bigfellascott wrote:brett1868 wrote:I thought I was champion barrel cleaner till I purchased a bore scope. Even with all the methods above I can almost guarantee the bore wont be spotless and free of contaminants. It's both amazing and depressing sticking the camera down the bore after a "Good" cleaning only to find copper and / or lead residue. I clean in the usual ways with solvent, brushing, patching, copper solvent, patching, then oiling but once I've done this I get a worn brush and wrap a bit of flannel around it. A few dabs of JB boreshine then back into it, replacing the patch every 10-20 strokes and repeating the process. When appropriately "Shiny" on the inside ill hit it with a squirt of Bore Scrubber and nylon brush before patching dry and oiling ready for storage. I'm never sure how long a rifle will sit in the safe between uses so I tend to over oil the bores and wipe down all metal with a oily rag just for my own piece of mind.
Yes Brett what gets seen with a borescope cannot be unseen! not a good idea to look down bores unless you want to be as someone pointed out earlier they are designed to wear out and are a consumable item, just use them and enjoy them and when they are well and truly shot out either replace the barrel or buy another rifle.
I reckon some people do more damage than good when it comes to cleaning bores at times, you see them scrub the crap out of it like nobodies business then dick around doing this that and every other thing and still can't shoot for s**t anyway
I've got a few barrels that'll cost in excess of 4k each to replace so I tend to look after them very well. I'm not so anal on every rifle, just those where it counts and all the pistols. Generally damage caused by cleaning can be attributed to not using a bore guide, wrong chemicals or leaving them in too long or damaging the crown. Projectiles traveling > 3000fps will do far more damage then a proper cleaning with bronze brushes, Hoppes, Sweets etc etc as in it'll get shot out before worn out by scrubbing My 300Wby Mag is a copper fouling monster but others are fine, I do follow a regime of barrel break in but that's another contentious subject. "Let the barrel dictate the cleaning regime" is my approach, some will foul more then others and will require a little more time or aggressive approach to cleaning.
Like any topic, it's all BS without pictures so I downloaded the pictures from the bore scope as an indication of just how much crap can be left behind. Each barrel had been quite well cleaned using solvent and brushes and appeared fine to the naked eye. Bring on the bore scope....
Below pic is from a Colt Gold Cup 45ACP shooting 200gr Hornady XTP's. Gave the barrel a "good" cleaning with solvent, brushing, patching etc etc. It's "Clean" but still signs of fouling and copper.
Same spot up close after cleaning with JB's Non Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound (just checked the name on the tub) - I love this s**t, guaranteed not to damage the bore and picture proves results.
Approx 200 rounds of 122gr Coated LRN. Notice the thickness of the lead fouling, could have brushed it for hours and still not removed it all.
Oh so shiny
I'm cleaning on average 6-8 barrels a week at the moment (5 from just last nights fun) and I'm still learning and improving. A clean rifle is a happy rifle and happy rifles shoot better then grumpy ones