Copper Streaks
 

I have a .270 a friend gave me, and it has copper streaks at the end of the barrel, and I can't remove them, I tried every copper solvent on the market, and nothing will remove them, so, my question is, will copper streaks hurt the barrel if I clean the gun after every shooting session?

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Please, help.:D

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Did you try CR-10. Let it soak a few minutes, but not too long. Butch's should also clear it up. If not-then it is not copper-although the green would indicate that it was copper. I believe the CR-10 is the best you can get. Tom.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

I have tried it all, will the copper hurt the gun?

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Yes it will hurt the gun. It will cause the barrel to heat up faster(more friction). It will cause more barrel erosion. And it will definitely affect the accuracy, if nothing else. Tom.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Yeah, because its pretty bad, you can see the streaks just by looking down the barrel with a flashlight.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

If you have tried all the standard solvents and they don't work?? Go to a GM dealer and pick up a can of "GM TOP ENGINE" cleaner. Plug the muzzle and let it sit. That works for me on "extremely" fouled rifles. Use plenty of oil after it though.

best of luck

RE: Copper Streaks
 

I have found that no chemical truly takes out all of the coper and the only way to get it all out is that reverse electro plating thing. I think it is called foul out or something. You plug the bottom of the barrel, fill the barrel with a provided solution and then insert the rod (plug it in) and wait a couple of hours. The rod will attract all of the copper and the barrel will e clean. Unless your a competition shooter or a rapid firing sort of dude, dont sweat it too much. You will always have some copper in your barrel. It aint exactly benificial, but a little wont destroy your barrel or render your rifle useless. The kit is about 120 bucks. Once I find the name of it, I'll post it here. EJ

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Try Sweets 7.62 if you haven't already. Just don't let it sit in the bore overnight.

In any case, copper fouling can hinder accuracy and barrel life, but not much for the average hunter shooting the average rifle. It won't "ruin" the gun unless you abuse it endlessly without taking care of maintenance.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Yes, the copper fouling will trash the accuracy of the gun. My very accurate Remington 700 got badly fouled several years ago. It took about 15 sessions with Hoppes Bench Rest to get it out.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

I have the same issues with a few barrel burners. I suggest an abrasive cleaner like a JB polishing compound. It got the streaks out. I bet ya it will remove the streaks from the toughest barrels

Yes, copper can corrode and oxidize and pit a bore.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Have you tried Montana Extreme 50BMG? Very strong stuff. Also, how about JB bore paste? Then there's Wipeout. I've never had a bore not clean up well after using either 50BMG or Wipeout.

A little copper in the barrel won't hurt much of anything. But a lot can and usually does effect accuracy in some way.

BTW, as far as I understand, GM TEC is a carbon remover and does little or nothing for copper.

Try this site for some info on bore cleaning. You'll have to do some searching around to find it, but there's some great info there: www.6mmbr.com

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Thanks for the info, Solitary, I have been doing guns for 30 years, but never payed much attention to the cleaning details, until recently.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

It will only hurt the gun if you notice the accuracy declining. There are some experts that believe that "burnishing" the bore with copper is far superior to removing every speck of it. This is supposedly supposed to smooth over those imperfections in the barrel.

I personally don't know about that. To mehaving copper on copper in your barrel can only lead togalling.

I'm such a freak that I wouldn't be able to sleep util the thing was clean.

I wish I could tell you how to get it out. My gun has "burnished" lands near the end of the barrel and it still shoots sub 1" @ 200 yards.

I had another gun I was using for work that was super accurate and I removed all the copper out of it and it didn't shoot worth a crap until I'd put about 20 rounds through it.

So personally I don't worry about it. If the bore looks good and it's shooting good I leave it alone.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

I use Sweets 7.62 as well. I've never tried CR-10, but Sweets gets crap out of the barrel that I haven't been able to remove with other solvents. The only thing I don't like about it is that it stinks to high heaven.

The electrical system is called Foul-Out. There are several versions made by Outers. Their cheapest one is about $90. It's not practical to use for regular cleaning, but I hear it does a good job on barrels with a lot of fouling. I have never used one.

I agree with many of the others about copper fouling. A little probably doesn't affect much, but a lot can cause problems. I try to get most of it out, but I don't get too worked up if I can't get it all.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Even with cr-10,it can talk a couple of hours to remove all of the copper from a badly fouled barrel.Just keep applying it over and over and eventually the copper will be gone.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

Is the gun shooting badly? I know that in the magazines that I have read in years past this is one area that some swear by having thier barrel a bit fouled to maintain accuracy, and some swear by an ultra clean barrel to maintain peak accuracy. I am not sure which to believe since I just clean my guns after a couple of boxes of shells. More to keep them from rusting during storage than for accuracy. I dont know which solvent is best to get the copper out but I will wish you good luck on being able to get the rifle back to good condition.

RE: Copper Streaks
 

No, the gun shoots good 1" groups conssitently, If its shooting that good, I'm not gonna worry about the copper streaks, I'll just clean the gun after shooting, with a good copper solvent.