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Bore brushes and solvent- continued
jonk
Member Posts: 10,121
I read the last topic on recommendations for bore brushes too late to comment on it, but wanted to weigh in on the matter.
Shooting mainly vintage military guns myself, I'm quite familiar with the issue. The problem isn't so much what to use, but what works well with a bore that is often pitted, which holds in more fouling, has not been properly cleaned in decades (if ever), and yet not damaging the antique gun.
There are essentially two options available- chemical removal, including the electro-chemical method, and mechanical removal. Most applications involve some of both.
Using a good nylon coated rod, you're probably not going to be able to overclean these guns in just one sitting, it would take time after time after time, so don't be afraid to put the elbow grease to them the first cleaning out. What I usually do is start with Ed's Red or any commercial general bore cleaner to remove the top layer of gunk. Use a good brush- any material is fine, you're only going to have to do this so aggressively once, I personally use bronze. Wet it in solvent, push it through. Some say don't work it back and forth; I personally do if the bore is really neglected. The big thing is, don't reverse it in mid bore, it will ruin the brush. Do about 30-50 passes, wetting the brush every 10 or so. Follow up with some wet patches, maybe 10, let the thing soak about an hour, then dry. Then pour about a quart of boiling hot soapy water down the bore to open up the pores in the metal, dry patch, and repeat the wet solvent patch treatment.
You've now gotten most of the powder fouling off the surface of the bore, and a good bit of metal fouling too. Now it's time to let chemistry take over. Fill the bore with wipe out foaming cleaner or if you can't find it, outers foaming cleaner is about as good, just takes longer. Let it sit overnight. A nightmare of purple blue copper fouling will come out with a few dry patches. Repeat until no more color comes out on the dry patch. Now run 1 more patch of your favorite regular powder solvent through, dry, and lightly oil. Remember to remove the oil before shooting.
Anyone who says to use anything other than foaming bore cleaner (Sweets, Hoppes, whatever) for copper removal hasn't tried foaming bore cleaner. I'm that impressed with it.
After shooting, for regular clean up, I usually do a few passes with a nylon brush, then 2-3 wet patches and 2-3 dry followed by the light oiling (I use LSA oil). Maybe every 200 rounds or so I repeat the foaming bore cleaner application if shooting copper jacketed ammo.
As a really off the wall alternative, if you shoot any cast lead, paper patching acts like mild sand paper and will mechanically remove any fouling over time while nicely burnishing the bore to a bright shine.
Shooting mainly vintage military guns myself, I'm quite familiar with the issue. The problem isn't so much what to use, but what works well with a bore that is often pitted, which holds in more fouling, has not been properly cleaned in decades (if ever), and yet not damaging the antique gun.
There are essentially two options available- chemical removal, including the electro-chemical method, and mechanical removal. Most applications involve some of both.
Using a good nylon coated rod, you're probably not going to be able to overclean these guns in just one sitting, it would take time after time after time, so don't be afraid to put the elbow grease to them the first cleaning out. What I usually do is start with Ed's Red or any commercial general bore cleaner to remove the top layer of gunk. Use a good brush- any material is fine, you're only going to have to do this so aggressively once, I personally use bronze. Wet it in solvent, push it through. Some say don't work it back and forth; I personally do if the bore is really neglected. The big thing is, don't reverse it in mid bore, it will ruin the brush. Do about 30-50 passes, wetting the brush every 10 or so. Follow up with some wet patches, maybe 10, let the thing soak about an hour, then dry. Then pour about a quart of boiling hot soapy water down the bore to open up the pores in the metal, dry patch, and repeat the wet solvent patch treatment.
You've now gotten most of the powder fouling off the surface of the bore, and a good bit of metal fouling too. Now it's time to let chemistry take over. Fill the bore with wipe out foaming cleaner or if you can't find it, outers foaming cleaner is about as good, just takes longer. Let it sit overnight. A nightmare of purple blue copper fouling will come out with a few dry patches. Repeat until no more color comes out on the dry patch. Now run 1 more patch of your favorite regular powder solvent through, dry, and lightly oil. Remember to remove the oil before shooting.
Anyone who says to use anything other than foaming bore cleaner (Sweets, Hoppes, whatever) for copper removal hasn't tried foaming bore cleaner. I'm that impressed with it.
After shooting, for regular clean up, I usually do a few passes with a nylon brush, then 2-3 wet patches and 2-3 dry followed by the light oiling (I use LSA oil). Maybe every 200 rounds or so I repeat the foaming bore cleaner application if shooting copper jacketed ammo.
As a really off the wall alternative, if you shoot any cast lead, paper patching acts like mild sand paper and will mechanically remove any fouling over time while nicely burnishing the bore to a bright shine.