Re: A slightly different barrel cleaning question
Some contradiction from January 2009:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The proximity of powder fouling and copper fouling to the bare bore metal sets the stage for bimetallic/electrolytic corrosion, which we interpret as pitting.
When this foul brew combines with atmospheric moisture, it creates a low voltage electrical current flow/ion transfer that promotes oxidation, in a process similar to that of a dry cell battery. As long as there is a bimetallic interface and fouling with any degree of acidity or alkalinity, this process will start as soon as the atmospheric moisture and oxygen succeeds in penetrating to the bimetallic interface. This is why you should clean out the fouling and establish a protective coating that can block moisture penetration, or at least effectively oil the bore between shooting the session.
This regimen used to be basic military shooting and cleaning doctrine. You would shoot one day, and clean on each of the three succeeding days, because the metallic crystalline structure traps fouling and gas, which emerges as the gas seeps out over the first few days following shooting. It's not gremlins, and it's not mental lapse that turn a clean bore into a dirty one overnight. It's just the natural sequence of events which are driven by the pressure cycles that occur during shooting session. Or at least that's the way it was explained to me some decades ago.
This is all very trite, but it's also true enough. I agree with many that over cleaning is destructive, especially if done improperly, and do suspect that the shoot one, clean three regimen is a bit excessive.
But by the same token, I also fail to see what fundamental change has occurred in the shooting process that eliminates the need for bore maintenance. That's why I occasionally remark that the old methods I learned 'back when' have not stopped working for me. Bore scoping shows that with care in the cleaning process, bore status remains acceptable and the only real issue is throat erosion due to the actual firing heat/pressure cycle itself.
Accuracy may hold up, and that's all well and good, but I'm not hearing much about the corrosive effects of bore neglect. It may well be that such oxidation is actually unrelated to accuracy degradation, I honestly don't know, but I also feel that a valuable firearms deserves at least rudimentary maintenance and care, even if for nothing more than the standpoint of pride in one's possessions.
The only time I don't clean and oil my bores after each shooting session is during hunting season, so my preseason zero is not affected by the bore's cleaning/fouling status. Right now, I am in the process of cleaning seven rifles/shotguns/frontstuffer preparatory to laying them up for our local Winter shooting hiatus.
Greg
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Given the simplicity and availability of bore cleaning foam products, cleaning has become so easy that it makes little sense to me not to clean after a day's shooting.
Greg
