.17 Remington Project Rifle

Improving and repairing firearms. Rifle bedding, barrel work, stock replacement and other ways to improve your firearms.

Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 05 Jul 2019, 9:01 pm

A well written article on the subject, in my opinion.

https://www.range365.com/dirty-little-secret-gun-cleaning/
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by Oldbloke » 06 Jul 2019, 10:11 am

Have you tried windex? Not bad for removing carbon fouling. But if you do keep in mind its water based.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 06 Jul 2019, 10:29 am

Oldbloke wrote:Have you tried windex? Not bad for removing carbon fouling. But if you do keep in mind its water based.


Thanks OB, I haven't tried it, but have read about it. I am using the occasional bit of carby cleaner, which is used for carbon as well.

It is interesting. I bought some Butch's Bore Shine, as the shop was out of Sweets, but appears to be a similar product - ammonia based, same colour, same smell. Tried it out when I got home, but no blue on the patches. Hmmm...… not what I expected. So then a bit of carby cleaner gets out a lot of black. So I continue on with my normal Pro Shot cleaner for carbon/lead fouling, and left it overnight. A few patches this morning had it looking ok, with patches coming out pretty clean, but not perfect. So, a patch with Butch's went through, followed by another after a few minutes. Yep, came the blue muck!! Yesterday it came out clean, but after a clean for carbon, then I get more copper. It is following the theory of the fouling being in layers, and if I am using the wrong solvent, it will look clean, until I switch to something else. So when I get back to it, I will continue to alternate solvents.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by marksman » 06 Jul 2019, 5:32 pm

it really comes down to what will work for you GQshane

I've tried a heap of stuff myself and have settled on using wipeout patchout and it's accelerator for carbon and bore tech eliminator occasionally for copper
here is a photo of patches from what I thought was a very clean stainless match barrel, let's say my impressions of it are very good, I am happy

Image

I have had barrels that you would have thought were smooth bores that took weeks and weeks of continuous soaking and scrubbing
I used outboard motor top end carbon cleaner, carby cleaners, sweets ect
makes you wonder why people dont look after their gear better :unknown:
because your barrel is taking so long to get all the crud out I would suggest after it is clean to polish your bore with some autosol but only after it is clean
btw I really like the fiddleback in your stock :thumbsup:
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 06 Jul 2019, 7:41 pm

This is the worst I have seen for sure. But not totally unexpected, given the seller told me it had been neglected at some point.

I have never seen your Patchout for sale anywhere, so hopefully what I have is sufficient. Given that fouling is being removed, I think it is. It is just a bigger task than anticipated. I had to leave it today, to do some 4wd suspension work, so my dad continued on with what I was doing. I have not checked it see how he went, but he tells me that he ended up with clean patches. We shall see.

As for the stock, it is a nice piece of wood. I think with a careful re-finish it will look very nice. My last one was done over a period of weeks, with careful attention to steaming and wet sanding etc. This one will get the same treatment, and I think will be excellent when done.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by marksman » 06 Jul 2019, 9:14 pm

I get the wipe out patch out sent over from family in the US, its very good stuff, I think brownells au would most likely get it in

IMHO it would be good to soak your barrel 24hrs a day giving it a scratch up with a bronze brush once a day and only taking out the gunk after that
you will find that the barrel being chromoly you will think you have it clean but the pores will have carbon in them
that's why I recommend to polish the bore after you have got it clean to close the pores to stop it fouling
I only ever put solvent in a bore from a brush, nylon or bronze, to give it a scratch and wet it down good, I only use patches to push the crud out

your stock is worth putting in the attention, your doing a good job :drinks:
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 07 Jul 2019, 6:54 pm

marksman wrote:I get the wipe out patch out sent over from family in the US, its very good stuff, I think brownells au would most likely get it in

IMHO it would be good to soak your barrel 24hrs a day giving it a scratch up with a bronze brush once a day and only taking out the gunk after that
you will find that the barrel being chromoly you will think you have it clean but the pores will have carbon in them
that's why I recommend to polish the bore after you have got it clean to close the pores to stop it fouling
I only ever put solvent in a bore from a brush, nylon or bronze, to give it a scratch and wet it down good, I only use patches to push the crud out

your stock is worth putting in the attention, your doing a good job :drinks:


