What bore cleaner do you use ?!

[keithcandler]

Bore tec C 4 for carbon with a good bronze bristle brush, then Wipe out or bore tec's copper solution, none of which offend the nose.

Brush does the work on the carbon, and wipe out does not touch carbon fouling unless the gun has not been shot much with small cartridges. Hawkeye bore scope and Lyman bore scopes tell all. No voo doo magic here, brushes do the work on scrubbing out carbon.

 

[keithcandler]

Si


As long as you use it with good bronze bristle brushes to get out the carbon, you are good to go. Otherwise, the carbon will just continue to accumulate. Hawkeye bore scope says so shooting 35-50 rounds through 6 Dasher to 7 Magnum. You can soak it for 3 days, carbon will still be there if you don't brush.

You will learn what cleans your particular barrels when you own a bore scope, and I have owned one or more for a long time. Lyman's bore scope is a dandy, plenty good enough for the competitive shooter and hunter...best $200 a guy could spend.

 

[Sflutes]

IMO you should give up on the nylon brushes, and of course never use stainless. Buy your bronze bristled, brass cored, brushes by the dozen, and retire them when they are no longer tight in the bore. (Save a few for case necks.) To extend their lives, rinse them in a little rubbing alcohol (from a flip top solvent bottle) when you are done. That should stop the copper solvent from eating the bristles, and evaporate quickly. What kind of cleaning rod and guide are you using? Do you have something to hold your rifle while you are cleaning it? As long as you are getting good results on the target, I wouldn't get crazy about having a factory barrel spotless inside all the time. It may be counterproductive. Heck, it may even be for a match barrel. It depends on the individual barrel.

 

[keithcandler]

sflutes, good post. There is a serious issue with carbon build up as I am sure you are aware of. The carbon gets super cooked, accuracy goes to pot, then you are in trouble.

I did some experiments while shooting p. dogs. I would shoot 125 rounds in between cleanings, then 300, with cases like 22/250 AI and 243 AI. 223's would go 300 in between cleanings. 6 ppc and 6 BR would go 300 easy with H335 and AA2230. I went to 600 one time on a 6 ppc, and it took 6 weeks of serious cleaning to get the bore clean. I pushed 4 wet patches thorough the bore, then went to using JB on a new Brush with 90 strokes on the brush, threw the brush away, put on a new brush for another rifle. Bores were pretty much clean on the 300 round fired. 600 on the 223, 6's, and 6 Rem was too much. Accuracy of these rifles was tiny, tiny groups, with head shots at 300 the norm, custom barrels all, 40'x, custom retired benchrest rifles, with 12x-32x scopes.

P. dog shooting tests a guys cleaning methods, and barrel life. Barrels would continue to shoot well, fire cracked, jumping the heck out of bullets, throat worn, but would not take carbon or copper fouled bores if accuracy was going to be maintained.

I spray brake cleaner or engine starter(better) on the brushes that are not worn out.

 

[H82MISS]

Sflutes,
So I need to throw away the nylon brushes. Whose bronze brushes are you using ??
I need to order several dozen. I've used Hoppes brand but they don't hold up worth a crap.

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

I still haven't seen the need for brushes. I spray the bore down with cleaner, keep wet for at least a half hour and patch clean. Repeat as needed. PB Blaster cuts carbon pretty well. Just let it sit a while. The key is to spray or drown the bore. Patches and brushes don't leave enough cleaner in the bore to be as effective as they could be.

 

[keithcandler]

I order brushes in the dozen pack from Brownell's

Dewey

Pro shot

Brownell's

https://www.brownells.com/gun-clean...ozen-pack-bronze-rifle-brushes-prod40081.aspx

Brushes wear down. It is the spring or the bend in the bristle that has the scrubbing power, but if you go too big, then the radius of the bristle bending is scrubbing and not so effective. Also, over size brushes can leave broken bristles in the chamber or outside the chamber and causing problems.

So, when a brush wears down, the brush is only contacting the tops of the lands, not scrubbing the bottom of the groove where you really need it to work the very best.

 

[Barrelnut]

I kinda keep my brushes and when I wear down the 30 cal ones I use them in a 284 cal rifle etc

 

[keithcandler]

Barrel nut, that will work if they are not over size, correct amount of bend in the bristle is optimum to get the tip of the bristle to do the brushing.

45, I will try PB blaster, have some sitting on the shelf. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Pa Grizz]

I a

Sweets. about 8 or 10 min. make sure it's all out. They stay pretty clean.

I agree with the Sweets,but you have to put Rem oil or something like it because Sweet's leaves nothing in there You have bare metal and it can rust

 

[MAF47]

Can say that everybody has his own recipe: important is to be comfortable with...
But between the no-brushes method and the strong-use of bronze brushes there is IMO the solution of nylon brushes with a good solvent (I use the ELIMINATOR), that works well on both carbon and copper. In the years I changed from KG to MC#7 ending to Eliminator, effective and odorless. Nylon brushes to avoid false readings.

 

[Randy Tidwell]

Butches Bore Shine during matches or testing. For a thorough cleaning KG12!

After a thorough cleaning, I use both Prolix Solvent and Oil.

https://www.prolixlubricant.com/

I run 3-4 wet patches with Prolix Solvent, 3-4 dry patches, then two wet patches with Prolix oil. Before shooting, one dry patch and I am ready to go.

Prolix is a citrus base solvent with dry lube suspended in both the solvent and oil. Really cuts down on copper and carbon fouling. Been using it for years.

I soak my AR bolts in Prolix, never have any carbon build up. Cleaning is a breeze afterwards.

Be careful with any of the copper cutting solvents, they will destroy a barrel very quickly. A friend brought me his Cooper a couple years ago because it wouldn't shoot anymore (looked like a shotgun patern), looked at it with my bore scope.... Wow. Looked like he scrubbed it with a rat tail file. Said he left Sweets in it over night.

Had to send it back to Cooper for a new barrel.

 

[JimmyCP]

I have been using KG12 copper solvent, and wondered if there is something else anyone else uses they find better in any way? I was using Butchs Bore Shine, but thought the KG line might do a better job without the smell.
I know theres tons of videos out there on various bore cleaners, and methods of cleaning but I was looking for advice from you shooters here.
Thanks !!!

I use a home brew edds red. And a home brew of copper solvent. 32% amonia cut to 14% with ivory dish soap. Works better than sweets 7.62. But if your not going to make your own, hopes number 9 and sweets 7.62 works as intended. I just clean so many rifles over the year I started ma king my own.
Tried shure shot and alot of the others in the past, this is what works best for me especially on copper fouling.

 

[JimmyCP]

Butches Bore Shine during matches or testing. For a thorough cleaning KG12!

After a thorough cleaning, I use both Prolix Solvent and Oil.

https://www.prolixlubricant.com/

I run 3-4 wet patches with Prolix Solvent, 3-4 dry patches, then two wet patches with Prolix oil. Before shooting, one dry patch and I am ready to go.

Prolix is a citrus base solvent with dry lube suspended in both the solvent and oil. Really cuts down on copper and carbon fouling. Been using it for years.

I soak my AR bolts in Prolix, never have any carbon build up. Cleaning is a breeze afterwards.

Be careful with any of the copper cutting solvents, they will destroy a barrel very quickly. A friend brought me his Cooper a couple years ago because it wouldn't shoot anymore (looked like a shotgun patern), looked at it with my bore scope.... Wow. Looked like he scrubbed it with a rat tail file. Said he left Sweets in it over night.

Had to send it back to Cooper for a new barrel.

Lol I believe sweets says max 15 min