For those who NEVER clean their bore, or almost never

[Tac-O]

off shoot question-- I recently got a teslong and I noticed a trend in a few riles--- the patches come out clean when using copper cleaner (foaming) but when I use the teslong to view the inside I see light copper build up in the center 2-4" of the barrel yet the chamber end and muzzle ends are clean an free of copper -- what is going on here? any ideas? its noit in all my barrels but it is in several and it makes me wonder what trend I am seeing.

Maybe it could be a layer of hard carbon covering the copper and not allowing the copper solvent to get to it. Or try a different copper solvent because some seem to work better on certain bullet copper alloys versus others.

I have no idea. I'm just speculating

 

[cohunt]

Maybe it could be a layer of hard carbon covering the copper and not allowing the copper solvent to get to it. Or try a different copper solvent because some seem to work better on certain bullet copper alloys versus others.

I have no idea. I'm just speculating

clean with foaming one shot and accelerator 1st, then use "carb-out" for carbon, then go back to the foaming one shot--all the copper towards the muzzle and chamber are gone, but there is still a light copper build up in the middle of the bore-- yet if I use the foaming one shot again, the patches still come out clean

If this was just 1 barrel, I would assume the bore condition was rougher in the middle thus it retains more copper, but it is on 3 barrels (different manufactures) so it seems I have some sort of trend

I was going to try 1 more time with the foaming one-shot and let sit over night to see if it gets it all out--I'm not too concerned as they all shoot fine, just wondering what this trend might be from

 

[keithcandler]

FOR THOSE WHO NEVER CLEAN THEIR BORE, OR ALMOST NEVER

I let a guy like this borrow my Lyman bore scope, two of his barrels were shot out, several were so rough that a 12 round cleaning frequency was required to maintain accuracy, and on and on. He does not like to clean, he is not going to clean. My advise to him was to pay a gunsmith near him to clean all his rifles once a year, rotate to another gun when it gets dirty and looses accuracy.

 

[cohunt]

FOR THOSE WHO NEVER CLEAN THEIR BORE, OR ALMOST NEVER

I let a guy like this borrow my Lyman bore scope, two of his barrels were shot out, several were so rough that a 12 round cleaning frequency was required to maintain accuracy, and on and on. He does not like to clean, he is not going to clean. My advise to him was to pay a gunsmith near him to clean all his rifles once a year, rotate to another gun when it gets dirty and looses accuracy.

Ive got a cousin that does that-- each time he goes shooting he drops his guns off at the smith the next morning--he picks them up the same evening all cleaned and ready to go-- he obviously has more $ than time

 

[keithcandler]

I have a neighbor that does the same, his nose is so sensitive, that he can not take any kind of chemical smell at all.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Nope, it is not out of context. He's stating that you use the maroon 3m pad and then JBs to keep the steel's pores closed in the throat, every 100-200. You're not supposed to go crazy... 10 strokes one way (or twenty counting back and forth). He does not mention anything about moving the throat forward doing that, but states that it DOES increase barrel life. Whether that has to do with removing fire cracking or the fact that it would be removing a carbon ring you've built up from not cleaning for 200 rounds, I don't know.

I actually didn't know those pads use aluminum oxide for grit!! That being said, I see how it would actually remove throat material.

This thread is really testing my resolve to keep going on my "no bore cleaning" experiment

This will hurt accuracy, you want the rifling sharp in the throat not rounded over. If you do try this, measure the oal to the lands before and after. My guess is you add about .005"

 

[ntsqd]

I use maroon 3M pads on a lot of projects (none of them are the bores of firearms!). They're not THAT abrasive, I don't see 10 strokes removing enough material to change the OAL by .005", but I'm sure that it will remove some material. I'd expect a degradation in the sharpness of the lands after 1/2 dozen or so of these procedures. Sure not a process that I want to consider.

This does make me curious about polygonal rifling. Are the throats of those barrels sharp? How are they sharp, if they are?

