Man Oh man...how do you clean one of these?

[AbitNutz]

They are completely different chemicals. One will damage the barrel while the other won't. If I was letting it sit over night I wouldn't use the activator. That's for quick cleaning after a range session.

The directions are specific to the accelerator that you can leave it overnight.

[leebuilder]

Works well in toilet bowls too. Some fire departments carry the syrup as it's a pretty good solvent/detergent for post fatality accident clean ups.

Glad you got the bore in some semblance of order on that Enfield. Hope it shoots well for you.

Wow that coke just keeps giving. The rifle is a buddy's, he was hoping it was safe. To bad it is baked, it's an ornately engraved "Alex Martin" and will look nice on a wall somewhere.
Be well

[Multigunner]

When using any strong copper solvent for filling up a bore and leaving it over night or longer the only real danger of bore damage is if the solvent does not completely fill the bore leaving an interface of solvent and air. the air reacts with the solvent marring or even pitting the steel.
To avoid this you take a short length of rubber tubing and fit it tightly over the muzzle so you can pour enough solvent into the bore that the level never drops to allow air to reach the steel.

Back in the days of cupronickel jackets this was the only effective method of removing built up metal fouling. Only non commissioned officers were allowed to do this. They had the proper training in how it should be done and how to mix the extremely strong and frankly dangerous solvent the US military used for this purpose.

[EDG]

Sweets can ruin your bore if left in it more than about 15 minutes.

You can leave Hoppes in your bore forever.

I didn't think of plugging the barrel and filling it with....something. I'm going to do that....some plumbers putty or perhaps some of those cheap ear peices.

I have Hoppe's...I can get Sweets...anything better to fill the barrel with over night and then scrub, scrub, scrub?

[AbitNutz]

Sweets can ruin your bore if left in it more than about 15 minutes.

You can leave Hoppes in your bore forever.

You're right. I just got a bottle of Sweet's and it flat says not to leave in your barrel more than 15 minutes. It makes me wonder though...If you have a barrel like this Mosin I have. It looks like 10 miles of bad road...what could Sweet's ruin? It's already screwed. I'm not going to do it but I can't even get past the crud to the bare metal.

[Harter66]

Phosphoric acid is like the 3rd ingredient in Coke . It is used in a 5-20% solution to etch aluminum so paint will stick to it . It makes a fine neutralizer for sulphuric acid corrosion on lead acid batteries .

Pick 3-4 solvents one a copper agent .
Use each one until it quits working then use the next one .

Don't underestimate the power of a steel wool wrapped brush in a wetted bore .

I can number the leaded bbls that looked slick and shiney when I fired the first round . I spent days getting the lead out , then copper ,then carbon , then copper , then carbon and maybe moly , then more copper ........ Then a soak in Kroil that lifted up flakes and gobs followed by Barnes copper stuff and clean patches that were black again when I Hoppes mopped it . Turned out that the 30-06' is choked from a 312 throat to a 297 - 305 muzzle . It slugged 295 - 301 when I started .

If all else fails , run a bunch of paper patch through it. That'll slick it up and polish it out .

[AbitNutz]

I am making progress but it's hard fought. I did the over night Accelerator and Wipe Out/Patch Out ceremony. That got an incredible amount of crud out. However, there seems to be no real end in sight.

When I get bored I attack it now when it's not looking. Last night I hit it with a Tornado Brush. Yes, it's stainless but it's wrapped like a spring kinda/sorta. I can see where it's probably safe to use but only in untter desperation. It also got a lot more out.

I'm going to hit it with Sweets and then I got something coming from Barnes. Sooner or later the EPA will come and classify my cleaning shed as a Superfund sight.

[woodbutcher]

Well I suppose if worst comes to worst,you could always call"RotoRooter" .
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[LAGS]

I have a MN that has a dark bore and the patches come out black every time I try to clean it.
Yesterday I filled the barrel with Coke and let it sit for 12 hours.
The patches then came out Blacker.
But I recleaned the barrel with a Stainless Steel brush and Hoppies, then let it soak for another 12 hours.
The patches are still coming out just as Black.
Tonight i will fill it with Brake Cleaner and let it soak overnight.
The barrel looks like a little shiny and a bore light seems brighter thru the bore..
But with each cleaning, the patches come out Jet black for three patches, then a little lighter as the barrel dries out.
But as soon as any type of liquid goes in the bore, it starts with the Jet black patches again.
Now this is a barrel that shoots fairly good, and I had tried cleaning it with JB and also Ammonia, Gas ,Carburator Cleaner and has been Boiled in my Bluing tank for several hours in the past.
The grooves a Visable, and the lands leave clear marks on the slug when I do a Barrel Cast or slug the bore.
There must be and end to this crud somewhere.

