Barrel Cleaning help/advice

[Lionel Boyd Johnson]

I shot in Highpower Competition for decades, and then Benchrest Competition for years after that. JB paste or RemClean, recently renamed Remington Bore Cleaner, are excellent non-harmful non imbedding products that have absolutely not harmed any of my match-grade barrels. I use a non-ammonia solvent to remove loose residue followed by two patches with either JB or Rem (10 round trips each) on a quality jag. I remove the JB or Rem with two patches either wet or dry depending on what I'm going to do next with the rifle. Always use a rod guide and the best one-piece rod you can find. I like coated rods, some prefer bare stainless steel. Either way, wipe off the rod each time you remove a patch. I have a borescope and confirm that my cleaning routine works and does no harm.

 

[7stw]

As with most barrels, but not all, my recent Bergara Ridge, copper fouled, rather frequent during break in. As expected, but a few passes , and or short soaks in Boretec, and it was gone. I just cleaned it the other day, and that was after about fifty well spaced shots, had very little copper tracing, but good amount of carbon.
I agree with JE Custom, using abrasives will definitely shorten barrel life, when used as regular regiment. And if you need to, theres a problem internal of the barrel.
And as yz80 ssid, good ole Hoppes still has its place, and the smell is nice too!

 

[YZ-80]

And as yz80 ssid, good ole Hoppes still has its place, and the smell is nice too!

Absolutely! It's right up there with a big 'ol black magic marker!

 

[jdyoung]

Well, OK. I clean after every range session. I generally do not clean during the hunting season, other than to oil down the exposed steel if it gets moisture on it. I use Hoppes 9 all the time and alternate with a combination of the foaming bore cleaner (and Hoppes) pictured below to remove the Copper fouling. I like seeing the blue foam come out after I let the Gunslick foam sit in there for 30-45 minutes. I haven't been able to find the Gunslick lately so I'll have to look online. Also, I always use nylon brushes and I always use a boreguide.

View attachment 197053

I like the Gunslick Foaming cleaner too. But I haven't been able to find it online. Most places show it as discontinued. I just laid in a supply of Wipeout. Works!
If I leave solvent in over night, I hang the rifle with the muzzle pointing down into a container the old patches fall into so as to let gravity help.
I always thought of JB's as a polish and reserved it for the final step to eliminate the last bits of fouling. Clean it out with Gun Flush or Ethyl Alcohol and then lube the bore till ready to shoot again.
With a bore guide, you want the tip to fit tightly into/against the end of the chamber so no solvent/bore polish gets back into the chamber and hence into the locking lug/barrel thread area where it can't be removed.

 

[MLN1963]

I'm of the impression that there are two types of JB cleaner. Non embedding which uses very finely crushed walnut shell to clean out the fouling. I don't see this harming a steel barrel. The other is JB bore bright and it has a very fine polishing compound in it. You can rub it between your fingers and not feel it. I think you would need to work at harming your barrel with this.

Something to think about. The high dollar hand lapped barrels we all love to use are lapped with compounds many times more abrasive than these two products.

 

[ShtrRdy]

And as yz80 ssid, good ole Hoppes still has its place, and the smell is nice too!

I've actually got an OLD bottle of Hoppes to remind me what it use to smell like. The current recipe for Hoppes smells different, yet unique.

 

[7stw]

You are

I've actually got an OLD bottle of Hoppes to remind me what it use to smell like. The current recipe for Hoppes smells different, yet unique.

You are right, the old stuff smells sweeter! I have one of the old glass bottles too!

 

[Mrvmax]

I've seen barrels so fouled with copper that it looked like the bore was rusted (that was on a used BLR I bought). I prefer a 50/50 mixture of Hoppes and Kroil but M-Pro 7 works well too. For heavily fouled barrels I have used other methods to remove fouling, I have fired non gas checked lead bullets and those fouled pretty bad. For my regular rifles I clean after every use but I do not over do it. I only use JB when needed and that is not often. I will only clean aggressively when accuracy declines, otherwise its a few patches of Kroil/Hoppes and back into the safe.

