Gunsmithing Barrel cleaning

[cast1]

If you dont want to over clean bore..dobt buy borescope..
Honestly those carbon build up cant be scrape with just a boresnake or nylon brush

I bought my borescope for chambering work. Cleaning assessment had nothing to do with buying it, but I have checked the condition of my bores as part of throat inspection etc. and what I saw help shape my decision on how I clean now. I try to be data driven and not dogma driven. There really isn’t any carbon that I can see after using the snake/m-pro7. I want the copper in there. My guns don’t have to get re-fouled before they are consistent again. I should specify that the only scenario I’ve looked at is my own bolt guns with barrels from Bartlein, Kreiger, Hawk Hill etc. I’ve never checked a factory bolt gun or semiauto so YMMV in that regard.

 

[jambau]

Says who? Again I’m all about learning so if you’ve got some hard data I’m all ears. Oh I’ve got Dewey rods and Lucas bore guides and Parker Hale jags and half a dozen solvents and probably a few flying lures stashed away somewhere. I’ve just outgrown the notion that any of them make a material difference in the well being of my bores. Most importantly they can cause harm.

I like a pull through cleaner over a rod because if you brush with a rod and solvent, you create an abrasive slurry that you are lapping the lands with anywhere the rod makes contact, especially at the crown. I don’t personally think that a jag and patch is apt to harm the throat but I think the crown is very susceptible to damage on withdrawal of the rod. Even though it's brass vs stainless, it’s a knife edge you’re trying to maintain at the crown and any brass hammer can ruin any steel knife.

Also, in a shoot, clean, shoot scenario, brushes/jags/patches are more likely to leave solvent in the bore which can absolutely ruin a barrel with the pressures encountered during firing. A regular old bore snake is very absorbent and less likely to lead to that. If I’m doing something that doesn’t stand to reason, somebody tell me how so I can do better.

It’s not like I haven’t scrubbed my rifles like a barbecue grill before. I'm just not convinced it’s what’s best. Nothing more.

I just read this and caught the flying lure reference. Laughed my ass off. Got an unopened pack myself.

 

[milprileb]

This will not be welcome news but I'll pass it along. Water dissolves carbon and Slick2000 carbon cleaner, among others is water bases. 409 Household cleaner is water based and takes out carbon. Lots of AR guys use such products on bolts, BCG. Now if you've a bolt action rifle, and the issue is getting all the water out of your barrel. Dry patches followed by Ballistol does the trick. I've use that on rifles firing black powder and corrosive ammo and I got British army funnel with chamber adaptor to pour boiling hot water down bore ...which dries instantly. Patch out the softened carbon .

All that is fact. Now...am I inclined to do this on a Accuracy International Rifle ? Different story isn't it...not some Enfield, Springfield or Mosin Nagant . At $900 per barrel from Europtics, my AI rifle isn't getting water in any form but I know water is the easiest remover of carbon. Could I pull the barrel off the rifle (my rifle is an AT so I could) and pour boiling water down bore and end the drama of carbon removal? Sure, its an option but then I got to re zero every 300 rd shot .

So ...putting the easy sure fire way off the table, I use Patch Out Liquid, I use it after I've cleaned bore with Hoppes and it will take out any carbon left in bore. This seems after 7 years to be a winner option.

Works for me but we all know bore cleaning is Voo Doo and all of you witch doctors are set in your ways.

On a parting note, today at range I heard:
"I put foam ear plug in muzzle, pour 50 50 solution ATF and Acetone down bore and let it stand 24 hours" Hmmmmmmmm last I looked foam ear plugs dissolve from Acetone so if this sage advice works, it puts 5050 ATF & Acetone all over your floor.

Being a smart ass ...I could not let this opportunity pass I asked if one could substitute Marvel Mystery Oil in place of ATF.....the soothsayer replied it might even work better than ATF. I am sure he'll try it.

 

[spife7980]

This will not be welcome news but I'll pass it along. Water dissolves carbon and Slick2000 carbon cleaner, among others is water bases. 409 Household cleaner is water based and takes out carbon. Lots of AR guys use such products on bolts, BCG. Now if you've a bolt action rifle, and the issue is getting all the water out of your barrel. Dry patches followed by Ballistol does the trick. I've use that on rifles firing black powder and corrosive ammo and I got British army funnel with chamber adaptor to pour boiling hot water down bore ...which dries instantly. Patch out the softened carbon .

