Conflicting reccomendations about break in and cleaning routine

randello88

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Minuteman
Sep 5, 2020
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Hi guys! One question. I recently bought a custom rifle with a bartlein 5r 1:10 308 barrel.

The gunsmith who put it togheter is a very reputable smith, one of the best in Italy. He also accurized and prepared precision rifles for italian SOF. I trust him quite a bit after having tried a few other smiths with less than ideal results.

I have never been obsessed with cleaning routine and i have never broke a barrel in but he suggested me some very detailed cleaning and breaking in procedures for this cut rifled barrel.

1) The breaking in procedure is maybe too much, involving 8 steps and using copper remover and carbon remover and more than 20 patches for every cycle. He suggests to do that every round for 3 rounds and then 1 time every 5 rounds for 20 rounds. To me it seems too much to do at a public range.
2) he suggested me to fully clean the bore after every hunting, which means every week for me. I have always cleaned my hunting rifles every 20 rounds or so or when i was planning not to shoot it for at least a few weeks. I preferred to avoid possible issues related to clean bore shots, which can obviously affect POI slightly. I said this to him and he told me to just use some carbon remover if I didn't want to fully clean it after each hunt. I have never had a rust or an accuracy problem.

I noticed most hunters and also many members here don't do break in and clean the rifle sporadically or anyway not after every hunting.

What do you think about this suggestions? To me it seems like using this rifle will become a second job ahah!
Do you have some cut rifled custom barrels? if yes, how do you take care of them?

Thanks
Simone
 
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Way to much in my opinion.
Let the barrel tell you when and how often to clean, if it stops copper fouling in the first 10-20 rounds enjoy and don't risk causing unnecessary damage due to over cleaning.
Also cleaning it after every outing is nonsense considering most barrels that are sneaky clean need some seasoning to settle in for consistency.
Just my opinion and what I generally stick to.

If you use the search function you can find many threads on here on the subject that will include posts by @Frank Green of Bartlien barrels.
The break in you are talking about is more about the quality of the chamber job and smoothing out any imperfections in the throat from the reamer.
 
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Hi guys! One question. I recently bought a custom rifle with a bartlein 5r 1:10 308 barrel.

The gunsmith who put it togheter is a very reputable smith, one of the best in Italy. He also accurized and prepared precision rifles for italian SOF. I trust him quite a bit after having tried a few other smiths with less than ideal results.

I have never been obsessed with cleaning routine and i have never broke a barrel in but he suggested me some very detailed cleaning and breaking in procedures for this cut rifled barrel.

1) The breaking in procedure is maybe too much, involving 8 steps and using copper remover and carbon remover and more than 20 patches for every cycle. He suggests to do that every round for 3 rounds and then 1 time every 5 rounds for 20 rounds. To me it seems too much to do at a public range.
2) he suggested me to fully clean the bore after every hunting, which means every week for me. I have always cleaned my hunting rifles every 20 rounds or so or when i was planning not to shoot it for at least a few weeks. I preferred to avoid possible issues related to clean bore shots, which can obviously affect POI slightly. I said this to him and he told me to just use some carbon remover if I didn't want to fully clean it after each hunt. I have never had a rust or an accuracy problem.

I noticed most hunters and also many members here don't do break in and clean the rifle sporadically or anyway not after every hunting.

What do you think about this suggestions? To me it seems like using this rifle will become a second job ahah!
Do you have some cut rifled custom barrels? if yes, how do you take care of them?

Thanks
Simone


How to Break in a Barrel​

The age old question.... "How do I break in the new barrel?”. Opinions vary a lot here and this is a very subjective topic as well. For the most part, the only thing you are breaking in is the throat area of the barrel. The nicer the finish that the finish reamer or throating reamer leaves, the faster the throat will polish/break in. A rough throat can take longer to break in and also cause copper fouling. Some shooters think the barrel has a problem, but it could be from when it was chambered.

Shoot one round and clean for the first two rounds individually. Look to see what the barrel is telling you. If I’m getting little to no copper out of it, I sit down and shoot the gun. Say 4 – 5 round groups and then clean. If the barrel cleans easily and shoots well, we consider it done.

