dirty rifle barrels

[pakmc]

what are any of you cleaning dirty gun barrels. I've got three hungrian steyr barrels that need cleaning real bad. I'm trying blue wonder right now, and I can see the lands now but not the groves(yet) I might have to try the rod and battery thing(any one know what I'm talking about??) I forgot what to fill the barrel up with after I get the cork in one end and the battery in the other end.

[John Boy]

https://www.reddit.com/r/gunnitxt/comments/xccpu/a_step_by_step_guide_to_electrolytic_cleaning_of/

[higgins]

I recently used Wipe-Out on a rifle I thought I was clean. It got some copper out that was probably left from when I bought the rifle in the 70s. Starting with a mechanical method to loosen the crud in the grooves might help with a bore like you describe.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I once cleaned a shaw ar barrel that was very copper fouled. Lots of brushing and several brushes did the trick. Took a couple hours but was worth it - very accurate after cleaning..

[M-Tecs]

http://www.sharpshootr.com/wipe-out/

[Dryball]

Wipeout is what I use, exclusively. It is better than sliced bread, however I prefer to use the liquid/patch method. Also, I use the activator (also). For heavily fouled barrels, do a couple hour cycles followed by an overnight soak

[Motor]

My very first Mosin Nagant was a M39 Fin. It's amazing how shiny age hardened cosmolene can look. I thought I had it clean a couple times. Then one night I started cleaning it with Hoppe's #9, Wipe out patch out and Sweets 7.62 I kept switching and cleaning and finally after 4 or 5 hours I started getting clean patches.

Sometimes cleaning these rifles goes easier at the range with the barrel warm or even hot from shooting. ;)

Motor

[Oily]

I've had good luck using foaming bore cleaner on all my milsurps. Not so great on copper fouling, but a little sweets 7.62 and then back to the foam and back to sweets then back to foam. I think you get my drift. My uncles 1918 Brazilian took 5 cycles and went from looking shot out to nice strong rifling. Amazing how much gunk you can push out of these old barrels.

[Bookworm]

Just yesterday I was cleaning a 1931 Mosin Nagant 91/30. Using Hoppes #9 and a VERY tight patch, I went from a dark, smooth bore with good rifling, to a dark, pitted bore with very good rifling.
I'm still getting copper fouling and dark patches out of it, but I have put it aside for another day. I hope it still shoots well.

[GhostHawk]

I had a nice Yugu SKS that I tried to run with too small bullets in it. Leaded up like a SOB.

What really got it in the end was alternating Hoppes #9 wet patch, dry patch, then ATF Wet Patch, dry patch. Hit it once more with Hoppes and let it soak an hour then repeat.

Towards the end the Hoppes patch's were coming back clean. But the tranny fluid patch's always had chunk of lead they'd lifted in them.

She's shiny to the bottom of the grooves now which she was not before.

Same process with a pair of Mosin's gave me the same clean shiny bore in those.

Shoot it, clean it, oil it. Shoot it again.

I'm currently using a quart of Dextron III that was in my garage.
But I do not think there is that much difference between them.

And if you have cosmoline or similar gunk in the grooves try adding a few squirts of Goo-gone into a shotglass half full of ATF. Makes some good stuff, super cleaning and leaves everything very slick.

[BCB]

If it’s copper you’re trying to remove, I’ve had good luck using Sweet’s 7.62 with J&B Bore Cleaner…

I mix up a slurry of the two and just start with a brush—you decide what metal of brush you will use—that gets controversial…

I just keep pushing and pulling the brush through the barrel. Let is set for a ½ then start over again…

You might want to wrap some copper cleaning pad strands around the brush also. This will make for a tight fit in the barrel…

It can be lots of work, but just take your time—maybe a few days, on and off…

Good-luck…BCB

[ShooterAZ]

Shoot about 20 paper patched boolits through it. This cleaned the bore of one of my crusty M91-30's faster than any scrubbing ever would have.

[pakmc]

now thats an interesting idea! I'll have to try that

[NyFirefighter357]

We were talking about this the other night, happened to come upon a link: www.reddit.com/r/gunnitxt/comments/xccpu/a_step_by_step_guide_to_electrolytic_cleaning_of/

A step by step guide to electrolytic cleaning of neglected bores

I have found with neglected guns and some milsurp guns, the bores are dark and can sometimes look “mossy”. On the rifle for this procedure, I could run 100 patches of Kroil and CR-10 through the bore and the patches would still come out dark or blue, so I figured I’d try my hand at some electrolysis. This will be the second part of refurbishment on this rifle, with the first being my guide to refinishing the stock (shameless self promotion).

A few warnings before we get started.

1) I am not responsible for you electrocuting yourself to death, inhaling toxic amounts of ammonia vapors or any other way you choose to damage yourself during this setup. This procedure is probably more dangerous than some may be able to handle, so if you are not a handy person or don’t know how to work around electricity safely, DON’T DO THIS.

2) Do not use this on priceless or heirloom guns as it is possible to ruin a bore if you are negligent or sloppy. I used this on a $90 Mosin, and although the results were great, I didn’t mind parting with this gun had I completely ruined it.

3) 10% ammonia is noxious, and produces very strong fumes so do this in a well ventilated area.

