electronic bore cleaners

[MontanaRifleman]

Mark...

Just another way to 'skin a cat' so to speak.... I'm all about a cleaning regimen but with a badly fouled rifle, it appears to be a viable alternative.

I don't let mine get that fouled.

However, I may look into soem alternative (like a short rod) for my indoor revolvers. I shoot hard cast lead pills in them.

Yup, another way to skin the cat and an interesting one. I know a local smith who has yet another way. He plugs the chamber and pours pure ammonia down the muzzle and lets it sit for about 20 min. Says it works great... I wouldn't know

The electrolysis method would probably be great for hard cast lead fouling.

Anyway, although this sounds like a good way to get the copper out, Wipeout or BTE seem a little less complicated for a simple man like myself.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Speaking of Amonia (and the devil.....), I was given a bottle of Sweets 7.62 Bore cleaner this evening by a customer who I did some work for. It's amonia based, wasn't sure until I took a whiff. Sure enough, it is.

He told me his smith uses it. I never have but I may try it just to see what it does or does not do.

I guess I need to get the Hawkeye out and look at some barrels and find one with some copper and see just what the amonia based Sweets does.

 

[royinidaho]

Compared to BTE and WipeOut, Sweets is a very very slow process.

Just my experience.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Compared to BTE and WipeOut, Sweets is a very very slow process.

Just my experience.

Thanks Roy. It just appeared on my bench this evening. Never used any of that stuff so I'm a 'newbie' with any and all.

WipeOut is an interesting name. Reminds me of a song from the 60's.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Haven't tried Sweets yet but I've tried a couple of other potent ammonia based cleaners like Butch's and Montana Xtreme 50 BMG and BTE removed what they couldn't in my bores. Another member tried Sweets and had the same results I did when comparing to BTE.

I did have 2 bores scoped by the previous mentioned smith after cleaning them with Wipeout and he said they were about the cleanest bores he had seen brought into his shop... and these were some bad fouling bores. Zero copper and a trace amount of carbon. I told him I had used Wipeout and that's when he told me about his ammonia method. I would say if one is going to use ammonia, use the pure stuff off the shelf. A whole lot cheaper and quicker. That said, I've read too many negative reports on ammonia to put it into my bores.

 

[uka]

Read my comments above HarperC....

You don't want big 'power' as in amperage because the amperage causes the heat during electrolysis and becaue the bore holds a minimal amount of electrolyte, boiling it off is a bad thing. You want a slow steady input in milliamps to provide a slow, steady transfer, Nothing more. Big juice, besides boiling the electrolyte and causing it to gas off would probably etch the bore. SAdditionally, if you seal the bore on both ends (instead of just the chamber end, gassing off will cause a 'firecracker' effect as the pressure will 'pop the plug', whichever end is easier to unseat.

All the commercial units that I see on the net are milliamp output. Thats plenty.... better to err on the side of conservative. You aren't anodizing.

I have a Hawkeye so I may get one and report back. I have not had any copper issues but then I clean my bores after every shoot, whether it's a couple shots or just one. Contrary to a lot of folks on here, I use Hoppes. Never had an issue and it smells good too.

I lloked at the Outers and the Love my Gun unit. Alos looked at many home brew variations. One thing in common across the board, all employ milliamp power supplies.

If I was to make a hone brew unit and use my anodizing power supply, it would be short duration at what it will output at minimum..., 2 amps. I believe I'd have a 'look see' inside after 5 minutes, check the solution temperature and see how the reaction was progressing.

Yes you are right and in the plans we used it said just what you did about to much power.You can monitor it by seeing if the solution is bubbling and just turn down the power. I even spoke with the guy thru email and he told us what the limit was on power setting. anyway with the way outers bore foam works so well with no barrel damage from scrubbing from rod and brush I do not use it anymore. if you are interested in my unit let me know I will send it to you

 

[uka]

Haven't tried Sweets yet but I've tried a couple of other potent ammonia based cleaners like Butch's and Montana Xtreme 50 BMG and BTE removed what they couldn't in my bores. Another member tried Sweets and had the same results I did when comparing to BTE.

I did have 2 bores scoped by the previous mentioned smith after cleaning them with Wipeout and he said they were about the cleanest bores he had seen brought into his shop... and these were some bad fouling bores. Zero copper and a trace amount of carbon. I told him I had used Wipeout and that's when he told me about his ammonia method. I would say if one is going to use ammonia, use the pure stuff off the shelf. A whole lot cheaper and quicker. That said, I've read too many negative reports on ammonia to put it into my bores.

you are right I think I damaged bores with 7.62 sweets and I was dumb enough to use janitors ammonia which seem like it would melt thru tank armor

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have a Hawkeye (bought it for the shop to 'look' inside assemblies and internal machined cavities as well as combustion chambers), not so much for rifle and handgun bores), ......so I can look inside. Problem is, I don't have any bores I want to etch....

It's a wonderful tool for seeing where you can't see, but expensive.

HF offers a much cheaper video unit (the Hawkeye is analog) but the probe is larger so it limits the calibers to larger ones and I'm not sure if it comes with a refractive mirror (so you can 'look' at 90 degrees relative).

Turns out, the Sweets is what one of the group had his smith/friend use to remove fouling on his Kimber that went south on grouping.

I haven't looked inside it, (it didn't come along with him last night).