If the barrel shows some copper and or is taking a little longer to clean after the first two, shoot a group of 3 rounds and clean. Then a group of 5 and clean.

After you shoot the 3rd group and 5th group, watch how long it takes to clean. Also notice your group sizes. If the group sizes are good and the cleaning is getting easier or is staying the same, then shoot 4 – 5 round groups.
If fouling appears to be heavy and taking a while to clean, notice your group sizes. If groups sizes are good and not going sour, you don’t have a fouling problem. Some barrels will clean easier than others. Some barrels may take a little longer to break in. Remember that throat. Fouling can start all the way from here. We have noticed sometimes that even up to approximately 100 rounds, a barrel can show signs of a lot of copper, but it still shoots really well and then for no apparent reason you will notice little to no copper and or it will start to clean easier.
 
Way to much in my opinion.
Let the barrel tell you when and how often to clean, if it stops copper fouling in the first 10-20 rounds enjoy and don't risk causing unnecessary damage due to over cleaning.
Also cleaning it after every outing is nonsense considering most barrels that are sneaky clean need some seasoning to settle in for consistency.
Just my opinion and what I generally stick to.

If you use the search function you can find many threads on here on the subject that will include posts by @Frank of Bartlien barrels.
The break in you are talking about is more about the quality of the chamber job and smoothing out any imperfections in the throat from the reamer.
Thanks man, great reply. One thing, what do you mean by "if it stops copper fouling"
 

How to Break in a Barrel​

The age old question.... "How do I break in the new barrel?”. Opinions vary a lot here and this is a very subjective topic as well. For the most part, the only thing you are breaking in is the throat area of the barrel. The nicer the finish that the finish reamer or throating reamer leaves, the faster the throat will polish/break in. A rough throat can take longer to break in and also cause copper fouling. Some shooters think the barrel has a problem, but it could be from when it was chambered.

Shoot one round and clean for the first two rounds individually. Look to see what the barrel is telling you. If I’m getting little to no copper out of it, I sit down and shoot the gun. Say 4 – 5 round groups and then clean. If the barrel cleans easily and shoots well, we consider it done.

If the barrel shows some copper and or is taking a little longer to clean after the first two, shoot a group of 3 rounds and clean. Then a group of 5 and clean.

After you shoot the 3rd group and 5th group, watch how long it takes to clean. Also notice your group sizes. If the group sizes are good and the cleaning is getting easier or is staying the same, then shoot 4 – 5 round groups.
If fouling appears to be heavy and taking a while to clean, notice your group sizes. If groups sizes are good and not going sour, you don’t have a fouling problem. Some barrels will clean easier than others. Some barrels may take a little longer to break in. Remember that throat. Fouling can start all the way from here. We have noticed sometimes that even up to approximately 100 rounds, a barrel can show signs of a lot of copper, but it still shoots really well and then for no apparent reason you will notice little to no copper and or it will start to clean easier.
I already read this and i think it is amazing that a world class barrel manufacturer takes the time to explain his procedure for break in. Unfoetunately, as i said, i have always been very relaxed about the cleaning routine and this is my first custom rifle with a custom barrel so i have no idea of what means for a barrel being easy or not easy to clean. Knowing this implies that you have experience with breaking in barrels. How do i know if a barrel cleans well during brake in if it is the first break in i have ever made? Even if i already did 5 i wouldn't be able to understand it probably

Also since the breaking in depends on the reaming, maybe i should trust my smith who seems to know what he does. He comes from a precision shooting background, not a hunting one btw. Maybe that's thr reason of his perfectionism about cleaning.
 
I've experienced pitting in a number of bores over the years, even stainless. On the stainless barrels, it's basically always because I didn't clean out the carbon deposits. How quickly you'll get rust and pits varies depending on a number of factors, but I'm actually with your smith on this one, I'd clean out the carbon before letting the gun sit for a week.

I'm reading between the lines a bit, to hear that every time you hunt, you shoot. You only need to clean (in my opinion) after you've fired rounds, so if you go out and don't pull the trigger, then there's no new fouling or rust/pitting risk (unless the gun gets wet, in which case you should dry it out).

It doesn't need to be a deep clean, I think just getting the "soft" carbon out is sufficient to significantly reduce rust/pitting risk. That ends up being a few patches of Boretech C4 for me.

