Is Varget Dirty?

[justgoto]

When I first started reloading I was using VIHT N 135 and IMR 4064 in my 30-30. Using those powders I would be able to clean my barrel perfectly clean well under an hour.

I started trying some of Hodgdon extreme powders, first it was H 322 and now Varget. I first noticed the H322 was very hard to clean, and I mean hard to push my brush through the build-up of powder residue. I would be able to get the barrel completely clean in about an hour, but the powder would have an extreme extreme spread so I started using Varget.

Varget works wonderfully except that the barrel will not come perfectly clean now. I get patch after patch after patch of powder residue. Maybe I thought the H322 was coming clean and it wasn't.

I am using Hoppe's 9, Liquid Wrench penetrating oil, and isopropyl rubbing alcohol as powder residue solvents. I only shoot copper jacketed bullets and even with velocities above 2500fps it doesn't copper foul so I don't use any copper solvent.

Liquid wrench takes out about the same amount of dirt as the Hoppe's and the patches look about the same. The alcohol seems to get about the same but the patches look different. Here are the last ones I used of each solvent.

The first one is alcohol, the second is Hoppe's, and the third is Liquid Wrench... I am using a cotton t-shirt for patch material.

I apply with a bronze brush for all, but only let the Liquid Wrench and Hoppe's sit in the barrel for 5 to 10 minutes.

I've used only Hoppe's for quit a few of the last applications and that patch is the last one, it sat for about 5 minutes.

Questions:

Could the alcohol be doing something to my barrel that I am not aware of? I just started using it as a solvent maybe 2 months before I started using Varget. I started using it for the H 322 to loosen-up the caked-on residue. I always remove it right away then apply oil when done cleaning.
I usually clean until I get a few patches that look about like that, then use Hoppe's or Liquid Wrench, then apply oil to store.
I'll clean it thoroughly about every month or 2.

Is Varget a lot dirtier than I first thought? Do I need to clean the barrel thoroughly every time?

 

[Buffalobob]

Get some of the foam bore cleaner and put it in the barrel and let sit a while. Use a plastic bristle brush and scrub the bore about ten times and patch out the bore. Repeat a couple or so times.
Now take some Butches Bore Shine and clean the barrel. Do not mix different chemicals in the barrel. If the plastic brush seems to encounter a carbon ring then go to a brass brush and see if that helps. If you definitely have a carbon ring then get some JB paste and a one caliber down plastic brush. With the barrel dry of other solvents take a patch and wrap around the small plastic brush and then put a little JB paste on the patch and insert it into the throat and scrub the throat about 10 times or so and then check to see if the carbon ring is gone. Instead of JB Paste you may use Isso paste but be aware it always comes out black because it reacts with the steel.

It is very frequent that a patch will come through clean when there is a hardened carbon ring in the throat so a clean patch means little.

 

[Gunner5607]

Been using Varget and I don't find it to be "Dirty". Using Bore Tech products with a nylon brush gets my bore very clean. Some of the new cleaners will start to eat away a brass brush so watch out for that.

 

[justgoto]

Thanks for the information and help!

 

[justgoto]

I do see a ring but it is just into the lands...

That isn't what I am looking for, is it?

I had gotten it so there was no longer dirt on any patches before this pic was taken.
It does look like there is dirt on the neck part of the chamber. I'll look into getting a brush to clean that.

I figured I would add this picture since it shows more of what the bore looks like, (without the mirror.)

It looks like that on the other end but the mirror I am using to view the barrel is scratched and making it look a bit bad.

 

[Gunner5607]

Looks very good. In the chamber area you could use a couple of patches soaked in a carbon remover and stuff them into it. Let them sit (as per solvent instructions). A chamber mop can help clean it up or just some patches with a small pick.

You might want to check out the Action Cleaning Tool from Bore Tech.