All that is fact. Now...am I inclined to do this on a Accuracy International Rifle ? Different story isn't it...not some Enfield, Springfield or Mosin Nagant . At $900 per barrel from Europtics, my AI rifle isn't getting water in any form but I know water is the easiest remover of carbon. Could I pull the barrel off the rifle (my rifle is an AT so I could) and pour boiling water down bore and end the drama of carbon removal? Sure, its an option but then I got to re zero every 300 rd shot .

So ...putting the easy sure fire way off the table, I use Patch Out Liquid, I use it after I've cleaned bore with Hoppes and it will take out any carbon left in bore. This seems after 7 years to be a winner option.

Works for me but we all know bore cleaning is Voo Doo and all of you witch doctors are set in your ways.

On a parting note, today at range I heard:
"I put foam ear plug in muzzle, pour 50 50 solution ATF and Acetone down bore and let it stand 24 hours" Hmmmmmmmm last I looked foam ear plugs dissolve from Acetone so if this sage advice works, it puts 5050 ATF & Acetone all over your floor.

Being a smart ass ...I could not let this opportunity pass I asked if one could substitute Marvel Mystery Oil in place of ATF.....the soothsayer replied it might even work better than ATF. I am sure he'll try it.

Atf and acetone is a great old lube and thread breaker, half way to Ed’s red. It’s worked for 50 years

 

[Wild_Bill148]

Kroil to break loose stubborn or carbon locked parts. Boretech for the bore. Nothing wrong with a boresnake!

 

[pmclaine]

Nothing but juicy wet patches of Hoppes and letting it do its thing over time.

Before it goes in the safe a damp patch of Kroil.

Store bore down to let the oil migrate not your muzzle cover.

Buy Kreiger barrels and they will show clean patches in three or four passes.

 

[Huskydriver]

Nothing but juicy wet patches of Hoppes and letting it do its thing over time.

Before it goes in the safe a damp patch of Kroil.

Store bore down to let the oil migrate not your muzzle cover.

Buy Kreiger barrels and they will show clean patches in three or four passes.

Bartein or GTFO

 

[PearShooter]

I used Kroil professionally for years long before using it to cleans barrels. we had a saying if Kroil won’t free it up get the blue wrench “torch” 90% of my barrel cleaning now is with it by its self.

 

[Seymour Fish]

Any one use kroil and jb bore paste to clean fouling from their bore ?

For years. Works. Be damn sure to get All the JB out. Even better with VFG pellets.

 

[Nik H]

Any one use kroil and jb bore paste to clean fouling from their bore ?

Read Frank Green’s thread about the use of JB Bore paste. Never in any of my barrels. I seldom clean aggressively and have never experienced carbon fouling that won’t come off after a good long soak in KG1 solvent

 

[CK1.0]

For a long time (too long) I was a wussy baby when it came to cleaning barrels, I'd read all the threads and heard all the noise, and believed all the fairy tales about scary abrasives destroying one's hopes and dreams...

So for years, I used nothing more abrasive than cotton patches, nylon brushes, and Bore Tech Eliminator, that's it.

Then one day I realized I can literally look at what I'm doing the whole time while monitoring my progress when cleaning since borescopes are ~$50 these days, not hundreds of dollars like they once were. If what I was using wasn't working, I could try something else, if it looked like I was doing something bad, I could stop doing it before I caused much, if any, harm.

Now, these days it's a fresh bronze brush every time I clean, a little penetrating oil on the brush until it gets worn down enough to pull backward, then I wrap a patch or two around it with a little Iosso on them (a scary abrasive) which I then use to scrub out the baked on carbon and shit by going back and forth as many times as it takes (while checking my work with the borescope), then I use the Eliminator to flush it all out.

My barrels have never shot better and last just as long or longer.

One would either have to be retarded or literally be trying to ruin a barrel on purpose in order to ruin it with abrasives over a barrel's useable life.

 

[pmclaine]

Bartein or GTFO

Have two or three, love them, but nothing cleans like the Kreiger.

 

[Huskydriver]

Have two or three, love them, but nothing cleans like the Kreiger.

 

[pmclaine]

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I see your Maury and give you Will....