If you're worried about cold bore, you can measure it: Use a consistent cleaning process, then measure POI and MV of your first shots after cleaning until they stabilize. You'll see whatever patterns you need to if you do this three or four times, and you could do it all in one trip to the range.

Just my two cents, and sorry in advance, you're absolutely going to get every conflicting recommendation under the sun on this topic. Good luck out there!
 
I've experienced pitting in a number of bores over the years, even stainless. On the stainless barrels, it's basically always because I didn't clean out the carbon deposits. How quickly you'll get rust and pits varies depending on a number of factors, but I'm actually with your smith on this one, I'd clean out the carbon before letting the gun sit for a week.

I'm reading between the lines a bit, to hear that every time you hunt, you shoot. You only need to clean (in my opinion) after you've fired rounds, so if you go out and don't pull the trigger, then there's no new fouling or rust/pitting risk (unless the gun gets wet, in which case you should dry it out).

It doesn't need to be a deep clean, I think just getting the "soft" carbon out is sufficient to significantly reduce rust/pitting risk. That ends up being a few patches of Boretech C4 for me.

If you're worried about cold bore, you can measure it: Use a consistent cleaning process, then measure POI and MV of your first shots after cleaning until they stabilize. You'll see whatever patterns you need to if you do this three or four times, and you could do it all in one trip to the range.

Just my two cents, and sorry in advance, you're absolutely going to get every conflicting recommendation under the sun on this topic. Good luck out there!
Thanks. Was that severe pitting or just something you saw using the borescope which likely wouldn't have ever given you practical issues? Sometimes i think borescopes shouldn't exist ahah
I keep all my guns in a humidity controlled room so that could help preventing pitting due to carbon build up?

That said, sorry but i didn't understand.. you mean that i should see how much POI changes after the cleaning i do each time, taking it into account when i shoot the first round?
To me it seems less consistent than keeping a barrel fouled.

Yes, luckily i came back empty handed 7 times in many years of hunting and with maybe 15 hunts every year. So for me cleaning every time i shot means cleaning it after every hunt more or less. This is not a problem though. I could do it. The problem is that i feel like a cleaned bore is less consistent than a slightly fouled one.

The rifle i used the most hunting doesn't have any shift of POI, it is always spot on even after a in depth clean, that's crazy because is a 800 euros bergara b14 hunter, one of the early ones (which seem to have been better made than newer ones)
 
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I already read this and i think it is amazing that a world class barrel manufacturer takes the time to explain his procedure for break in. Unfoetunately, as i said, i have always been very relaxed about the cleaning routine and this is my first custom rifle with a custom barrel so i have no idea of what means for a barrel being easy or not easy to clean. Knowing this implies that you have experience with breaking in barrels. How do i know if a barrel cleans well during brake in if it is the first break in i have ever made? Even if i already did 5 i wouldn't be able to understand it probably

Also since the breaking in depends on the reaming, maybe i should trust my smith who seems to know what he does. He comes from a precision shooting background, not a hunting one btw. Maybe that's thr reason of his perfectionism about cleaning.
Read it again.....look for blue on your patches indicating copper. What you are trying to do is....as Bartlein says...is to smooth out the tool marks/roughness in the throat.

"Shoot one round and clean for the first two rounds individually. Look to see what the barrel is telling you. If I’m getting little to no copper out of it, I sit down and shoot the gun. Say 4 – 5 round groups and then clean. If the barrel cleans easily and shoots well, we consider it done."

"Cleans easily" generally means in this sense that you get a bit of copper on your solvent patch and then it stops coming out blue (or is very lightly tinted blue)very quickly.

Its not hard...seriously. Just shoot a round, run some good copper removing solvent. If you get a lot of blue on the patch, dry patch it and do it again. Rinse and repeat until you start seeing no blue or very light blue. Then run a group (3-5 shots) down the barrel and again see what comes out on your patch. etc.

Last Bartlein barrel I broke in was spun by @AccuSol-ERN at Altus and he did a beautiful job. If I remember correctly, I put one down the barrel and cleaned...oh, maybe 2-3 times...after the last time it was coming up with little/no copper. So, I shot a 3 round group and again got little to no copper and called it quits and started shooting it (eh...I might have sent a 5 round group down and cleaned after the 3 round group...can't really remember).

