Thanx, J E, I was hoping to get your opinion on this. I have a follow up question for you and everyone else:
I few years ago I cleaned my rifles meticulously after shooting. One day I had dinner with a SEAL who is a Team Leader for a group you would recognize. At that time he had spent 17 deployments in the sand. I asked him, "what do you do to your gun after deployment when you get home?" He told me he takes everything apart in his rifles and gives them a thorough cleaning — except the barrel. A long as it's shooting accurately, he leaves it alone. I stopped cleaning my gun. Only when I begin to loose accuracy or velocity do I touch the inside of my bore.
This brings me to my question. I have used all kind of products on the market to address copper fouling. Currently, I am using the KG 12 for copper and KG 1 for carbon. I am not showing telltale blue on the patch, however. I first do the KG1, then follow with the 12. I wonder if I am getting out the copper?!! I don't have a "scope" and can't see down the bore due to the "breaks".
I used to use the J-B Bore Cleaning Compound and Bore Bright, but I read that it could damage the barrel. I have a Wilson barrel (Cooper), a Proof barrel (Gap ), and a Rem 7mag Sendero. I certainly don't want to damage the new Wilson barrel or the Proof.
What is your opinion on using these or other products???
(Also I use and really like Butch's Bore Shine)
Thanks for the feedback
All barrels respond differently to a cleaning regiment so I try to find out what the barrel likes first.
My experience has been that a clean barrel is the most accurate. At some point a barrel fowls to the point that it becomes very consistent and this is what most match shooters look for because they cant clean after each relay. If you leave the barrel fouled, load development should be done in this condition not in a clean condition.
I have followed the progress of custom barrels from the first shot on
and found that as the barrel broke in it got faster.until break in was complete. Then it settled in to a consistent velocity and as it became fouled velocity dropped very little but accuracy became worse as the barrel fouled. This normally occurred at 4 to 7 rounds from clean depending on the barrel itself. (I think this is the reason that it is hard to shoot a great 5 shot group) because it always seems like a flier happens on the last round. (It could also be shooter stress because he tries so hard to place that last bullet in the center of the group and not mess up a beautiful group.
Once you get through the point that fouling effects the consistency,
you may fire several hundred rounds before the bore has to be cleaned due to accuracy issues.
My match rifles had to be used fouled, because they would be required to fire 100+ rounds during the match with no time to clean.
My hunting rifles only require 1 shot (Hopefully) and cleaned after several hunts (3 or 4 shots). I work up my hunting loads by cleaning after each test load so they are all tested in the same conditions to evaluate each load fairly.
So to sum this up, I have different cleaning regiments for hunting and match shooting based on accuracy requirements needed under the conditions.
As to checking if your barrel is clean or not, Some solvents done turn the patches green and some do, so to find out, try some of your Butch's in the bore and if it doesn't turn green, your cleaning is going OK.
Fouling is an interesting beast. During brake in it prevents uniform break in (The reason you clean after each shot) once a barrel is broken in It tends to protect the bore from wear even though it may hurt accuracy at some point (This is one of the reasons that factory barrels come fouled from test firing).
I clean all of my firearms frequently because fouling can damage the bore after while because powder residue can attract moister and cause corrosion, Clean and oiled cant. everyone has there opinion on cleaning frequency and the amount of time and quality of the cleaning, but having worked on many firearms that were not taken care of or cleaned often or not at all and compared to the ones that were meticulously maintained, there was a total difference in there condition.
I don't recommend any bore solvent that has abrasives because they shorten barrel life and should not be necessary. In my opinion, It is counter productive to worry about barrel life and then use an abrasive cleaner of bullets in the bore. There are to many good solvents available that only address the fouling.
Sorry for the long explanation.
J E CUSTOM
