This is pretty interesting…
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I’m not sure how to think about this just based on my general ideas of
- running an abrasive compound through barrel being a bad idea.
- running a patch or brush back and forth in a barrel being a bad idea.
BUT he seems pretty knowledgeable on the subject, so I’m open to learning more.
Would this work for a general purpose AR or does it have to be precision rifle?
Hah! The 90’s is calling. Surprised he is not using a bore guide. What was old is new again.
I wonder about a Chrome Lined barrel too. There’s SO MUCH false dogma perpetuated in the internuts, that it’s hard to figger out the truth.
Bore guide has been brought up a few times on Accurateshooter. For me is just keeps stuff out of the receiver. I generally skip the guide myself, and just try to keep the patches from touching the receiver.
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The bore guide will really prevent peaning of the rod on the barrel with tight patches.
I never even use jags. I’ve always pulled tight patches through rather than push.
I wish I had a bore scope so I could try this on my old .308 bolt gun barrel.
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Same, I use a large Otis kit (brushes, cords, patch holders, jags, mops) for all my firearms pulling from breech to muzzle with plastic coated cord and patch holder. A perceived upgrade on my old bore snake pull on everything I own, but even those are doing something right?
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When I retired, I stopped doing Army cleaned dress right dress arms room inspection cleanings on my guns. Horrible institutionalization.
Now I wipe if it’s needed, and only clean the barrels if I start seeing accuracy degrading and groups widening from very good sub or just even 1 MOA barrels.
Bore snake once, run rod with a patch of CLP from the chamber side only, remove patch after it passes muzzle, do one more wet patch, then keep running dry patches until it’s darn near not tarnished anymore.
Done.
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I really don’t think I’m getting the velocity pick ups that Litz is talking about, but maybe I’m just not seeing it for what it is.
It makes sense that the increased friction would mess with internal ballistics though.
When necessary, which isn’t always the case, this is pretty much how I clean my barrels and its the only way to get a truly fouled barrel clean.
“The 90’s called” WTF does that even mean.
There is a Metric ton of bad information out, especially recently, around bore cleaning best practices.
Good post MarkM.
The 90’s called??
The way to clean barrels in the 90’s, in the benchrest community, was kroil and jb bore paste. My gunsmith taught me to do it that way. He did it. We all did it.
Then we developed better solvents that would chemically remove the fouling. No more tight patches. No more worry about rods peaning the bore. No more pop eye forearms. Better barrels with hand lapped bores also helped reduce fouling.
About 5 years ago, i noticed that no one was cleaning fouling from the barrels. The reason? Avoiding bore damage.
So, yes. What’s old is new again.
What exactly are these solvents?
Funny, because I’ve used everything at this point and absolutely nothing removes fouling that has been allowed to sit in a barrel more than a week, other than JB.
Bore damage from cleaning is complete bullsh+t unless you’re an idiot and do utterly stupid stuff with your cleaning process.
These same people tell you using a bronze brush down your bore will damage it. Utter nonsense. Anyone with even a bit of materials science background knows better.
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Relative Hardness:
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4150 steel in its hardened state is significantly harder than bronze. Even at the lower end of its hardness range, 4150 steel would be at least as hard as, if not harder than, the upper end of the hardness range for bronze used in brushes.
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In practical terms, a bronze brush would not scratch or damage 4150 steel unless the steel is in a very soft or annealed state. Conversely, 4150 steel, especially if hardened, could easily damage or wear down a bronze brush.
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Material Hardness Comparison:
Bronze: Bronze brushes (often made from phosphor bronze) are significantly softer than chrome, with typical hardness values around HB 80 to 150 or HRB 50 to 80.
Chrome: Hard chrome plating used in barrels has a hardness of approximately 65 to 72 HRC or 940 to 1210 HV, which is much harder than bronze.
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The best copper jacket solvent that i have is sweets 7.62. Amazing stuff. Use a nylon brush.
I used to think that sweets was good. Then I ran a patch of Boretech Cu2 AFTER using sweets and realize how much more copper was still in the bore.
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This is so true. So many shooters act like the bore is as fragile as a quail egg shell.
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Carbon, not copper. Copper is EASY to remove. It is the hardened carbon that is the hardest to remove.
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I started cleaning more when I realized how much carbon was in my barrels. In my experience, the longer the carbon sits, the harder it is to remove.
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My exact experience as well.
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At one point, I was running a patch of CLP at the shoot before I left for home. That seemed to make cleaning easier.
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That’s my method, a very soaked patch with CLP when the barrel is still warm before loading up gear to head home. If that’s not possible I clean immediately that same day so the carbon fouling doesn’t harden or set or whatever it does.
I find Bore Tech carbon remover does work really well though, especially if you clean the same day.
A bronze brush is almost never needed if I CLP patch when the barrel is warm, or clean within 6-8 hours. That said I’m not afraid to use one. If the barrel is so soft the bronze brush hurts it, it’s probably not safe to be using as a pressure vessel.
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