Clean means clean...look at your patches coming out of the muzzle, they will tell you...you do clean your barrels, right?

Best of luck
 
Thanks. Was that severe pitting or just something you saw using the borescope which likely wouldn't have ever given you practical issues? Sometimes i think borescopes shouldn't exist ahah

That said, sorry but i didn't understand.. you mean that i should see how much POI changes after the cleaning i do each time, taking it into account when i shoot the first round?
To me it seems less consistent than keeping a barrel fouled.

Yes, luckily i came back empty handed 7 times in many years of hunting and with maybe 15 hunts every year. So for me cleaning every time i shot means cleaning it after every hunt more or less. This is not a problem though. I could do it. The problem is that i feel like a cleaned bore is less consistent than a slightly fouled one.

The rifle i used the most hunting doesn't have any shift of POI, it is always spot on even after a in depth clean, that's crazy because is a 800 euros bergara b14 hunter, one of the early ones (which seem to have been better made than newer ones)
Yep, pitting was mostly seen with a borescope. You can of course not look down the bore, that's up to you, but the reality of the situation is in there. Whether or not it has a meaningful effect downrange is impossible to predict, but like your smith, my background is precision rifle, and I'm not willing to accept potential error sources that are easy for me to control.

Yes, you got it: If you're worried about POI or MV effects from cleaning, just clean and then measure what happens to your first few shots. Whatever decision you make from there will be an educated one, based on your actual system, rather than conflicting internet opinions.
 
Read it again.....look for blue on your patches indicating copper. What you are trying to do is....as Bartlein says...is to smooth out the tool marks/roughness in the throat.

"Shoot one round and clean for the first two rounds individually. Look to see what the barrel is telling you. If I’m getting little to no copper out of it, I sit down and shoot the gun. Say 4 – 5 round groups and then clean. If the barrel cleans easily and shoots well, we consider it done."

"Cleans easily" generally means in this sense that you get a bit of copper on your solvent patch and then it stops coming out blue (or is very lightly tinted blue)very quickly.

Its not hard...seriously. Just shoot a round, run some good copper removing solvent. If you get a lot of blue on the patch, dry patch it and do it again. Rinse and repeat until you start seeing no blue or very light blue. Then run a group (3-5 shots) down the barrel and again see what comes out on your patch. etc.

Last Bartlein barrel I broke in was spun by @AccuSol-ERN at Altus and he did a beautiful job. If I remember correctly, I put one down the barrel and cleaned...oh, maybe 2-3 times...after the last time it was coming up with little/no copper. So, I shot a 3 round group and again got little to no copper and called it quits and started shooting it (eh...I might have sent a 5 round group down and cleaned after the 3 round group...can't really remember).

Clean means clean...look at your patches coming out of the muzzle, they will tell you...you do clean your barrels, right?

Best of luck
My smith gave me a kg copper solvent and he told me that it doesn't show blue when taking away copper, how can i understand than? Borescope each time?

Maybe i should just do the whole clening cycle as my smith recommends and call it quit
 
My smith gave me a kg copper solvent and he told me that it doesn't show blue when taking away copper, how can i understand than? Borescope each time?

Maybe i should just do the whole clening cycle as my smith recommends and call it quit
I have zero idea what solvent doesn't show blue from copper.....every solvent...even BoreTech's Carbon Remover...get some copper and it shows blue on the patch.

Do as you please but you (and I think your smith) are making a bigger deal out of this than necessary.
 
One of the many things I’ve learned since I started shooting rifles three years or so ago is that when you’ve heard one rifle cleaning regimen, you’ve heard exactly that. One. It seems that for everybody who shoots, there’s a different routine , usually with different products.
 
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Read it again.....look for blue on your patches indicating copper. What you are trying to do is....as Bartlein says...is to smooth out the tool marks/roughness in the throat.

"Shoot one round and clean for the first two rounds individually. Look to see what the barrel is telling you. If I’m getting little to no copper out of it, I sit down and shoot the gun. Say 4 – 5 round groups and then clean. If the barrel cleans easily and shoots well, we consider it done."