What would be your suggestion to soak it in?? I have thought about it, with turps or kero etc.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by marksman » 07 Jul 2019, 9:02 pm

I should have put down bore not barrel :lol:

just a really good wetting down with solvent and left should do the trick, then a wet brush before you patch the crud out :drinks:

this may be worth a thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISB3o2qLvd4
but research it first :drinks:
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 08 Jul 2019, 7:30 pm

marksman wrote:I should have put down bore not barrel :lol:

just a really good wetting down with solvent and left should do the trick, then a wet brush before you patch the crud out :drinks:

this may be worth a thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISB3o2qLvd4
but research it first :drinks:


Interesting. I note that his concoction contained ammonia though.

I knew what you meant - can just imagine someone soaking the barrel while it is still in the stock. :unknown:

I read a cleaning article that suggested that if you leave it long enough, muzzle down, and trickle cleaner down it, eventually it will remove all fouling. Not practical, but suggests that the solvent will do the work. Given that modern copper solvents can be left in the bore, soaking is a good option. I am putting wet patches through before putting it away. I did consider sacrificing a container of solvent, by plugging the barrel and filling it up.

A few articles such as the one above, advise alternating between bore paste and copper solvent, and just keep going!
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 17 Sep 2019, 7:36 pm

Well the cleaning process continues. Nope, not kidding. Hundreds of patches and cotton tips have passed through it, along with a lot of solvent. Quite incredible. I have never seen anything like it. But while carbon and copper continue to be removed the job is not completed. I figure it comes clean, or it gets replaced. Many and varied solvents and methods have been tried, as you do when results are not forthcoming.

Maybe today, the corner has been turned!! Not definite yet, but have seen a few clean patches. Fingers crossed.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by marksman » 17 Sep 2019, 9:17 pm

the bore may need this, I would give it a crack, really what can go wrong :drinks:

https://forums.gunboards.com/showthread ... ber%20plug.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 18 Sep 2019, 8:38 pm

marksman wrote:the bore may need this, I would give it a crack, really what can go wrong :drinks:

https://forums.gunboards.com/showthread ... ber%20plug.


I have seen this before. I think it would be a last resort for me. Nothing to lose if you were going to re-barrel I suppose. Also, if you bought an old military rifle or something that the bore looked terrible, then it might be a good place to start. But my barrel looks ok when you shine a light down and have a look at it. No bore scoping though. But as it looks ok, I will persist with more conventional methods for the moment.

In about two weeks I have a chance to test it out, so it will need to be set-up, ie trigger creep adjusted and scope fitted. I also need to make up some test loads too. So soon I will see what it can do.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by deanp100 » 21 Sep 2019, 5:22 pm

I recently had to clean out two old barrels, one happened to a m55 17 rem. I didn’t use patches until the end. Scrubbed with bronze brush and sweets and then squirted some metho down the barrel to wash out, and then go again. Saved frigging around with patches. Only used a patch when testing the cleanliness.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by tophet1 » 22 Sep 2019, 7:37 am

Had the use of my B-I-L's .17 Remington 700 for some time before the Calicii (?) Virus 'escaped'. So much fun. No muzzle rise. Would love to rebarrel an old Sako Varmint rifle one day. If you reload and have the cash just DO IT.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by SCJ429 » 22 Sep 2019, 8:40 am

tophet1 wrote:Had the use of my B-I-L's .17 Remington 700 for some time before the Calicii (?) Virus 'escaped'. So much fun. No muzzle rise. Would love to rebarrel an old Sako Varmint rifle one day. If you reload and have the cash just DO IT.


A popular QLD gun store sells Canadian IBI barrels for $390, they appear to shoot pretty well from what I have seen. No 17 or 20 cal barrels however.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 22 Sep 2019, 7:18 pm

Looks to be clean - finally. Like nothing I have ever seen before. Now to see how it shoots, and how hard it is to clean again afterwards.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by marksman » 22 Sep 2019, 8:36 pm

if I were you I would be giving the bore a polish with autosol before shooting it
how I do it is to oil the bore (inox, wd40 or whatever) then use a tight fitting patch smeared with autosol on a jag and push the patch into the bore about 6 inches back and forth at least 20 times the increase the depth to around 3/4 of the barrel length another 20 times back and forth then to just about the muzzle another 20 times and push the patch out, after this push a few clean oiled patches through but do not worry about the blackness of the patches
its a good thing not to do to much at the muzzle because you want a restriction if possible

the reason for doing this is to smooth out any bumps or sharp edges in the bore that will pick up copper and foul your bore
you can also use JB bore cleaning compound paste but both JB and autosol will not harm your bore

well done and good luck with it :thumbsup: :drinks:
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 23 Sep 2019, 7:44 pm

