Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

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Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by MeccaOz » 27 May 2014, 5:42 pm

Hey guys,

So the rifle I'm getting has a stainless barrel, a first for me.

Been doing some research on them and it seems they don't like solvents with ammonia in them.

So I guess I'm going to have to relegate the hops #9 to only my other firearms.

Seems ammonia will open up microscopic fissures in stainless barrels.

Anyone else heard of this or is using an non ammonia bore solvent ?
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by Varmtr » 27 May 2014, 7:55 pm

As S/S barrel are 416R in the right conditions ammonia can cause corrosion and pitting. But CroMo barrels don't like extended sosk times with ammonia solvents hence Sweets say no longer than 15mins. Ammonia is also hydroscopic meaning it will absorb moisture out of the air.

Me personally I use Boretech.
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by Chronos » 27 May 2014, 8:05 pm

boretech for the win!!!

when your solvent says on the bottle it can be left overnight you know it won't eat your barrel

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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by MeccaOz » 27 May 2014, 8:09 pm

Thanks guys. Being in a small town I havent come across Boretech BUT hey thats what the internets for eh. Thanks again :)
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by Chronos » 27 May 2014, 8:14 pm

MeccaOz wrote:Thanks guys. Being in a small town I havent come across Boretech BUT hey thats what the internets for eh. Thanks again :)



hinterland shooting supplies usually has the boretech products in stock,

http://www.hss.net.au/index.php?cPath=2 ... e0a53e1d4f

if you bundle a couple of big bottles of solvent with some brushes and jags you should ask the lovely girl on the phone to do something about the price ;)

the proof positive nylon brushes are awesome and the boretech solvents don't smell. you can use them in the lounge room and your mrs wont hit the roof :lol:

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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by MeccaOz » 27 May 2014, 8:22 pm

Laffin Thanks Chronos, that will help with the significant other, on both counts :D
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by MeccaOz » 27 May 2014, 8:25 pm

The Boretech stuff looks pretty good https://www.boretech.com
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by Lorgar » 29 May 2014, 11:30 am

+1 for Boretech and stainless.

I've had a couple of blued and a couple of stainless, and stainless is far easier to clean.

1 wet patch - nylon brush to spread it around - 4-5 dry patches and done.

I very rarely have to repeat the process on my stainless barrels.

Often had to on my blued ones, if not break out the brass brush to really scrub the crap out. Have never had to use the brass brush on stainless.
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by huccl » 29 May 2014, 11:35 am

I'm using Pro-Shot copper solvent.

Seems to need a bit longer soaking but then does work well. Says safe for all barrels too.

One in case you can't get hold of the boretech? Not that I've tried heaps, but it works :)
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by 1290 » 29 May 2014, 12:24 pm

Varmtr wrote:As S/S barrel are 416R in the right conditions ammonia can cause corrosion and pitting. But CroMo barrels don't like extended sosk times with ammonia solvents hence Sweets say no longer than 15mins. Ammonia is also hydroscopic meaning it will absorb moisture out of the air.

Me personally I use Boretech.


Your thinking of hydrophobic (water repelling property), the property of attracting / absorbing water molecules is hygroscopic .. anhydrous Ammonia, that is pure NH3, without water, would be hygroscopic, less pure not so much.

But yes, stainless will react/oxidise just at a different rate to other alloys of Iron (steel is a term describing many different alloy of Iron).There are many specs of stainless steel, each with different properties, different uses and vulnerabilities to various compounds....

Steel, regardless of type, should not be exposed to reactive chemical for any extended period regardless.... SS does oxidise. Dont think that a ss or Chro-Mo rifle is immune to rust. Just a lot more immune than carbon steel.
Last edited by 1290 on 30 May 2014, 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by mikor » 30 May 2014, 2:18 pm

1290,

Are you Bill Nye the science guy, in real life? :lol:
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by Mark TAC » 31 May 2014, 12:57 am

I cannot see that stainless will get eaten any faster than CrMo when using an ammonia based solvent.

The only solvents that eat barrels are the ones people leave in for too long, and that has nothing to do with the *barrel*.

Happy to be corrected on the first line though.
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Re: Cleaning a Stainless Steel Barrel

Post by feedr » 02 Jun 2014, 2:45 pm

This is sort of a 'cleaning a gun 101' article, which I'm sure you're past, but... The bloke does mention it's for stainless barrels.

How to clean a firearm.

SSAA article by 'Technical Advisor Brendan Atkinson'.
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