"Cleans easily" generally means in this sense that you get a bit of copper on your solvent patch and then it stops coming out blue (or is very lightly tinted blue)very quickly.

Its not hard...seriously. Just shoot a round, run some good copper removing solvent. If you get a lot of blue on the patch, dry patch it and do it again. Rinse and repeat until you start seeing no blue or very light blue. Then run a group (3-5 shots) down the barrel and again see what comes out on your patch. etc.

Last Bartlein barrel I broke in was spun by @AccuSol-ERN at Altus and he did a beautiful job. If I remember correctly, I put one down the barrel and cleaned...oh, maybe 2-3 times...after the last time it was coming up with little/no copper. So, I shot a 3 round group and again got little to no copper and called it quits and started shooting it (eh...I might have sent a 5 round group down and cleaned after the 3 round group...can't really remember).

Clean means clean...look at your patches coming out of the muzzle, they will tell you...you do clean your barrels, right?

Best of luck
That about sums up my experience with the one Bartlien barrel I have ( 1-7.5 twist 5R in 6.5 CM) chambered by Kelblys.
Though I didn't spend as much time cleaning as you described I assume that is due to them doing a very clean chambering job.
Between rounds 10 to 20 copper was mostly non existent as you described.
 
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For new barrels I clean after each of the first 5 rounds, and then clean after 3 rounds for the next 9, and then I clean after 5 rounds for the next 15.
This is just what I do, everyone has their own ideas and processes.
DW
 
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I will run contrary to this. I have never done anything other than shoot a new barrel. I have never had an issue.

One of my Bartelin barrels in 6.5 CM has 2,460 rounds through it and shoots as well as ever. I have used Bartlein, Krieger, and Proof. The results are all the same.

When I clean them, I use KG solvents and lubricants.

YMMV
 
I will run contrary to this. I have never done anything other than shoot a new barrel. I have never had an issue.

One of my Bartelin barrels in 6.5 CM has 2,460 rounds through it and shoots as well as ever. I have used Bartlein, Krieger, and Proof. The results are all the same.

When I clean them, I use KG solvents and lubricants.

YMMV
I am in this camp now. Years ago I was a shoot one and clean, shoot 3 clean and, shoot 5 and clean crowd but in the long run I found my barrels lasted the same number of shots, and were just as accurate. I am now a go to the range, have fun shooting, run a patch through, then run a Bore tech eliminator patch in, leave wet and head home. When I get home I bring everything in (actually my son (otherwise known as gun burro) does;)), get something to drink (water) and then do a longer cleaning ending in a oiled patch to coat the bore. Less work, same results and more fun!
 
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As expected, very conflicting opinions. From experienced shooters, too. In this cases it means there is no a true answer. If it was such a big deal everyone would do the same.

Anyway, i think that, as long as you don't become obsessive, doing rhe break in as my smith suggested can't harm the barrel. So i'll do it, at least for this gun which I paid so much for and from which I expect great performances.
As far as cleaning, i keep my guns in a humidity controlled room so i guess i'll take the risk, continuing not cleaning it after every single hunting shot.
For the sake of consistency
 
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As expected, very conflicting opinions. From experienced shooters, too. In this cases it means there is no a true answer. If it was such a big deal everyone would do the same.

Anyway, i think that, as long as you don't become obsessive, doing rhe break in as my smith suggested can't harm the barrel. So i'll do it, at least for this gun which I paid so much for and from which I expect great performances.
As far as cleaning, i keep my guns in a humidity controlled room so i guess i'll take the risk, continuing not cleaning it after every single hunting shot.
For the sake of consistency
The main take away should be use quality cleaning equipment ( quality coated cleaning rod, good bore guide, nylon bore brushes mostly although I use some bronze brushes sometimes, don't mix solvents unless you fully understand how they interact with each other, and avoid abrassives)

Most important have fun and enjoy your new rifle.
 
Hi guys! One question. I recently bought a custom rifle with a bartlein 5r 1:10 308 barrel.

The gunsmith who put it togheter is a very reputable smith, one of the best in Italy. He also accurized and prepared precision rifles for italian SOF. I trust him quite a bit after having tried a few other smiths with less than ideal results.

