I Was Wrong. I'm Sorry
 

I've had oil soaking in the bore of the Pro Hunter for 3 days. This morning I found brake cleaner, a Scotch Brite pad, and some more JB's. I spent about another two hours working the bore. It's not perfect yet, but it's a lot better. There's still a couple areas of concern but on my next day off I'll work on it more.
Anyway, as embarassing as it is, most of my problems I'm guessing were whatever TC puts in their bore. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions and made such a big deal out of it. I also have a call in to the manager of Dicks so I can apologize to him.
Again, I'm sorry and I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions. I hope this doesn't make anyone too mad.

:D Takes alot of work to get that packing lube out. :D

From my perspective... a learning experiance gained... NOTHING that some else might not do somewhere in the future..

Keep moving forward...

Nothing to be sorry about . You polished out a big bunch of imperfections in a rough bore. Something that should have been done by TC.

Some of these rifles are just a bear to clean. I am sure it for the protection of the metal. BUT why does it have to be so hard to get the stuff out. Glad you have the problem under control. Get it nice and clean, then go shoot it. Have fun.

Thanks for telling everybody. It takes a man of character to admit he was wrong.

Part of the problem is until you get all the oil out. It looks like rust.

I used up a whole can of brake cleaner, and finally had to wrap some 0000 steelwool around a brush with brake cleaner to get it all out.

Glad I didn't give up though. It's the best shooting ML i've ever owned.

I shot it again this morning. I boosted the load from 100gr to 110gr with 300gr Thors. It took my 1 1/4' groups @100yds to sub MOA.

My hunting gun is ready for next Sept. I'm not changing nothing.

Ive seen some really nasty packing lube that looked like rust too and not just cosmoline. Ive even seen some on a few old NIB Knights that hardened and got darker.

Brake cleaner and a bronze brush usually break it loose before a normal cleaning. Diesel fuel or Kerosene will soften it too if you want to let it soak.

Just another learning experience. No worries, before too long you'll be killing deer with that rifle.

Thanks guys. I stilll can't believe how bad that was to clean. I've never seen a gun that was that bad. There's still a couple spots I need to work on but I'm letting oil soak on them some for a few more days and I'll try to finish cleaning and get the scope mounted on Saturday. Looks like more rain and snow showers this weekend so I don't know if I'll get to shoot or not.