I have done that already thanks Marksman. Seems like it can only help the situation, and is used by many. The other tip I have picked up is the use of graphite in the bore after cleaning. Lots of benchrest shooters do this to help with the first shot after cleaning, but also there is many that think that it helps with copper removal next cleaning. In the US there is a product called Lock Ease, which we do not have, but I have ordered something similar.

Made up a few test loads today, with my powder of choice - W760. I chose it because it will be easy to meter, and get in that tiny case neck. It works well in that regard, compared to AR2208 & 2209 anyway. Good!

I picked a load off an internet forum (one of them anyway) - 26gn of W760 behind the 25gn Hornady VMax. Long way short of a max load, as plenty of owners think that barrel wear, and fouling, increases when loads go over 4000fps. So I am intending to stay below that. I have a few at 26.3gn and 26.6gn as well, still short of 4000fps, so well below max loads. So I will see how they go next week.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by marksman » 24 Sep 2019, 11:26 am

in the past I have tried lock ease, I think I got it from e-bay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NuyT5ZBX2k I cant find it now on e-bay
I have heard of the graphite in the bore trick as well and have tried it but both have not impressed me like I thought it should
the lock eze looks like watered down graphite, I probably should have put the different bores (coated and not) over the chrony to see what difference it made
I didn't see any in group size or cleaning, I know a bloke who swears by the graphite but the same I didn't see any difference
anything is worth a try to get the best out of your rifle though :drinks:

I found it (different spelling) :thumbsup:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-1-America ... SwjpVdgkTB
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 25 Sep 2019, 7:26 pm

Time will tell on that one. Not a big cost to experiment, so I will give it a whirl.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 04 Oct 2019, 9:22 pm

Conditions for testing were rubbish - it was blowing a gale the whole time I was away. But I managed to find a bit of a track pushed into the scrub just good enough for a 100m target. I made up a portable shooting bench like many on here have done, and with the usual sandbags etc, I have a fairly good rest. Not benchrest, but pretty good.

I had three handloads to test behind the 25gn VMax, using W760. The 760 flowed into the tiny case really well - better than 2209 into my .243. I had 26gn, 26.3gn 7 26.6gn. The idea was to keep MV below 4000fps, and get some accuracy. Plenty of .17Rem owners reckon that running 4000fps plus is when you get higher barrel wear, and also increased copper fouling. Internet talk, but plenty seem to agree. 26gn of W760 came off a US forum, with the other two done to give some variation. All 3 loads are below max.

So I did a basic sighting in with not many shots (I forget), maybe 5 or so, and then decided to try a 3 shot group to see what it would do. The 26gn load was the tester. The first two shots cut the same hole, with the third shot maybe 10mm apart. I did not measure it, did not take a photo, and even fired more shots with a different load at the same target. Oops..... I am not a target shooter, but this is the best group I have ever shot with anything. Getting the trigger at 100% like my LSA55 will help too.

My alternate loads were not as good, opening the groups up to about 1 inch. So it looks like 26gn is the winner. Next job will be to see how the barrel cleans up after the 25 or shots that were fired. But it certainly does not need a new barrel, and the months of cleaning have obviously done it no harm either. So it can be stripped down and cleaned up and polished, cerakoted, and the new stock fitted and betted after re-finishing. Dunno how long that will take, but it is a project, and I have lots of other stuff to do.

So far so good.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by Bill » 06 Oct 2019, 8:34 am

Great read mate, brings back memories of a ZKK601 308 that I spent days cleaning out layers of carbon and copper only to discover pitting that resembled 60grit sandpaper. I sold the gun as it no loner grouped after the clean.

Best 17 I reckon for foxes is the WSM, doesn't copper foul, just carbon up so easy to clean and only 27 cents a shot lol. ;)
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 06 Oct 2019, 8:57 pm

Yeah, given how long it took to clean it, I was not confident of a good result. I expected that the barrel would have been stuffed. But I decided that it MUST be clean before trying it out, and would re-barrel if testing was no good. But it has turned out well, so I am most fortunate. It was priced at the lower end, as it was unproven, so was a budget purchase, but looks alright.

