Cleaning 303 British

T

trg42wraglefragle

New member
Hi,
I've got an old 303 British and I can't for the life of me get it clean!
No matter how many times I try and clean it, how many times I run patches through it, the patches never come out clean.
I only run new factory brass cased ammo through it, but have no idea what other people would have run through it.

Is there anything I can do to get it properly clean or is it something like the bluing coming out of the barrel.

Cheers
 
"have no idea what other people would have run through it..." Like the last two world wars! Your going to have to use good quality bronze bore bushes, and some good bore solvent. Let it soak overnight & scrub it every day..it should start to clean up..of course if the bore has had alot of corrosive ammo & neglect..it may always be dark. You might even try J-B Bore Compound on a tight patch between brushings..flush out with solvent & leave bore wet. Look into a good sturdy cleaning rod..I like the Dewey or Bore Stix & be sure to use a rod guide to protect the throat from more wear and tear.
 
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If you haven't already, try a copper solvent such as Barnes CR-10, or Butch's Bore Shine in addition to your standard powder solvent.

I get the best results when I clean and dry with Hoppes 9, then a good scrub on a patch, then a brush with CR-10. Let it sit in the barrel for 10-15 minutes, then dry patch till clean. CR-10 smells awful, seeing that it's ammonia based, but it will get your barrel VERY clean.
 
What type of brush and solvent have you used? I tried a brass brush and foaming bore cleaner on my .308 Israeli conversion and kept getting dark patches. I decided the foam must be dissolving the brush along with the copper fouling. Switching to a nylon brush solved the problem.
 
Actually its only been through one world war, but yea who knows how its been treated over the last 68 years.
Im using hoppes 9 and a bronze brush, I leave the hoppes 9 to soak for up to an hour and then do the regular cleaning exercises.
 
It is possible that a rifle have serious corrosion and still be a relatively good shooter. Chances are, most of the corrosion will be close to the chamber and probably won't extend more than half the barrel length, if the rifle has at least had minimal care. In that case, the rest of the barrel is what counts the most and accuracy will be only slightly affected.

But as the saying goes, cleanliness is next to godliness. More often, cleanliness is next to impossible.
 
Im using hoppes 9 and a bronze brush, I leave the hoppes 9 to soak for up to an hour and then do the regular cleaning exercises
Click to expand...

Definitely next step would be a copper fouling remover. I've used a foaming one that sat in for like an hour and came out purple. I think it was a Wally-World bottle, like Hoppes or something. And I've used Remington's 40-X (or something like that). Both seem to work pretty well.

I've cleaned my rifle with the Remington and then the foaming and the foam came out with no purple. I've also done foam then foam.. with it being purple the first time, but no purple the second time. Point being, they both seemed to have worked pretty well.
 
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