Sweets Copper Remover
 

I know alot of people on here uses sweets. I have used it alot too. My gunsmith just told me that he uses " brake clean" from auto stores after using sweets to get out all the ammonia or it will etch the barrel under neath your oil you apply. I asked even if you go thru the barrel 5 times with new patches. He still is convinced that you can' t get out all ammonia. What do ya think about that statement?

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

Bigcountry, so basically this guy is saying that the oil you put over it will not neutralize its(Sweets) corrosive properties. I think this could be possible and I would think it would depend on the quality of the oil used. I have very mixed opinions on the various copper removers having tried them all and prefer not to use them. If I suspect there is that much copper buildup than the Outers Foul out 3 comes into use. Lately I have been trying Montana Xtreme...now if you take the cap off this stuff and take a wiff it will knock you down. The company and suppliers claim it can be left in the bore and will not damage it....I have tried it and it is every bit as effective as the Sweets and the CR-10 but my deweys cleaning rod didn' t melt(like it did with CR-10).

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

That' s interesting about the Dewey rod and CR-10. I' ve used a Dewey quite a bit with CR-10 and never had a problem with it, although now I use a Bore Tech rod because it rotates so much better and the handle is quite a bit more comfortable.

I' ve used Sweets and CR-10 and have settled on CR-10 as the better copper solvent. If accuracy is a test of whether or not you' ve got a damaged bore, then I can report that I' ve never had any bore damage as a result of using either of these copper cleaners.

You would think that if ammonia was such a problem that one of the major custom barrel makers (Kreiger, Hart, Shilen & Lilja) would have some kind of warning about it. But they don' t. In fact, here is what Lilja has on their website:

" While we' re aware of " bad press" associated with the use of cleaners with ammonia as part of the solution, we have never seen any damage in one of our barrels caused by the use of ammonia. The rumor is that copper-removing cleaners with ammonia will pit and damage the interior surface of a barrel. Ammonia is very effective as a copper remover. We use solvents, such as Butch' s Bore Shine, to remove copper during the break-in. We routinely leave Butch' s solution in the barrel over night too. Again, I repeat, we have never seen a problem with ammonia in the concentrations found in commercial cleaners, in either our chrome-moly or stainless steel barrels. This includes examination with our borescope."

That' s a pretty strong statement. That and my own experience is enough to keep me from worrying about it.

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

I read that too by Dan Lilja. But I know from experience that if you leave CR10 in the barrel for more than 10 min, you will get rust out of the barrel. That doesn' t sit well with me.

Who knows, I am beginning to think all these years worrying about this and that is just a bunch of voodoo magic. Man, this shooting hobby will drive ya nuts. All I know is I don' t want to pay to have rebarrel again. It ain' t cheap.

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

I generally leave CR10 in the bore for about 15 minutes and I' ve never seen any rust come out. Are you sure it' s rust and not powder fouling left in the bore?

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

Let me just add that mild bore pitting might be a problem for benchrest guns, but for the average rifle it' s probably not going to make much of a difference. I' ve got a Model 1891 Mauser and if you were to look down the bore of that rifle you would swear it wouldn' t be capable of shooting a 20 inch group at 50 yards. The bore looks awful, like rough sandpaper or something. But guess what, with iron sights it' ll put 5 shots in an inch or less at 50 yards almost every time. It just makes you wonder if we sometimes make too much of a deal over this barrel cleaning stuff.

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

Solitary Man, I saw this when all the powder fouling was out. In other words, I removed all the powder fouling with CR10. Dried out the bore with several patches, then put my soaked patch with CR10 thru. Unfortunately, the range officer called for a cease fire. So I couldn' t touch the gun. Then after the cease fire about 15-20 min later, I saw all this red come out of the bore. And it was rust.

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

The use of ammonia-based solvents has been debated a LOT, but from what I' ve heard & read.................the ammonia by itself will do NOTHING to the steel. What it does do is act as a moisture attractant and catalyst that promotes rust in the steel that the trapped moisture contacts.

If this is true, then all one has to do is remove the moisture along with the ammonia and all should be well. This is why after using Sweets or CR-10, I run a few more patches of a standard solvent, followed by a couple of dry patches, and finally by a patch or 2 of denatured alcohol - this should remove the last trace of water moisture as the alcohol evaporates. Follow with a good oil patch and there should be no problem.

At least this has worked for me over the years.

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

Ammonia is volatile, and will dry off the surface of the steel in a short time, the only probalem with frosting of a bore comes when you plug the barrel, ,fill it with ammonia solvent and let it stand for several hours or overnight.
I do err on the conservative side when using ammonia cleaners however. After using an ammonia solvent, I run a few patches of Hoppes #9 through before applying oil.

RE: Sweets Copper Remover
 

I also run a nylon brush and soaked patches after using CR-10 just in case. Good luck.