Last year I mistakenly left my minty VZ58 sit for many months after shooting many mags of corrosive ammo.  DUH !!!  I went to work on it with various known brands of carbon/copper solvents at great length.  I have a bore scope and after what I thought was a thorough cleaning the bore was still darkly frosted and could still see rust, debris, and what looked like pitting all over the place.  I was devastated.  I'd like to record and share a system/method I've developed to work on rough/dark/pitted bores and has given me better results than running a million patches and brush strokes with any single product.  

1) Plug the chamber (and gas port if applicable) and fill the bore with “Evapo-Rust ER088 Super Safe Rust Remover Gel”.  https://evapo-rust.com/evapo-rust-gel/    Says to let sit for at least two hours.  I let it sit overnight.  Pour it out, push through a few dry patches to purge the rest. “Rinse” with a few patches wetted with Kroil and dry.

2) Next I move to a carbon cleaner.  I use Carb-Out  https://sharpshootr.com/carb-out/   .  Push 2-3 wet patches, wet a brass brush and scrub 10-15 strokes and let sit 10-15 mins.   Push 2-3 more wet patches and let sit again 10-15 mins.  Push through a few dry patches till dry (perhaps not clean) then “Rinse” with a few patches wetted with Kroil and dry again.  (Carb-out works great.  I even used it on my stainless steel stove to to clean years of carbon around the base of the burners.  Also, will leave very a light film of it on gas piston/system parts on all my semi-autos)

3) Next I move to a Copper cleaner.  I use Barrett’s Bore Cleaner.  Secret formula but no petroleum distillates or ammonia.  http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2009/05/new-highly-effective-bore-cleaner-from-barrett/ .  Push 2-3 wet patches, wet a nylon brush and scrub 10-15 strokes and let sit 10-15 mins.   Push 2-3 more wet patches and let sit again 10-15 mins.  Push through a few dry patches till dry (perhaps not clean) then “Rinse” with a few patches wetted with Kroil and dry again.  You might have to run this step twice if you’re super anal about copper fouling.

This brought my VZ58 bore back to shiny, bright and my bore scope showed the lands to be sharp again.  A frickin miracle !!!  After that I did this on a rotten, dark-bore K98 I picked years ago (previously  tried to clean with little results).  Now, it’s not bright, shiny and crisp but it’s now more lightly frosted with less extreme-looking pitting and much clearer edges on the lands.   This past weekend I performed this regimen on a PU re-sniper I put back together.  Had a dark not so rough bore and got similar results with even more shine and better looking lands.   My worst bore is a SCW Polish K-98 and it’s stashed in the back of the closet.  https://www.gunboards.com/threads/new-to-me-polish-k98-spanish-civil-war-mauser-gun-porn-inside.393780/#post-3292129  .  I think I shot it apart but before that it was decent irons-shooter to 200yds.  It’ll be a worst case test but if that Mauser is truly spent it may not be worth my time.

Will any of this result in better accuracy performance?  No clue.  They’re all milsurps after all (BUT THEY’RE CLEAN !!!)  Oh, and don’t get a bore-scope.  You might not like what you find.

You should always try and shoot them before and after to give up an idea on performance. Cleaning can absolutely have negative effects under certain circumstances. Rust and corrosion takes a little metal with it when removed.

It’s always fun to see if a nasty gun shoots well. I’ve seen some trashed beat up barrels perform well.

How did you choose the order? I’ve seen guys go both ways on copper and carbon.