I have never been obsessed with cleaning routine and i have never broke a barrel in but he suggested me some very detailed cleaning and breaking in procedures for this cut rifled barrel.

1) The breaking in procedure is maybe too much, involving 8 steps and using copper remover and carbon remover and more than 20 patches for every cycle. He suggests to do that every round for 3 rounds and then 1 time every 5 rounds for 20 rounds. To me it seems too much to do at a public range.
2) he suggested me to fully clean the bore after every hunting, which means every week for me. I have always cleaned my hunting rifles every 20 rounds or so or when i was planning not to shoot it for at least a few weeks. I preferred to avoid possible issues related to clean bore shots, which can obviously affect POI slightly. I said this to him and he told me to just use some carbon remover if I didn't want to fully clean it after each hunt. I have never had a rust or an accuracy problem.

I noticed most hunters and also many members here don't do break in and clean the rifle sporadically or anyway not after every hunting.

What do you think about this suggestions? To me it seems like using this rifle will become a second job ahah!
Do you have some cut rifled custom barrels? if yes, how do you take care of them?

Thanks
Simone
SIAP the below post is from Frank Green at Bartlein and in it is an attachment that has his detailed break in and cleaning instructions.

Re: cleaning after each use Frank did say to never put a barrel away dry and dirty b/c the fouling will interact with moisture in the air and it causes corrosion, etc..

 
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I will run contrary to this. I have never done anything other than shoot a new barrel. I have never had an issue.

One of my Bartelin barrels in 6.5 CM has 2,460 rounds through it and shoots as well as ever. I have used Bartlein, Krieger, and Proof. The results are all the same.

When I clean them, I use KG solvents and lubricants.

YMMV
I have done both and settled on just shoot it, keeping the rate of fire down.

I did move from KG to Bore tech.
 
The main take away should be use quality cleaning equipment ( quality coated cleaning rod, good bore guide, nylon bore brushes mostly although I use some bronze brushes sometimes, don't mix solvents unless you fully understand how they interact with each other, and avoid abrassives)

Most important have fun and enjoy your new rifle.
I only use ballistol and kg copper solvent and carbon remover, do they interact in some ways i should know?
 
I will run contrary to this. I have never done anything other than shoot a new barrel. I have never had an issue.

One of my Bartelin barrels in 6.5 CM has 2,460 rounds through it and shoots as well as ever. I have used Bartlein, Krieger, and Proof. The results are all the same.

When I clean them, I use KG solvents and lubricants.

YMMV
Yo @Nik H - I could swear I made a post asking if, when using KG, you got blue from copper.

And I could swear you replied that you only use their carbon remover and you don’t generally clean for copper.

Those posts aren’t in this thread. Am I crazy (well, I am but that’s another issue lol) or perhaps they got hammered by activities to prepare for the upgrade.

You have any recollection of this?
 
Yo @Nik H - I could swear I made a post asking if, when using KG, you got blue from copper.

And I could swear you replied that you only use their carbon remover and you don’t generally clean for copper.

Those posts aren’t in this thread. Am I crazy (well, I am but that’s another issue lol) or perhaps they got hammered by activities to prepare for the upgrade.

You have any recollection of this?
 
I'm in the just shoot it camp. Life is too short to waste time and ammo on some arbitrary break-in procedure. Get your zero, which is going to change anyway, shoot what you're going to shoot, go home and clean it. "Break-in" is done.
 
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Yo @Nik H - I could swear I made a post asking if, when using KG, you got blue from copper.

And I could swear you replied that you only use their carbon remover and you don’t generally clean for copper.

Those posts aren’t in this thread. Am I crazy (well, I am but that’s another issue lol) or perhaps they got hammered by activities to prepare for the upgrade.

You have any recollection of this?
I agree. They seem to be gone.

I said I had only used KG12 (Copper Remover) once, and the patches were blue. I no longer strip copper. I don't see any benefit. If I had a barrel that wouldn't shoot, I would try it.

I only use KG1 (carbon remover) now.
 
Thanks guys, i will stick to the break in procedure i have been recommended and then i will see if there is a significant poi shift between a clean and a fouled barrel. That said, I think i will never try hard to remove any trace of fouling from a barrel, until now i didn't have any pitting issue doing like this so..