Is Your Cleaning Patch Angel White?

[MagnumManiac]

Interesting how many of you are so concerned with copper fouling.
I shoot F-Class matches, I do not clean the copper out completely during a season. I run a patch soaked with Hoppe's No.9, one pass, add more Hoppe's, pull back to chamber and another pass out the muzzle. I do this AFTER a match, put the rifle away, travel home, then proceed with patches only, one wet with Hoppe's, leave it sit for an hour, follow with a dry patch, repeat one more time, then patch wet/dry until a patch is clean of CARBON/BLACK on the patch, dry the bore and chamber and rinse with petroleum spirit, allow to evaporate then ONE pass with an oily patch and store away.

All of my comp barrels get scoped after 200-300 rounds, this about the time that they get a thorough cleaning of copper, it lets me know if a set back is required and re-chambering due to throat erosion. I have ALWAYS found that a squeaky clean barrel is LESS accurate than one that is clean of carbon but still has some copper on the bore.
I honestly believe that more barrels are ruined by too much cleaning than shooting.
I know many people, some on the F-Class mound too, that clean even if they only fired a few sighters. Their barrels have to be cleaned, or barrels switched, after a string of shots. This I do not understand, as good barrels should take many more shots before the fouling effects accuracy, I know this to be the case in my barrels, all but 2 are Harts top line target barrels. Next season I will try Brux barrels on my 264 and see how they stack up. I think they should be just as easy to clean, fingers crossed.

Cheers.
gun)

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

I have ALWAYS found that a squeaky clean barrel is LESS accurate than one that is clean of carbon but still has some copper on the bore.
I honestly believe that more barrels are ruined by too much cleaning than shooting.

Agree 100%....over time I've been pushing out cleaning farther and farther and I hasn't made any difference. That said, good barrels do behave better than production barrels. Watch the barrel with the scope and let it talk to you.

 

[ular270]

The only time in 60 years of cleaning barrels I have ever gotten a white patch when finished cleaning my barrel is when I used something called Deaton's Deep Clean. Carl Deaton, a friend from another forum, told me when I was breaking in a barrel to try his product and I did. His orders were to clean my barrel with my favorite cleaner, which at the time was Hoppes Copper Cleaner. Then after I got it as clean as I could, follow up with his product. I did, and when I swabbed that barrel with Deaton's Deep Clean after I thought it was clean, it came out Cobalt Blue, in other words it was still full of copper until I used Deaton's Deep Clean. But few of us picked up on it or paid attention. This is a real loss for long range shooters. This stuff will clean all the copper from your bore and let you realize what a well broken in bore can do for you.

I'm kind of a nastalgia whako and love old stuff. I always wanted a .250 Savage in an accurate bolt gun. So I found a Howa 1500 in .22-250 in a pawn shop and paid $275 for it. I ordered a 26" Krieger Stainless barrel for it and had my favorite Local Gun Smith screw it on and chamber it. He also bead blasted it and reworked the trigger. I left it in the Howa plastic stock because it seemed to be a cut above Remington's and Savage synthetic stocks. And I have found they truly are. He bedded the new barrel in and it shoots accordingly. Even with my old eyes, it is a sub MOA shooter. And that old .250 with 115 or 117 grain bullets kills deer and hogs like lightning at yardage out to 300.

I broke it in with Deatons Deep clean shooting shoot-clean-shoot-clean-shoot-clean for 10 rounds. In other words cleaning after every shot. Then I cleaned after every three shots for 10 rounds. Then after every 5 shots for 10 rounds.

What Carl had me do that to convince me his product was superior to others was to shoot a round of bullets. Then clean it with my favorite copper cleaner until no copper. And then when I thought it was good and copper free, follow it with a patch soaked in Deaton's. I did this and was surprised to see it was still full of copper. I've been using Deaton's every since.

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

Stumbled on something interesting today. I picked up a gallon of PB Blaster penetrating oil for use in the shop. Came back from the range with my stainless Steel Ruger Redhawk all cruded up. Sprayed it down with PB Blaster and went to clean it about five minutes later. I never had an easier job of cleaning a stainless steel handgun before. All the black crap easily just wiped off. Everything but the face of the cylinder cleaned up so easy I was in shock. Nothing else I've used worked that well. Even did a good job on the bore.

 

[vegas steve]

hmmmm,i have alot of pb blaster at the house

 

[bearfart]

After barrel break in, how do you feel about a swab of liquid moly, let dry and then run a tight dry patch? I'm not a fan of moly coated bullets as I've heard they can cause a buildup just forward of the throat, that's why I am more inclined to burnish the entire bore with a micro film of moly.

 

[vegas steve]

how wd i go about getting me some deatons to try?

 

[Sully2]

After barrel break in,..... more inclined to burnish the entire bore with a micro film of moly.

OOOO steel wool lubed with 3 in 1 oil

 

[Roll-Yur-Own]

First let me say that wipe out work well for copper but they have another product called carb out that works great on carbon. The owner of wipe out says don't need it but I think he's just hawking his product. Not taking anything away from wipeout as its a great product but carbout (or another carbon remover) is needed before copper removal. Also, good match barrels don't copper foul much (compared to cheaper barrels) so i think carbon removal is most important.


As for angel white patch......Its like toilet paper....you can wipe and wipe but rarely does it come out angel white!

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

I need to do more trials, but Sea Foam seems to cut the carbon very well.