Help with cleaning barrel

[Buano]

...
Well, actually...I am running a little short of patience by now!
The rifle build turned out beautiful... Naturally, that would be the one that gives me fits!
3 scopes, 2 stocks, 6 powders, 5 bullets and 3 primers and won't dip under 1 moa and stay there.
Will try some flat base bullets tomorrow.
If it doesn't get under 1 MOA and stay there... I'll contact Bartlein.

I wouldn't accept a custom gun that isn't a shooter. "Pretty" is nice, but they must SHOOT!

 

[emp1953]

I have a custom Rock Creek barrel chambered in 7 SS. I'm using a Possum Hollow bore guide, Dewey coated rod and Patch out with Accellerator.

In the first 10 inches of the barrel is black in the bottom of the grooves. I have soaked and let sit and ran a bunch of patches to no avail. I do have to bend my rod just a little to get over the higher butt on my Alpine Hunter stock, but wouldn't think that the black is from my rod.

68 rounds down the barrel.

Ideas or thoughts?
Steve

While at a range session with my SIG 970SHR in .270win I was shooting group after group of 1/2moa or less at 100yds. A coupla regulars there approached me and asked when was the last time I cleaned it good. I answered that I had not. They assured me that if clean the rifle would shoot even tighter. So they pitched in. Looked down it with a borescope and it looked like the inside of my grandfathers coal stove. Long story short, after cleaning I couldn't get under 1.5moa at 100yds. Same loads. One of these guys shot it before cleaning and duplicated my tight groups, and again after duplicating the larger groups. After around 30 rounds or so the groups again tightened up. It just likes to shoot dirty, so that's how I shoot it. I pull a patch through it once in a while just to say to myself that I cleaned it. I'm shooting 150gr Nosler partitions over 51.2gr of H4350, CCI200 primers, Federal Cases. .020 off the lands. I didn't expect that kind of accuracy out of the partitions. If I do my part I can regularly get 2" groups at 300yds. And the bullet performs great on whitetails out to my farthest shot to date, 605yds.

 

[VinceMule]

Best to buy a barrel blank and have it set to be put on, This kind of thing is very, very irregular. Barrels that take 30 rounds to get to a point where they start shooting well, first need to be cleaned down to the bare metal, then bore scoped, then determine the bore dia at the muzzle, breach, and points in between. All the top barrel makers would agree to replace the barrel if it was one of their own. Barrels that need a lot of rounds to get back accuracy, can and Will become unpredictable in terms of accuracy. Never think that keeping your barrel clean is a bad thing.

Fouling is not a constant, as the layers of Copper, then carbon keep getting thicker, reducing the bore dia. At some point, the carbon becomes as hard as the steel. I have seen barrels that had so much fouling in them, that a Minimum book load produced so much pressure, it was hard to get the bolt open.

Bore scoping that Sig, would surely be an eye-opener.

Another issue is that accuracy will be lost due to fouling, then removing the fouling by a gunsmith will be so time-consuming for him(specialized equipment) but it will be more cost-effective to replace the barrel. Most gunsmiths have little to no patience with guys that don't want to clean their guns, then want their guns cleaned for cheap money when Shop time is usually $60-120 per hour. Most gunsmiths know the problems on neglected barrels and just will tell a guy that they do not have the time to do the job properly. ON std hunting rifles, gunsmiths make a lot of money cleaning and sighting in rifles for the owner. The Quality of the cleaning job is in question, because on neglected barrels, a guy could be looking at 6 or more hours of work, not to mention the supplies used. At some point of neglect, barrels can not be cleaned, the carbon is as hard as diamonds.

 

[Hugnot]

Black film in stainless barrel subject to heat?

"It means that stainless steel's most prominent stainless property is corrosion resistance, which results from its ability to form and regenerate a chromium oxide layer in the presence of oxygen. However, stainless steel does not provide corrosion resistance below the oxide layer. As a result, once corrosion initiates, it progresses rapidly.

Heat tints occur because the oxygen in an active gas or the atmosphere forms a heavy oxide layer, consuming the chromium that is immediately below the top surface layer. Layers that have a silver to straw color are good, while heavier layers that progress from a purple/bluish tint to a gray/black tint are not so good."

 

[Avalanch]

Thirty-Fifty passes with dry bronze brush, 3-4 passes with patch wetted with Shooters Choice or Butch's Bore cleaner, 4-6 passes with tight dry patch, then repeat until satisfied with the last dry patch. I've tried several other things, of course, but above procedure is only one that ever did give me a really clean bore. Avalanch

 

[Mcranch]

I've got many different bullets from all name brands from 120 to 180 grain in 7mm.
I didn't try them all since I was going for the mid-weight hunting class of bullets...(barrel is 8.7 twist).
I started with 140 up to 168 and it showed preference to neither with several favorable powders for the 280AI.
My other one (8 twist) shoots almost anything I give it with the worst still being an acceptable load if need be.
Hope I didn't get the odd ball but I'm beginning to get that weak feeling.

Is this barrel one of the 5r cuts?

 

[Bruce Treloar]

My Bartlein is the same, 450 rounds. I used CLR and a plastic brush to deep clean a few weeks ago. Groups instantly tightened up to 1/2 moa but I still had the carbon layer. Bore paste might get rid of it but I'm not using that stuff on this barrel.

View attachment 371383

It's just starting to heat crack and progressively gets worse looking like mud chips in the bottom of a dried up dam. The thinner the barrel the faster they heat up and shorter the life. Would suggest barrel makers running in procedure making sure the barrel is kept free of copper . Avoid group shooting and try for cold barrel accuracy which will be more like field shooting anyway. I have found JB bore cleaner to be excellent if completely removed after use. I would clean after 10 shots and your barrel should last a lot longer.

 

[Roughrice]

Is this barrel one of the 5r cuts?

Yes.

 

[leaver action hunter]

I have a custom Rock Creek barrel chambered in 7 SS. I'm using a Possum Hollow bore guide, Dewey coated rod and Patch out with Accellerator.

In the first 10 inches of the barrel is black in the bottom of the grooves. I have soaked and let sit and ran a bunch of patches to no avail. I do have to bend my rod just a little to get over the higher butt on my Alpine Hunter stock, but wouldn't think that the black is from my rod.

68 rounds down the barrel.

Ideas or thoughts?
Steve

Plug the end of the barrel, make it water tight. Then fill the barrel with HOPPE'S # 9 BORE CLEANER,
let it sit over night. Then run your brush through the barrel 10 or 15 times.
Have you tried removing the barrel from the stock, one screw should do it, or simply run the cleaning rod down the business-end of the barrel, like us leaver action guys do.