Ok then, with that out of the way let’s do this ****. Generally, this procedure can be used to remove extremely heavy and layered carbon, copper and rust fouling from the bore of a gun. The ammonia will dissolve the copper, and the acetic acid will work on the carbon and rust. The electric current is great in this case because copper, lead and iron ions are positively charged and will be attracted to the negative electrode (in this case a steel rod). Although I wouldn’t recommend it as a first step, you could also use this to remove heavy copper fouling from newer guns, but beware of the warnings above. Try other methods first for copper fouling.

To start, collect or buy the things you will need to do this successfully shown in Figure 1. 10% ammonia is not generally sold in stores. The ammonia you see in your local grocery is 2-3% and isn’t concentrated enough to have much effect on neglected bores. I bought a gallon of 10% ammonia on Amazon.com, but janitorial supply stores should also have it. The vinegar is standard food grade white vinegar. Not shown is water…Hopefully you can find some water. You will also need a power source and for this outline, I used a Blackberry phone charger which outputs 5V/750mA. This voltage and current is on the high end of what others use, so I have shortened the duration to 10-15 minutes at a time to check the bore condition between solution changes. I clipped the wire above the phone adaptor portion and separated the two individual wires, then stripped about an inch of insulation off each wire. These particular wires were not distinctly labeled +/- so I had to find the polarity using the multimeter. I then threaded each end into an alligator clip to have a good attachment point to the rifle and rod. The multimeter was also handy to confirm the V/mA output (Figure 2). I have also seen people use batteries linked in series, but I collect C&R guns and wanted a more neat, reproducible and permanent method. The steel rod I bought from Lowes and is 1/8” diameter welding steel. DO NOT buy the zinc coated or aluminum rods you’ll see in the same display. You can tell the uncoated steal apart because it will have black oxidation on it if you run your fingers down the rod (heh). The mixing container can be whatever you have laying around the house but I would avoid something you want to use for food later on. The hardest thing for me to find was the small funnel, and I ended up buying a siphon pump from auto zone for about $3 and this little funnel was inside. You could also use an appropriately sized O-ring or heat-shrink tubing (electrical section of Lowes), but the real point of this is to keep the rod from touching the barrel and shorting out the circuit. We want the current to have to flow through the solution.

OK, let’s set up the entire apparatus. First, take your rifle down to just the barrel (I left the fire control group on). The electrolysis solution will damage the wood and finish, so keep that well away. Thread the rod down the barrel and stick it into the rubber stopper on the chamber end of the rifle (Figure 3). Then take the stopper and jam it into the chamber as hard as you can to create a good seal. You may need a cleaning rod to remove it later. The rod will be protruding out of the muzzle now, so go ahead and put the large funnel around the outside of the barrel. You may need to trim the funnel to get it on the muzzle, but make sure you get a decent seal. Then wrap the barrel/funnel junction tightly with E-tape to create a waterproof seal (Figure 4). Next, place the small funnel onto the rod and thread it down to the muzzle. The whole point of this is to make sure the rod doesn’t contact the bore and short the circuit, so many possibilities exist such as O-rings or heat-shrink tubing. The multimeter may also come in handy to make sure you have no contact between the bore and rod (in the Ohm setting, make sure the resistance is infinite). Once you have this setup as shown HERE, move down to the next part.

Now mix up your electrolysis solution. For this bore, I used a 2:1:1 ratio of water:ammonia:vinegar. A 1:1:1 ratio would also work and that is what some use for the solution. Pour this solution slowly down the bore to fill it completely, and then add additional solution 1-2” up the walls of the funnel. The small funnel inside the bore should not be too tight as to not allow the solution to get into the bore or allow gasses to escape. Now simply attach the negative electrode to the steel rod and the positive electrode to the barrel via the rear sight, front sight or front lug (Figure 5). Then plug in the power source to the wall and allow the magic to happen for 10-15 minutes. The solution will go from clear to any combination of blue/green/yellow/brown/black/grimey. You should see bubbles starting to fizzle out of the muzzle, and this is a good sign your circuit isn’t shorted. After 10 minutes, dump the resulting electrolysis solution into the sink or a waste container, and remove the rod, small funnel and stopper. With your patches, solvent and rod, swab out the bore 2-3 times. The patches will look like black death and that is awesome news! Your steel rod should also be caked with black/brown/rusty detritus which you will need to scrub off with a patch or paper towel before you go for round 2. Reassemble the rig and repeat until the solution comes out clear and the patches come out **** near clean. At this point, I used a few patches of JG bore paste to get rid of any residual junk and 2 patches of Mother’s metal polish to buff out any residual flakes of carbon/rust. I then did a typical cleaning with solvent and oiling, and the bore looked much nicer than when I started. Be warned, some reports seem to indicate that once you take off the heavy layers of fouling, you’ll find there is a real metal surface and it is pitted to hell. This can be disappointing, but hopefully the pitting is in the grooves and at least the bore is truly clean from decades of neglect.

[WHITETAIL]

I have a old Marlin 35, that I purchase last year.
When I tried to give it a through cleaning, I found
the bore was full of trash. So I tried a few bore cleaners
and I could not get all of the copper out.
So I went on line to find a way to remove the build up.
I cams across BORE TECH INC. So I tried it and WOW.
The name is Cu+2 copper remover.
And I also got ELIMINATOR bore cleaner as they say
It works for me.:holysheep

[dondiego]

I have been cleaning a P-17 or about a year now..........