 

[freddiej]

I have a story about a family that would never clean their guns, the son came in with this 1950/51 Winchester M-70 in 30-06, it had never been cleaned since it was new. I can not say how many rounds were through the gun but it had to be a lot. The son came in with the symptoms, "popping primers and excessive pressure with factory ammo". I tried to get a 30 cal jag through the bore with a patch, no go, I thought the barrel was miss marked and it was a 284 or a 270. well I slugged the bore and came out with a 0.304" groove diameter and a 0.296" land diameter. so out came the Sweet's 7.62 and the JB Bore Paste, also the Bore Tech C4 Carbon remover, and the nylon brushes.. 3 weeks I worked on that bore getting the carbon, copper, powder fouling, and whatever else was stuck to the bore. patch after patch was cobalt blue, black, silvery grey, and a multitude of other colors. Once I was able to get a Jag in the barrel with a patch I used JB Bore Paste to mechanically scrub the barrel of what ever was being stubborn. after 3 weeks the groove bore was 0.3079" and the primary bore was 0.2999" and it was polished. I went out to test fire the gun and was pleased the gun kept 1/2" or just about 1/2". I gave it back to the owner and he messed it up again in just about 1.5 years. I had to repeat my cleaning process all over again. I darn near refused to give it back to him for abuse of a classic firearm.

 

[Tac-O]

I have a story about a family that would never clean their guns, the son came in with this 1950/51 Winchester M-70 in 30-06, it had never been cleaned since it was new. I can not say how many rounds were through the gun but it had to be a lot. The son came in with the symptoms, "popping primers and excessive pressure with factory ammo". I tried to get a 30 cal jag through the bore with a patch, no go, I thought the barrel was miss marked and it was a 284 or a 270. well I slugged the bore and came out with a 0.304" groove diameter and a 0.296" land diameter. so out came the Sweet's 7.62 and the JB Bore Paste, also the Bore Tech C4 Carbon remover, and the nylon brushes.. 3 weeks I worked on that bore getting the carbon, copper, powder fouling, and whatever else was stuck to the bore. patch after patch was cobalt blue, black, silvery grey, and a multitude of other colors. Once I was able to get a Jag in the barrel with a patch I used JB Bore Paste to mechanically scrub the barrel of what ever was being stubborn. after 3 weeks the groove bore was 0.3079" and the primary bore was 0.2999" and it was polished. I went out to test fire the gun and was pleased the gun kept 1/2" or just about 1/2". I gave it back to the owner and he messed it up again in just about 1.5 years. I had to repeat my cleaning process all over again. I darn near refused to give it back to him for abuse of a classic firearm.

That is quite amazing!! Maybe I'll break down and clean mine this weekend

 

[keithcandler]

Over the years, I found that people that don't like to clean rarely if ever measure the seating depth, either.

 

[Gone Ballistic]

I spent a two year period trying to hit a target 2 miles away with a 300RUM. Biggest problem is having your bullets drop below subsonic speeds and start tumbling. Without having a super long barrel with rifling deep enough to spin the bullet to the high twist rate of the rifling it couldn't have been done without excessive cleaning of the barrel. So, with this in mind, I make sure my barrels are clean and shoot a couple of fouling shots before taking them hunting.

 

[Tac-O]

I spent a two year period trying to hit a target 2 miles away with a 300RUM. Biggest problem is having your bullets drop below subsonic speeds and start tumbling. Without having a super long barrel with rifling deep enough to spin the bullet to the high twist rate of the rifling it couldn't have been done without excessive cleaning of the barrel. So, with this in mind, I make sure my barrels are clean and shoot a couple of fouling shots before taking them hunting.

Did you ever hit that target?

 

[Tac-O]

I gave up last night and cleaned my bore. I don't have a bore scope, so I'm just going to to throw everything I have at it and hope I get all the carbon out.

I made it 250 rounds without a patch going through. Not bad compared to my typical clean every 25 rounds. I've been playing with a new magneto speed and ball powder, so I decided I'd clean it and then see how long it takes for my speeds to stabilize again. Or at least, that's my excuse for being able to clean it I can always try again!

 

[keithcandler]

Ryan, depending on the caliber, you may have one heck of a job getting that barrel clean after 250 rounds. I have worked on some barrels for days with that much shooting.

Of course, for 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards you can get by without much cleaning.