 

[340Wby-4-everything]

You are
You are right, the old stuff smells sweeter! I have one of the old glass bottles too!

I have 2 bottles my dad gave me with $0.49 sales stickers on them. They smell pretty sweet!

 

[RYEWSKY25284]

Was recently told about using JB non-embedding bore cleaning compound and Parker hale jags for somewhat easier and thorough cleaning. Course after I purchased all the equipment, I then am told that using those jags and JB is or can be hard on barrel threading and barrel life and is more typically used by BR shooters. Just wanted to check with you fine folks to find out if you would recommend using this approach to cleaning a hunting rifle or not. I have tried numerous approaches, but always open to learning new tricks. Your best approach(es) for a thorough cleaning and/or copper fouling for a hunting rig that I'd prefer to never replace and not do any damage to? All wisdom and advice gratefully and thankfully accepted.

I use the same thing. Only difference is I also add a couple drops of Kroil to the JB patch.
There are different methods to cleaning & many different opinions.
However, I think you're on the right track.

my .02

 

[ml williford]

Of recent, I've been blessed with afew barrels, that dont copper foul as much, now that they are broken in.
I too , am a boretec fan, it works, it dosent stink to high heaven, and a little dab will do ya. Also, I've been using Seafoam, for removing carbon, and I can tell ya, it really pulls out the carbon ring.
And yeah, bore cleaning product discussions are akin to Chevy, Ford, Mobil 1, Castol, etc.
Could someone pass the wings!

Hello sir, I've never heard of the Seafoam. So I called if up on the internet. All I could find is an engine carbon cleaner?? is this correct in what you are stating that you use in a gun barrel? Just trying to learn something new abt cleaning a gun barrel.

 

[RYEWSKY25284]

Any particular bore guide is preferred over another? I have never used one but also haven't used the foaming cleaners either.

Possum Hollow Delrin bore guides. They can also be purchased on: Sinclair International....Who is owned by Brownells (Don't order it from Brownell's.Order it from Sinclair) Brownells help desk will try and sell you a
"one size fits all". The Possum Hollow will be specific to YOUR rifle.
Bore Guides - Possum Hollow Productswww.possumhollowproducts.com › BORE_GUIDES

 

[7stw]

Hello sir, I've never heard of the Seafoam. So I called if up on the internet. All I could find is an engine carbon cleaner?? is this correct in what you are stating that you use in a gun barrel? Just trying to learn something new abt cleaning a gun barrel.

Yes, its primary purpose is to remove carbon from intake manifolds. Some you dump into fuel, the other is spray , with a long tube. I use the spray can form. I give it a generous soaking application, with the supplied tube, then scrub, either with plastic, or bronze, vigorously. Then run a cleaning patch, it usually comes out pretty black. Also, you can safely leave it in the bore. It is a petroleum distillate, and will not harm any barrel. If you jag the barrel, just before shooting, it probably will be tinged, black, which means its pulled more carbon.
A lot of the propellants we use nowadays, leave a very hard carbon signature,that are really tough ,that you may think are gone, that really aren't. Particularly ball powders, the high energy and cfe powders as well.
Carbon is a copper magnet, so the more carbon you control, the less copper you get!

 

[ml williford]

Yes, its primary purpose is to remove carbon from intake manifolds. Some you dump into fuel, the other is spray , with a long tube. I use the spray can form. I give it a generous soaking application, with the supplied tube, then scrub, either with plastic, or bronze, vigorously. Then run a cleaning patch, it usually comes out pretty black. Also, you can safely leave it in the bore. It is a petroleum distillate, and will not harm any barrel. If you jag the barrel, just before shooting, it probably will be tinged, black, which means its pulled more carbon.
A lot of the propellants we use nowadays, leave a very hard carbon signature,that are really tough ,that you may think are gone, that really aren't. Particularly ball powders, the high energy and cfe powders as well.
Carbon is a copper magnet, so the more carbon you control, the less copper you get!

Thank you sir for the information.