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Posted: 7/15/2005 9:27:52 AM EDT
| Took my new AR to the range for the first time last weekend and shot about 60-80 55gr FMJ through it while sighting it in (and having some fun with itHas |
| I'm having the exact same problem. I went through about 2,000 rounds on my rifle. And have decided to clean it out like new. I ran about 30 or so swabs through the barrel and it still comes out dirtier than ever (I used the Hoppes gun cleaner on each swab). It's like it just won't come clean. I'm looking for some good spray on cleaner than I can let sit, then scrub with toothbrush, then rinse with hot water. If I can somehow find a superb degreaser that would allow me to do that process... As far as getting the barrel clean, I'm having no luck. |
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Barrel break in reduces this problem, at least in my limited cases with stainless barrels. I doubt CrMo differs on this respect. Even the finest hand lapped barrel does not get the leade lapped because it is nigh impossible to do this. Lapping the bore and grooves removes all machining marks, replacing them with lapping marks in the direction of the bullet travel. But where the chamber/throat reamer was turned, the finely lapped lands are now cut with tooling marks at right angles to the bullet travel. With fresh, sharp tooling marks, tiny bits of the bullet are abraded each time the rifle is fired. These particles are vaporized by the hot powder gas, condensing on the cool barrel steel all the way down the bore. After each bullet, these rough areas in the leade fill with jacket material, preventing any polishing of the barrel and causing enough friction (similar metals gall) to coat the bore with copper. Cleaning after each shot for the first 10 rounds is the most important. |
| I use the Slip 2000 Carbon Cutter in mine. Watch the crap run out. If you can plug one end of the barrel and and let it soak for 5-10 minutes then pore the contents back into the container (becaues you can use it over and over) then run a brush through a couple of times. Hit it with warm or hot water and watch the crud run out. Make sure that you re-lube very good with Slip 2000 lube or any other good lube to make sure you don't leave any bare metal behind to rust. This Carbon Cutter works very well on carbon and most other fouling. www.slip2000.com |
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Brownells Heavy duty nylon brushes, part #084-444-001 Slip 2000 works well as a carbon cutter, I use Shooters Choice bore cleaner and copper remover. SC copper remover works pretty well and isn't as harsh as Sweets but Barnes CR-10 is from what I've heard the best for copper. I'll be using it as soon as I find some locally or a good distributor for it. Also, the VFG pellets from Brownells work great for applying cleaners, J&Bs also might make swabbing through the carbon and copper a little easier and work great on the VFG Pellets. J |
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shot my ss recon/reece and all it took was like 5 patches to get a clean bore. used the foaming copper remover think it was outers or shooters forget, but i just let that work for a few mins then went at it with the brush for about 2-3 passes then brake clean along with patches of clp |
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Sometimes even when the barrel IS really clean you can still get a little residual cleaning solvent "dribble" coming from the gas hole. When this happens the patch may come out clean EXCEPT for a dark streak where the patch passes by the gas hole. This may be more common when using some solvents compared to others. A bore-scope SHOWS me EXACTLY what shape the inside of the barrel is in, so there is no guesswork. However a a bore-scope ain't cheap. |
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Try cleaning your bore brush with some brake cleaner after you use it to brush your bore. The brush if not cleaned can redeposit the carbon back in the bore. I have also found that a new bore brush will usually help to. I have had the best luck with Sinclair International's brushes and they are $9.95 a dozen. Are you using a jag and not a looped end to push a patch through the bore? After you push a patch through wipe the cleaning rod off with a rag and you will see all the crap that will come off of it. I would try some Butch's Bore Shine it is great stuff. |
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My guess is that your bore is still a bit rough with machining marks (you didn’t mention the brand or if it has a lapped bore). Carbon gets in these marks and seems to continually bleed out. If so, then frequent cleaning and shooting should smooth it out. If this doesn’t work, using something like Tubb’s Final Finish system (basically bullets coated with abrasives) might help. I’d consider this a last resort. And, I certainly wouldn’t use these in a genuine lapped match barrel (like a Krieger or such). Patches, in my view, don’t really do much to scrub out a barrel. Rather, they just mop up debris that has been loosened by a solvent, brush, or abrasive cleaner. If you don’t do a good job loosening that debris to begin with, you’ll be getting dirty patches for a really long time. I nowadays just use Remington Bore Cleaner (an abrasive) on a patch wrapped around an old bore brush. It seems to clean a bore out really quickly and without requiring a lot of effort. However, it is an abrasive so you wouldn’t want to get too carried away with it. Also, it doesn’t take much carbon to soil a patch. IMHO, once they’re coming out a light gray, you’re finished. |
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