The .17REM is out of favour now, superseded by newer cartridges. But just like many old calibres, works just as well as it always did, if not better with newer components to use for reloading. And I can remember when I was a young bloke, it was a real hot-shot. I always had a soft spot for it.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 11 Oct 2019, 7:34 pm

Well, plans change, as they always do. My main task at the moment has been put on the back burner for a week or so, as I have an injury that I need to look after. Working on my Patrol suspension with a sore elbow, which I got by working on it in the first place, has been delayed a week or so to help the recovery.

So, I decided to do some work on the rifle. Now that I know it shoots ok, it has been stripped down for refurbishment. I found that target by the way - dad rescued it. It has other holes in it, but you can still see the 3 shot group. So first job is to fit the new stock, with a bedding job and new recoil pad. Stock can then be refinished. Metal work can be cleaned up and polished, and then it will be Cerakoted before going back together.

I bought a linisher today, which I have not had previously to do these jobs, so that will help. And I am taking a few photos of things as I go, so I will be able to show some progress as things move along.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 12 Oct 2019, 7:40 pm

DSCN1173.JPG
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Here is the target that has the 3 shot group on it. The other holes were load variations, that were obviously not as good! Not bad for a sporter in less than ideal wind conditions. And I am not much of a target shooter either. So having achieved that group that is the job done for me. Hopefully when fitted to the new stock it will shoot the same.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 12 Oct 2019, 7:52 pm

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First job was to do a bit of inletting, and then bed the new stock to the barrel and action. But the previous stock owner had refinished it at some stage, and the inside had a good coat of what I suspect was Tru Oil. So I figured it had to go first, so I stripped the stock fully, which I was going to do eventually anyway. It was an ok job, but it could be better.

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Given the stocks were bot short action stocks I expected them to be the same, and that it would fit straight away, but that was not the case. More work then I expected, but it the end it fits nicely.

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This is my bedding method, using JB Weld. No doubt there are other opinions on how it should be done, but for a sporter I think this is ok.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by AZZA'S HJ47 » 13 Oct 2019, 1:17 pm

Have done the same thing with a howa 308 and the difference it made was amazing
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by Stix » 13 Oct 2019, 1:29 pm

Love that stock GQshayne... :thumbsup:
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 13 Oct 2019, 7:07 pm

AZZA'S HJ47 wrote:Have done the same thing with a howa 308 and the difference it made was amazing


When I was researching how to DIY bedding for my last job, I saw a lot of guys doing BIG jobs - either pillars or the entire action filled with epoxy. And then I came across an older gent in his gunsmithing shop, who showed the above method, and explained why he did it this way. He said that if it is fixed at the front and fixed at the rear, then filling the middle with epoxy did not achieve anything. To illustrate his point, he showed a factory bedding job on a high grade rifle - this is how the factory did it. On a sporter rather than a benchrest rifle I reckoned that was good enough for me. The previous stock on this rifle was bedded the exact same way by a previous owner or gunsmith.
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Re: .17 Remington Project Rifle

Post by GQshayne » 13 Oct 2019, 7:21 pm

Stix wrote:Love that stock GQshayne... :thumbsup:


It is quite good. Not quite as nice as my other Tikka Deluxe, but still very good. They are all individual of course. The general condition is good too. The few dents and scratches I can fix. And a bit better finish on it will be good. Previous job looked to be Tru Oil done exactly as per instructions, which I have found to give an "ok" result. I saw it done on YouTube by many others, and my first efforts turned out not much better. But there is nothing wrong with the product, it is just the application. I have done 3 stocks with it now, and a slightly different method in applying it makes a big difference in the result. I tried using a "rubbed" method, basically applying it like car polish, which other products use - put it on with a soft cloth and rub until dry and then move on, but the Tru Oil did not like that at all! It went sticky almost straight away and just smeared and streaked. No good. But using the soft cloth as an applicator give a much smoother finish, so the trick was just apply it lightly and not rub it. Light coats applied with a cloth give a finish with very good even coverage and no lumps or bumps, and no build up in the chequering.
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