Bore scoping my leaded Mosin barrel

[405grain]

Wolfdog: That latest target is a huge improvement.

[Forrest r]

Larry: Your last post really hit home because I'm one of those weirdo's that does lube my powder coated bullets. They get a swirl lube of 45-45-10, and there's never a trace of leading.

I do the same thing

[charlie b]

I don't lube my PC bullets. I've been able to do some direct comparisons between lubed (RCBS lubesizer) and PC bullets recently. Both sized the same, just one with Ben's Red lube and the other Smoke's clear PC. The rifle is a well worn Savage model 12 barrel in .308 (over 8000 rounds through it, much more than half cast).

I use Ed's Red (with acetone) for cleaning. The PC bullet fouling is a little harder to get out than lubed fouling. By a 'little' it means I brush and patch the bore two extra cycles (a cycle is wet brush, three wet patches). The lubed bullets take around 5 cycles, the PC around 7. I don't get any sign of leading. Normally shooting 1800-1900fps. FWIW, both are easier to clean than jacketed.

No, don't own a scope, but, a magnifier looking at the rifling in the muzzle shows all the fouling gone. May still be some left in the throat area but it doesn't seem to effect the accuracy.

The only 'rough' bore I've shot PC in is a WWII era Garand. It was no more difficult to clean than my newer bolt gun. But, again, I don't have a borescope so take this with a grain of salt.

Having said all that, I find making lubed bullets to be 'easier' than the effort it takes to make precision PC bullets. Most of my shooting these days is with lubed XCB's.

[Hannibal]

Wolfdog, curious to know what methods to remove the leading and corrosion worked for you?

[Wolfdog91]

Wolfdog, curious to know what methods to remove the leading and corrosion worked for you?

Wore out three 30cal brushes with the chore boys stuff, which I have to say... egh ,I just wasn't seeing the massive chunks coming out like eveyone says . Some with a wet soaked barrel using hoppes #9 some ader it was patched out dry, Little particles sure but that's about it. A lot of wraps a few wraps, dint really seem to matter much as too much would just get pull off the brush . Finally just said whatever it's beat to heck I can't hurt it much worse and wrapped some really fine steel whool ( 0000 I think ) around the brush and sent it a few times just because and ....egh seemed to shine up a little.
Was temped to do some stuff I've been told from bench rest guys involving a drill but since my bore scope broke no point IMO since I can't monitor what's happening

[Wolfdog91]

Wolfdog: That latest target is a huge improvement.

Very last group I shot with it and that's before I start trying to clean it and all this stuff

[Wolfdog91]

I mean honestly I wouldn't consider this hard or anything a little tedious but not bad, just put on my music and zone out scrubbing for a bit then check with the scope. The fact I can actually looks and now I know what's what ,no big deal really.

[Hannibal]

I mean honestly I wouldn't consider this hard or anything a little tedious but not bad, just put on my music and zone out scrubbing for a bit then check with the scope. The fact I can actually looks and now I know what's what ,no big deal really.

That's excellent! No matter how this barrel turns out you will have learned a tremendous amount. I acquired a half-dozen take-off barrels from a gunsmith and a bore scope and set about experimenting for myself. I chose to do this because there is entirely too much contradictory information on barrel cleaning and there's no way to know who is speaking from direct experience, who's repeating what they've read somewhere that sounded good or even who is just reading cleaning patches like they are tea leaves.

I consider the time and money very well spent.

[jsizemore]

The camera is all well and good, I use one myself. It doesn't tell you where there's tight and loose spots in the barrel. Don't need a camera to tell where the carbon is in my 6br barrel.

[HamGunner]

I have found that copper jacket fouling and cast lead shooting do not go together very well. I do best if I really aggressively scrub the copper out before shooting cast lead.

I have never shot a powder coated bullet as the traditional ways of shooting properly sized and lubed cast bullets of the proper hardness for the pressure of the load have worked for me. Lead fouling is certainly no more of a problem than copper fouling for me, even in rough bores.

[charlie b]

And I've shot less than MOA groups with PC cast bullets immediately after shooting jacketed. FWIW, the reverse did not work as well, but, I expect closer to 1/2MOA with my jacketed loads.

A somewhat less than scientific observation was the copper fouling was reduced after shooting PC cast bullets with gas checks. Made cleaning a bit easier.

[Wolfdog91]

The camera is all well and good, I use one myself. It doesn't tell you where there's tight and loose spots in the barrel. Don't need a camera to tell where the carbon is in my 6br barrel.

Definitely told me where there really big crap deposits where lol,and when you whole barrel looks and feels like a average Mississippi back road logging trail....helps to see what's goin on

[jsizemore]

I bet a patch feels interesting going down the bore.

[Ruts]

That bore looks pretty good where I can see it. No reason it can't shoot good once you get the lead out of it. Not sure what other posters think an old barrel should look like but that barrel looks pretty good. I have had better success with lead removal cloth. Very tight in the bore. You can also use steel wool I didn't find the chore boy works any better than a bronze brush.

[Elpatoloco]

Definitely told me where there really big crap deposits where lol,and when you whole barrel looks and feels like a average Mississippi back road logging trail....helps to see what's goin on

When I first started shooting cast and leaded up bores on the regular, someone told me the chore boy trick. I found out that I had to wrap about 4x what I though wad needed on a worn out brush and then PULL it through the bore. I thought I'd have to hook the truck through it to get it through. Then the big chunks came.
Ive never messed with cast in a high powered rifle, much less an old war horse. As you know, your slugs seem to be fine. Good luck and keep posting about it.