Equipment or technique, Barrel cleaning

[Bill Daniel]

I have a Savage FCP in 308 with probably less than 300 rounds down the barrel. In clean after every shooting session, usually 30 rounds or less. I will clean the bulk out with a bore snake then follow with a carbon cutter which I allow to soak for 10 or so minutes then brush with a bronze brush 10 passes and follow with carbon cutter till the patches are clean. I then will the run patches with copper cutter and allow that to soak for 10 minutes and brush 10 passes then follow with patches of copper cutter till little green is apparent( my patch jag is brass). Yesterday I tried the above but for some reason after the carbon patches were clean I brushed the barrel with the bronze brush again and the following patch was black so I started over and repeated the carbon process several times never getting a clean patch after brushing. Suspicious then I worked on the copper and used an aluminum rod and plastic patch holder and the copper was still there after several cycles. Is the barrel that dirty? Is the technique that poor?
Slip 2000 Carbon Killer/ Bore Tech Inc. Eliminator/ Dewey rod and jags
The barrel looked "shiney" so I ran patches of Slip 2000 gun oil down the barrel and followed that with a dry patch and called it a night.
Any thought or suggestions
Thanks, Bill Daniel

 

[JohnKSa]

Brushes are brass or bronze, both of which contain copper. Brushing wears off bits of the brush in the bore and a copper solvent will show the presence of copper as a result. Don't use your brush with a copper solvent.

I would suggest modifying your technique a bit. Besides the issue noted above, I think you're probably brushing a lot more than you need to.

1. Do a few passes with a brush and nitro/carbon solvent to knock out the loose stuff. Patch the barrel to remove the loosened fouling (there will always be some gunk from this step because the brush is going to leave some residue in the bore) and then do a wet patch with nitro/carbon solvent to remove any stray gunk and follow with a clean patch to dry the bore.

2. Put some copper solvent in the bore to loosen the metal fouling.** Wait as prescribed by the instructions. Patch the barrel to remove the solvent & dissolved metal fouling.

Now you can pick from the following strategies to decide when you're done.

Continue to repeat the two steps until you get a clean patch from step 2.
-OR-
Repeat only step 2 to see if the patch is clean then repeat both steps if it's not.
-OR-
Inspect the bore with a strong light to see if it looks clean and repeat both steps if it's not.

When you're done put a patch with gun oil/protectant down the bore and then run another patch that's very lightly dampened with gun oil down the bore to remove any excess oil and leave a fine sheen of oil in place.

** By the way, when using a typical liquid copper solvent, I try to change the orientation of the barrel each time I do step 2 since the solvent will tend to pool at the bottom curve of the bore. By putting the gun on one side one time, on it's top the next, etc. I change where the solvent pools each time. A simple way around this is to use one of the new foaming copper solvents--I'm quite a fan of them so far.

 

[tobnpr]

I haven't used a bore brush in two years, since I started using Wipe-Out...
No affiliation with the company, just a fan.
Removes both powder and copper fouling.
I'm lazy, and this stuff is both easy, and very effective.
If you haven't tried it, you should...

http://www.paulcousa.com/wipeout.htm

 

[timelinex]

+1 on the wipeout.

Also, I know this is a beaten to deeath argument but have you considered not cleaning it so much. There is alot of 'data' that shows you really don't need to, and alot of talented precision shooters recommend not cleaning your rifle unless accuracy drops off.... which is 200+ rounds worth. Many even go to say that until shooting 10-20 rounds through the bore the rifle isnt even at its maximum potential.

 

[Art Eatman]

The majority of my shooting through the years has been .243 and '06 through bolt actions. I'd test a load or sight-in as necessary, and then do a modest amount of cleaning: Spray WD40 on a patch and run it through the bore a couple of times; do it again with a clean patch. Then spray RemOil on a patch and run it through.

After maybe a thousand rounds through the .243 and over 3,000 through the '06, the groups started opening up. So, Hoppe's with copper remover. Did a good cleaning and both rifles were back to sub-MOA.

It's rare that I shoot more than around twenty rounds at any one session. It could be that longer shooting sessions might create a need for more thorough cleaning. I don't know.