laid powder over
old copper over old powder over old copper over old powder over copper.... you get the picture.
You can't get at the under layer without removing the top layer -- and this may take several
powder/copper cycles. Weak copper removers will take forever to eat through a copper layer
to get at the next underlying powder layer. And regardless of what anyone says, Sweets, Hoppes,
Butch's, Shooter'sChoice literally can't cut it so to speak. You'll fill a "...a 5 gallon bucket 1/3 full
of black patches" and still be getting stuff out.

http://www.eabco.com/KG12Test.pdf
http://www.eabco.com/KG12Copper.

Get it at Midway.
 
M-pro-7! gun cleaner & copper remover. Let the wonders of modern chemistry do the work instead of "elbow grease";)

It is the only cleaning stuff I have currently. Its low odor & can be left to sit in the bore for overnight penetration as it does not have ammonia in it.
 
Old #9 works good for me. Send through a dry patch, then a wet patch. Let set for 10 minutes or so. Wet brush for 3 or for patches and let set for another 10 minutes. Dry patches till patch shows clean. One more application of wet patch, then dry patch till clean and the oil patch.

Ive tried using other products, but when checked with #9 afterward, they were not as clean as they seemed.
 
mahevey, I'm with you on the layer stuff, but i stopped getting copper out way before i stopped getting carbon out, i had been using WIPE OUT COPPER CLEANER on it for several times and got the blue copper out of it and i was under the impression that my barrel was clean NOT i also think that anything that eats copper will eat our wire brushes up also. i have a gob of chemicals sch as hoppies, hoppy copper leaner, sweets that scares the hell out of me and butches and wipe out with the enhancer, now it looks like i am going to have to buy some of that KG-1 and KG-12 some day i will find something that work I HOPE
THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP AND KEEP IT COMEING I HATE TO ADMIT I HAVE A DIRTY BARREL
 
I stopped using copper/brass/bronze brushes a while back as I got a lot of false reads for copper & it was the brush/spindle/jag/rod. Now I use the stiff blue nylon brushes, synthetic or aluminium tips/jags & SS rods.

Just a thought, are you SURE that you aren't getting false reads yourself? some of the newer cleaners like M-pro & KG big bore make black, not blue or green residue from copper!:confused:
 
I admit I have not kept up with the times. From these posts, I think I'll try some of that foaming cleaner as well as the M-Pro 7 product.
I don't mind tinkering in my shop late at night. Trying a few new items to me would be worthwhile.
 
For my barrels that are heavily fouled I use butch's bore shine. Hoppes is what I use normally but when its really crudded up I whoop out Butch's.

I also think you can get alot of crud out by brushing the barrel real good before you use any solvent. At the very least you can loosen it up so cleaning will be easier.
 
Hoppies... That's not for cleaning a rifle. That's justto take top off and fill the room with the smell of it:D. No really as a cleaner Hoppes, is more for a 22 than anything else. Try any other brand cleaner and you will have better luck or the bore foam as other have mentioned. Hoppes is a good smell not very good cleaner set up. My preferance is Montana Bore Cleaner,but there are many others too.
 
The Key phrase here is "what is clean?"

For clean down to the steel, Wipe Out, or one of the heavy duty copper cleaners as Shooters Choice Copper Cleaner, or Montana Extreame. For all other cleaning, Hoppe's #9 or Ed's Red will work just fine. YMMV
 
What I was doing when i got home was run a dry brush down the bore a couple of times loosen up the dry stuff, then hoppie it then brush and the dry patch till clean then use that foamy stuff twice the second time the patch would come out clean then i put it up thinking it was clean, well i guess not. i wounder if it would do any good to plug the barrel and fill it full of hoppy's and let set over night????
 
I shoot 50 rounds each of .22-250, .308, and .45-70 every weekend. I shoot jacketed out of the .22 and .308 and cast out of the .45. I think it is important to state this because other folks seem to get rifles clean a lot faster than I can. It usually takes me 2-3 overnight sessions on the .22 and .308.

First I wet-brush the bore with Hoppe's 9. Then I take a patch wet with Hoppe's and "short stroke" the barrel back and forth all the way down to the muzzle and back up and then back down, etc. for maybe 15 seconds or so. I do this 5 times total then dry patch it straight through twice.

Then I put in the Wipe-out foam. I leave it in all afternoon, then patch it out and put more in. I leave it in overnight and patch it out in the morning. It usually comes out dark blue both times.

The next morning I put in KG-12 with a bore mop, again "short stroking" it up and down the barrel. I leave it in there and come back when I can. When I come back I dry patch it out and mop it back in. I do this maybe 3-4 times throughout the morning. After the last time I dry-patch it out and wet patch in the BoreTech Eliminator. I leave it in all afternoon.

That evening I dry patch the BTE out. Usually it has removed the rest of the carbon/powder fouling and some/all of what little copper is left. That is, the patch will be brownish and light bluish. So I will KG-12 it once and then patch in more BTE and let it sit overnight.

The next morning the patch should come out clean or close to it. If it is not then I repeat the "KG-12 once and let BTE sit a few hours" steps. It should be clean then.

As a last step I hit it with Hoppe's 9 to remove any residue from the water-based stuff, dry it out and run a very wet oily patch. I patch out the oil right before going to the range the next time. And the cycle repeats.

Basically BTE is my indicator. When BTE is left in the barrel for several hours and a patch comes out white or just a little yellow (leftover KG-12), the barrel is clean.

If I start Saturday afternoon after I get back from the range, I can usually have clean rifles by Monday evening or maybe Tuesday morning. I guess maybe I could clean them all and get it done Saturday afternoon but it would take all damn afternoon.

-cls
 
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No love for Ed's Red for cleaning?
I haven't mixed up a batch yet to try but many folks seem to approve as far as cleaning goes.
 
Bore snake here. It can take me a bunch of patches and time just to get the bore as clean as one good pull with the snake and solvent.
 
The first time I had to clean my guns the way some of you guys do it would be the last time I'd shoot.
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:D:D

Yep...to each their own, I guess. I truly believe that a lot of shooters don't know that some rifles shoot better when they haven't been cleaned, and are missing out on accuracy. I don't clean for at least several hundred rounds, sometimes longer until accuracy suffers.

No different than guys that spend hours shining their brass until they could shave in the reflection, even though it makes absolutely no difference in the way it shoots...

I have graphed results from a shooter with access to an RSI pressure trace maching showing that clean primer pockets shoot with more inconsistent pressures that dirty primer pockets. I've never posted the results because I don't want to burst any bubbles...
 
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