Re: The .338 Rogue _ Post Melonite Barrel Cleaning
shortgrass had it right. Still crud in the bore from the nitride treatment.
Initially, I ran a KG-1 Carbon Cleaner soaked patch down the bore. That's the patch shown in the upper left in the base of the white plastic bucket. I thought "that doesn't look too bad". Sort of a reddish-brown color.
Next I set the barrel in the 2 1/2 gallon white plastic bucket next to the laundry sink. I got some hot water running, and ran a nylon bore brush down the bore with a stout dose of liquid dish washing soap back and forth thru the bore about 10 times. Rinsed the bore, bore guide, bore brush, and cleaning rod with hot water. Some blackish brown staining showed in the lathery suds that were formed, and in the bottom of the white plastic bucket.
I replaced the nylon bore brush with a bronze/brass bore brush and repeated with liquid dish washing soap with the brass bore brush. Swabbed the brass brush 10 - 15 round trips down the bore. Now we're cookin'. Don't even bother with the nylon bore brush. I think you can see from the photos (compare the above photo nylon brush use to the below two photos bronze brush use), the nylon bore brush wasn't even touching/removing the black gritty particulates that remained in my bore from the salt bath nitriding treatment. I kept a Lucas bore guide in the chamber to keep the cleaning rod centralized in the bore. Rinse the bore, cleaning rod, brass brush, and the Lucas bore guide in hot water. Repeat with brass bore brush and liquid dish washing soap 4 more times, for a total of 5 separate soapy bore cleanings with the brass bore brush. By the 4th and 5th efforts, much less blackish staining is produced.
After the brass bore brush there's a blackish staining to the soapy lather and there are blackish particulates settling to the bottom of the white plastic bucket. I think the goal is to remove these black particulates from the bore to the extent possible, prior to firing bullets down the nitrided bore.
The bottom of the bucket was a clean white color prior to the use of the brass bore brush.
Next I cleaned the chamber with a 16 gauge brass shotgun bore brush and liquid dish soap. Spun this brass bore brush with a battery powered drill in the chamber of the barrel. Rinsed everything off with very hot water (water heated in microwave), while wearing nitrile gloves to prevent scalding burns to my left hand. Next I spun some Flitz inside the chamber using a snug fitting brass bore brush wrapped with cotton fabric until snug fitting, to polish any remaining particulates from the nitride treatment out of the chamber.
Using the brass bore brush in the chamber, and especially in the bore, as much as I ran it down the bore, will leave bronze/brass on the surface of the bore. So out comes the Bore Tech Eliminator (BTE) next. I soaked the bore with BTE by letting enough liquid run down the bore and rotating the barrel to liquid coat all interior bore and chamber surfaces. I let some of the excess drip on the white paper towel in the bottom of the bucket. Left the BTE in the bore for 10 minutes and then swabbed bore with cleaning patches. The heavy bluish staining is residual from the brass bore brush. In addition to the blue from the brass bore brush, I noted some brownish staining on the BTE patches. This is especially visible on the square patch in the center of the bucket.
Since the BTE soaked patches were removing a brownish stain from the bore, I soaked a nylon bore brush with BTE and ran it back and forth 15 times. Patched out the bore. Used the nylon bore brush soaked in BTE again. The blue staining from the use of the brass bore brush in the bore was long gone, yet I continued to get some brown staining on the white patches. I continued with BTE until only a very little brown stain was produced on new white patches.
Then I ran a few acetone soaked patches down the bore and in the chamber to remove all cleaning products. Lastly, I sprayed some Tri-Flow lubricating/penetrating product on some white patches and swabbed the bore a number or times. The lowest-most round patch in the bucket is the Tri-Flow patch. Just a very little brownish staining. DONE.
I also applied BTE on patches and cleaned the exterior of the barrel. Then also applied Tri-Flow to the exterior of the barrel for storage.
Took me 1 1/2 to 2 hours from start to finish. I'm a piddler...
