Clean Bore
 

I shoot a .300 WSM in an A-Bolt Stalker that loves a clean barrel. I called Browning to see if there were any problems with accuracy after a few shots (6) and they had noticed that the short mags shot much better with a clean barrel. Other than the bothersome nature of having to clean the barrel so often to obtain good accuarcy(MOA) I don't mind too much. What I am wondering is what shooters have found that cleans the barrel well while your at the shooting range? I would suspect I need a powder solvent as well as a copper solvent, but I'm not sure. I would appreciate any input.

RE: Clean Bore
 

I'd advise goin' to a muzzle loader as you can clean the barrel in the act of reloadin' it. :D

RE: Clean Bore
 

Yea, I had a 300RUM one time like that. Its problem was it had a real rough barrel. When you clean out the copper with say sweets, or CR-10, do you notice quite a bit of copper?

RE: Clean Bore
 

What copper solvent I have does color the patches purple after a couple of passes. I haven't used a brush yet on the bore, just patches. Would anyone recommend copper or stainless brushes or simply patches only?

RE: Clean Bore
 

Stay far away from Stainless Steel brushes............. veryy bad joo-joo for steel barrels. Use bronze or plastic brushes only.

The best copper solvents that I've found are Barne's CR-10 and Sweet's 7.62. When using these types of solvents, do not use brass/bronze brushes or jags - only plastic. The ammonia attacks them too along with the copper in the bore - so you'll never know when the bore is clean cause the patches will always come out blue. A fun way to get out copper, is to get a chamber plug and use an over-sized bore mop coated with the CR-10 or Sweet's. Pumping the mop back & forth in the bore creates a blue foam of removed copper - so it's easy to tell when all the copper is out.

Butch's Bore Shine is a pretty good range cleaner, good on powder and decent on copper.

If you really have a bad time with copper fouling, I would suggest using some J-Bs Bore Paste (or similiar product) to smooth out the bore some. Doing so can make a SIGNIFICANT difference in cleaning and accuracy, depending on the original condition of the bore.

RE: Clean Bore
 

Yup stay away from stainless brushes in a barrel it would be like cleaning bird turd off your windshield with a sand plaster. It will get the turd off butttttt!!!!

RE: Clean Bore
 

The link listed below has some good information on barrel cleaning. I use some of the products and methods mentioned there.

http://www.6mmbr.com/borecleaning.html

RE: Clean Bore
 

Like has bee said stay far away from s/s brushes. I'll use the brass brushes to scrub the bore with Hoppes and plastic with Shooters Choice.

RE: Clean Bore
 

Have you guys seen how a bronze brush scratchs the bore thru a hawkeye bore scope? Might change your minds on using them.

RE: Clean Bore
 

BC, I don't doubt what you saw in the borescope, but I don't think it would change my mind. I've been using bronze brushes as long as I've been shooting rifles, about 30 years, and I've yet to harm a barrel, if groups on paper are an indication, that is. If I had seen it (a borescope image of my rifle bore) during my anal stage of rifle worship a few years ago, then maybe I'd have considered giving them up, but thankfully I'm past that now and don't fret these things any more. I like the routine I now use, which includes the liberal use of bronze brushes, and I plan on sticking with it.

RE: Clean Bore
 

I would say your right solitary. Maybe its only a visual thing. In other words, you see a new dan lilja and see a mirror finish and then run a bronze thru it, and see the scratch marks, you start saying that looks horrible. But maybe as soon as the first shot is fired, those marks are gone.

RE: Clean Bore
 

Solitary - I went through the same little 12 step process a few years back. Sometimes I wish I had never heard of a Hawkeye bore scope - keeps me up at night thinking about things that are probably about as relevant as whether Bill Clinton wears boxers or briefs.

RE: Clean Bore
 

bc, it's hard for me to imagine bronze scratching the steel of a quality rifle barrel. Bronze is considerably softer. I wonder if what you're seeing is traces of bronze scrubbed off onto the steel, sort of like what happens when a pencil lead is dragged across a piece of paper. I honestly don't know though and don't mind admitting it. All I know is what I've experienced over the years.

Roskoe, my 12 step program was actually a 2 step program, my 2 kids that is. I just got to a point, rather recently I might add, where I realized what my priorities should be and guns don't figure in as highly as they used to.

RE: Clean Bore
 

No, its the steel being scratched. Just saw this, this weekend on a Dan Lilja barrel. Saw before and after. You can have 59Rockwell ATS-34 steel and a bronze brush will scrath it if rubbed hard enough