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Thread: My own DIY bore wiper

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy Huvius's Avatar
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    My own DIY bore wiper

    Having looked at the BACO bore wipers and reading the posts about their benefits and shortcomings, I decided that instead of spending the $60 for the starter kit I would try to come up with my own design.

    The primary complaint I read is that the squeegee component doesn't always seal as well as it should.
    I'm thinking this problem stems from three things.
    First, the rubber O-ring looks to be ABS which is not very pliable.
    Secondly, the O-ring is rather thin in cross section. This gives one a very narrow window of bore diameters each will work in and I've read here that in some bores they can leave quite a bit of moisture behind requiring additional drying patches to be needed.
    Last, if one shoots .45s and .50s and maybe even .40s, then there would be a need for squeegee sets for each caliber as there is no adjustability in the design.

    With that in mind, I set out to make a wiper that can utilize the BACO or German felts, which look to be good, but utilizes a thicker silicone O-ring that also offers some adjustability to more accurately fit your bore.

    My first effort was to take a nylon cylinder, like a standoff, and use a dart tip for the felt and a thumb nut to hold the O-ring.
    One thing I ran into was that the O-ring sort of just floated on the threaded shaft and was not centering.
    To fix this, I beveled the nylon center so as the nut was tightened, it self centered. A pleasing side effect is that the more the nut is tightened, and the O-ring is pushed up the bevel, the bigger in diameter the O-ring becomes.
    This little detail allows you to expand the O-ring to achieve a perfect fit to your bore while the thickness of the O-ring is still more than adequate enough to really get into the grooves of the barrel.

    Here's a couple pictures to show this.




    I threaded a brass screw into the nylon spacer which the O-ring rides on and knurled the aluminum spacer with the same thread.



    This worked quite well but there was just too much work and too many components to make a lot of them.

    So, as most projects go, I wanted to simplify the design and use as many off the shelf cheap parts as I could with as little fabrication as possible.

    By using the threaded aluminum spacer as the center, I am able to use a plastic dart tip to hold the felt.
    At the back end, I opted for a countersunk brass screw as the beveled surface using the same fat silicone donut.
    Now, simply turning the brass screw with your fingers or thumbnail adjusts the diameter of the O-ring and I can adjust this particular one to swab any .450 all the way over .500 cal barrels!

    This is where I'm at now which I think is as developed as I'm going to take it.
    The bottom line?
    I can build these wipers for $1.14 each and all I have to do to change to .40 caliber is to use a different sized felt and swap the O-ring for a smaller one which on these adjust from .398" to .450" fully tightened.






    This shows the adjustability of this design.
    .470" on the left and .550" on the right.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
    Bent Ramrod's Avatar
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    That is nice! Very well thought out and executed.

    Do you have any trouble with the screw turning a little as the wiper is pushed through the bore? A stuck or loose bore pig in the middle of a match is not conducive to staying in “the bubble.”

    My homemades will at times stick in the throats because the washer has gone off-center, although as they’ve gotten more worn, this is becoming pretty uncommon.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    Attachment 237773 After the season ended My (wombats) idea provided by someone here (I forgot),look a little dirty but work great $75.00 /got me 50 made with a few parts left over/Ed

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy Huvius's Avatar
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    So far, I've not noticed any loosening of the screw. That's just by feel with my fingers though - they still feel pretty snug after use.
    One thing I could do is run a test of donut diameter before and after swabbing. That would tell me if it is loosening or tightening.
    If I find that it is loosening slightly, I could roughen the end of the aluminum to give it some grip on the donut.
    If it is tightening some, maybe that is a good thing. You would never get one of these silicone donuts stuck in a good bore especially if you swab with moose milk - they are pretty darn slick.

  5. #5
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    it's always interesting to experiment with wipers. i went for the BACOs, a set of 50 for the .45's. but i followed ed's lead and made some "brent gophers" for the .40-65 that work quite well and for lots cheaper. i think the felts combined with a rifle length nylon brush and a flexible washer are the better way to go than just the felts alone with an "O" ring (BACO bore wipers).

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  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    I love all the creativity out there. Adjustable bore critters is a new one. Not sure I need it now, but one day I might and this will be a good idea to try.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    Nice design though one of the best marksman that lived was Harry Pope. He used cotton balls!
    I figured if they were good enough for him - why reinvent the wheel.
    With 42grs of KIK 1.5Fg, I shot as a test - 50 consecutive 38-55 reloads with no patching or tubing to steel Rams at 500 meters back to 200m. Vernier settings changed slightly and accuracy was pleasing.
    One water cotton ball and 3 dry cotton balls


    200 cotton balls in a bag at Big Lot for a buck. Plus they can be sized for any caliber one shoots: 22 up to 50 and all the metrics
    Last edited by John Boy; 03-13-2019 at 10:34 AM.
    Regards
    John

  8. #8
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    the prime reason for bore wipes is to save time during matches and make one wipe instead of at least two ... or more.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check