[popper]

Coke was the mechanics friend for fixing those exhaust manifold flappers. Definitely dissolves carbon deposits, don't know about the greasy stuff.

[mac1911]

My mosin and my first M1 garand took a good while to come CLEAN.
I started with a basic ad simple method. Warm soapy water and a bore brush
You can use a bore mop also to pump warm soapy water through the bore. Just submerge the muzzle in the bucket andstart pumping.
Brushes and patches more patches once you think you have everything out you think the soap will do... move on to a harsher solvent. My current solvent/CLP type is gunzilla.
Also clean your brushes often, its amazing how much crud they hold.
Now once you get to seeing some steel and lands and groves I like to use something stronger like sweets...stuff is nasty but it will pull copper out......for a long time.
Thing is its going to take more patches and strokes than you want to do. Then in the end you will have a frosty pitted bore that will need to be seasoned again for shooting. Once I get my barrels clean I will use a wet patch after every outing then a few dry patches then a wet one for storage...this seems to maintain a nice level of clean and seasoned... for me

here is just a handful of the patches pulled out of one of my M1 garands

[Multigunner]

More stuf comes loose when you clean after warming the barrel by firing a few rounds.
When I have a rifle with stubborn fouling I carry my cleaning rod to the range and clean the bore after every three or five rounds, wet the bore for the trip home, Scrub thoroughly once home, then do a full soak overnight.

Do that once a week and before too many trips the bore looks fine.

[LAGS]

I warm the barrel with a Propane Torch or my heat gun to about the same heat it would be if rounds were shot thru the bore.
It does help, and saves me time getting to the range.

Mac1911
I wish my patches came out that clean.
Your Darkest patch is about what my Cleaner patch looks like after all this recent effort.
But you can still see defitive lands and grooves in the barrel.

[mac1911]

I warm the barrel with a Propane Torch or my heat gun to about the same heat it would be if rounds were shot thru the bore.
It does help, and saves me time getting to the range.

Mac1911
I wish my patches came out that clean.
Your Darkest patch is about what my Cleaner patch looks like after all this recent effort.
But you can still see defitive lands and grooves in the barrel.

When I got this particular rifle back in 2005 the bore looked like trash. Good low TE and MW 2 and 2 . The crown is really nice also. It took my days before the solvent alone patch and wipe came out with out sludge on it. I used 8 brushes and over 500 patches to get it down to "metal" then it took another few days to get the copper out. That in itself took about 200 patches and sweets. I bought a stainless turbo brush but honestly it did not hold up well.
For my mosin I used warm soapy water, then harsh solvent (break clean ) only until I cleaned the bore with electrolysis did that start showing groves and lands.
If I do another really bad bore its going to a tank of sorts and scrubbed maybe ultrasonic with copper solvent.

Clean your brushes well between scrubbing those brushes hold amazing amounts of gunk. Also try a plastic jag vs the brass alloy ones. Some will hold up better than others to the solvent.
If I had time I would do a break/carb cleaner dousing of this bore and you will see how dirty it still is.
For the rough bores I'm not afraid to use a,little valve lapping compound or Turtle wax chrome polish to smooth things up a little.

If anything get some of that chore boy brass scrubbers and wrap it best you can around a old brush. It's cheap and works as well as any brush I have tried.

as for solvents I have been using breakfree CLP for as long as I can remember. few years ago my stash was running low so I tried Pro Shot copper solvent and Gunzilla on a recommendation. I like it as it can be left in and on the weapon with out worry. Gunzilla works very good on black powder also.
So when you put your guns up in the closet until your next outing then dry patch then it has time to work any crud.

[LAGS]

After I got the crud out of another MN, I made a Bore lap out of an old Bore brush and JB weld.
Then Lapped the bore with Semichrome Polish till the Frosting in the bore was much smoother.
I just want to get this bore down to where it only at least comes out Grey on the dry patch, before I try to do any kind of lapping