BALLISTICJESUS, your quote: " The he color of the patch through the barrel will tell you everything you need to know."
Respectively, you are dead wrong. The first lesson you learn when you get a bore scope is how little a clean patch tells you! So much so, it is humbling, and remarkable in it's revelations!
I am trying to teach, not criticize, hope you take my comment in that light. I have a Teslong at the lathe, and at the cleaning station.
Another lesson is learned from the Powder Heat Index Chart. Some powders burn very, very hot and they are extremely difficult to get out of a barrel.
These HARD lessons learned using a Bore Scope, proved that all my previous cleaning methods were not cleaning my barrels, which resulted in less accuracy and shorter barrel life. At one time, I was shooting 20,000 rounds a year on P. dogs, jackrabbits, p. dogs, Ground Squirrels, and Coyotes in the Winter. We started using a medical device that is almost identical to the Teslong 10" in 1987, it was a game changer to see the amount of carbon in the barrels.
After I got the bore scope, even the barrels that I shot registered Benchrest with, had carbon in them, only shooting 7-12 shot strings, using good bronze bristle brushes. The Bore scope I had access to in 1987 was humbling on a personal basis, and a game-changer in the scores I shot.
I probably have every cleaning solution and paste you have read about, and make my own barrel and die-lapping compounds. I hate cleaning barrels, but it is the cost of the super accuracy that I want out of my outfits.
I shoot a bunch of Hot Rod wild cats. If you do not get the carbon out, the base of the carbon layer gets so hard that you can not remove it. Then you shoot more and do not get out that baseline, adding up to a base of carbon that gets continuously thicker. Eventually, the barrel will quit shooting, most that do not use a Bore Scope just count it up to short barrel life, replacing the barrel.
Al Oxide in it that go up to 1000 grit are what barrel makers use to lap barrels with. Some of the cleaning products use this grit of Al Oxide to clean with, hence the throat dia is opened up and the square edges of the lands are lapped round.
I shoot:
22/250 AI
22-243 AI
243 AI
6 Rem AI
a number of deer calibers
7 STW
28 Nosler
All of these hot rods require some attention to carbon removal, and that is an understatement.
One of the worst offenders is the 308 Win with IMR XBR 8208 and the 22-243 AI with VARGET
With a military discount, a Teslong may only cost you $75 or less, and it is more important than a good set of Reloading dies.
The use of Abrasives does something that you never hear anyone speak of, and that is opening up the throat and bore dia. JB is probably the least of the abrasives.
If you wait till a gun stops shooting before you clean it, it will be difficult to impossible to get down to the root of the carbon fouling on the steel without considerable use of aggressive abrasives.
If you take any pride in your equipment, get a Teslong bore scope, you owe it to yourself!
teslong.com
