Plastic fouling, now to tell and how to get it off if there?
 

Just out of curiousity, how does one tell if plastic fouling is present in the bore? And does it come out when scrubbed with bore brush and a solvent like CLP or a standard nitro/lead solvent?

When I finish cleaning my ML the bore is always shiny clean and the rifling is clearly defined and there is no visible buildup of anything. When I clean I start by bore-mopping with hot-soapy water to get rid of the bulk of the powder residue. Then I scrub the bore while still wet with a bronze bore brush several times. Then I mop it again. I dry it out with dry patches. Then I run a patch coated with CLP down the bore, then run the brush through a few more times. Then I run dry patches until they come out clean. I' ve never noticed any plastic coming out during the cleaning process, but I alway figured it either wasn' t there, or it was just microscopic amounts that would be invisible.

The main reason I ask is because the groups it' s shot of late haven' t been so great, and I was wondering if invisible plastic fouling might be the culprit.

Thanks,

Mike

RE: Plastic fouling, now to tell and how to get it off if there?
 

Driftrider ,
have you changed loads or bullets lately ? I' ve had no probs with plastic fouling , and it would be visible if you did .

RE: Plastic fouling, now to tell and how to get it off if there?
 

Will generally appear as dull spots in the barrel - hard to see otherwise. CVA makes a product especially for removing plastic fouling, I' m sure there are others.

RE: Plastic fouling, now to tell and how to get it off if there?
 

You might try some bore butter to help lube things up.

RE: Plastic fouling, now to tell and how to get it off if there?
 

I' ve never physically seen the plastic fouling left by sabots.........but I have experienced it. If your rifle ever suddenly starts giving inaccurate results from known good loads - suspect this type of fouling..........that' s what happened to me.

The best way to keep it down is the scrub the bore good with a good bronze brush every time you clean. I also, after all the powder fouling is cleaned out, I like to use the CVA Advanced Sabot Shooter' s cleaner to help break up any possible plastic. I clean like this everytime I shoot, but after 6 mos to a year I still had enough buildup to ruin a day at the range. After it got that bad, I used a bore paste to clean out the gun good and all was well once again. So..........I recommend that if you do much shooting, that you use 2 or 3 patches of such a bore paste like J-Bs, Flitz, USP, etc. every 6 mos or so to keep the bore fresh.

RE: Plastic fouling, now to tell and how to get it off if there?
 

You should never use bore butter with sabots. It will make velocity spreads shoot up. Only number 13.

I always wonder the same thing. So everycleaning, I use the brush alot. Makes me feel better anyway like I got out all the fouling.

RE: Plastic fouling, now to tell and how to get it off if there?
 

Acetone reportedly works well, just be sure to get it all out of there.