Cleaning a 6.5X55 bore

[dubber123]

I picked up a 6.5X55 carbine last year with a bubba'd stock. The former owner claimed it keyholed bullets at 25 yds. The bore was nasty, but I had doubts as to the keyholing. I gave it a quick clean, and shot a 50 yd. group of about 4", all point on. It has sat in the vault for a year now, and I decided to firelap it to polish up the bore a bit. I fooled with it for 2 days, and was seeing little progress. I started soaking the bore in copper solvent, and I have been getting an odd bluish colored residue on patches, Cupro-Nickle? It's different than normal copper fouling. I even filled the bore and let it soak, but I haven't hit bottom yet.

I did try 1 more group, and it's now at 1" at 50 yds., so it's getting better. I want to remove all this stuff so I can effectively firelap it. Any tips? I have never dealt with a bore this bad. Thanks.

[DeanWinchester]

Heck, just keep cleaning and shooting.
If its improved that much, it might get better. If you're getting 1 inch groups now, start tinkering with the load. Seating depth and neck sizing only will tighten it up even more. Fire lapping may be unneccesary.

[EdZ KG6UTS]

I picked up a 6.5X55 carbine last year with a bubba'd stock. Thanks.

My 6.5X55 is 1906a Carl Gustaff. It took quite an effort to get a clean patch but afterwards the bore is excellent. Used the Hoppes #9 Butch's Bore Shine, a copper cleaner with a sh*t load of patches and bore snake but well worth the effort.

139 gr Lapua bullets/Lapua Brass

EdZ

[DeanWinchester]

Hmmm, I think I have a stock and hand guard for a swede somewhere. Pm me if you're interested.

[dubber123]

I just patched again, and another pale blue patch of crud.. It's soaking again. The bore is rough, and I was going to firelap to improve my chances of getting it to shoot cast well. I have been cheating thus far and using 160 gr. Sierras for group shooting.

[Frank46]

Actually the 160 grain round nosed bullet is what the 6.5x55 was designed for. But they changed to a 139-140 grain spitzer boatail later on. I don't think the rifling spec's were ever changed. Frank

[Chris C]

Soak that barrel in a mixture of ATF, Kerosene and Sea Foam...................equal amounts. Leave it completely immersed for as long as it takes to clean it out. (plug the breach with a cork and fill it to the muzzle) It'll do the trick. And then it'll shoot like a new one.

[dubber123]

Soak that barrel in a mixture of ATF, Kerosene and Sea Foam...................equal amounts. Leave it completely immersed for as long as it takes to clean it out. (plug the breach with a cork and fill it to the muzzle) It'll do the trick. And then it'll shoot like a new one.

Thanks for the tip. I don't think this one will ever look "new" again.. :) I'm pretty happy to be seeing some sharp edges appear on the rifling.

[Chris C]

You might really be surprised. I've seen some pretty cruded up barrels come back to a whole new life. Give it a try. The worst that could happen is you could lose a few days of shooting.

[uscra112]

I've soaked and patched, soaked and patched, soaked and patched, soaked and patched milsurp bores for two solid weeks before they stopped showing blue/green patches. That using Hoopes #9 or Sweet's.

I eventually bought a bottle of Barnes CR-10, which gets copper out a lot faster, but can be hard in the steel if not used according to directions. And of course haven't bought any more milsurps!

IMHO don't starts firelapping until you have a copper-free bore.

n.b. Had to look up that Sea Foam stuff. Looks like just another solvent. Won't touch the copper.

[dubber123]

I've soaked and patched, soaked and patched, soaked and patched, soaked and patched milsurp bores for two solid weeks before they stopped showing blue/green patches. That using Hoopes #9 or Sweet's.

I eventually bought a bottle of Barnes CR-10, which gets copper out a lot faster, but can be hard in the steel if not used according to directions. And of course haven't bought any more milsurps!

IMHO don't starts firelapping until you have a copper-free bore.

n.b. Had to look up that Sea Foam stuff. Looks like just another solvent. Won't touch the copper.

I THOUGHT I had the bore relatively clean when I tried the firelapping, but after seeing no real improvement I knew something was up. Apparently I was just lapping thick fouling instead of the actual bore. Tonights patch was a touch lighter, I may be getting there..

[Huffmanite]

Reads like you are making progress on the bore, keep trying. Couple of years ago, bought a BSA made bolt rifle, made for Herters (a U9) back in the late 60s or maybe early 70s, in 6mm Remington from a pawnshop. When looking down its bore, you'd have a problem seeing the rifling. Over a period of several days, alternating 4 (or more) different brands of bore solvents, I cleaned its bore. Didn't think I'd ever find the bottom of the lands in the bore. Well, much to my surprise, I finally got all the fouling, copper and carbon, out of the bore. Darn if when I'd finished, the bore was great, sharp riflings and shiny lands. No pitting, nothing about the bore suggested the rifle had been shot much. Guess the previous owner(s), had never cleaned the bore of the rifle.

[Hang Fire]

Have you tried using the pure copper Chore Boy scouring pads? Just strip off enough to get a tight fit wound around a bore brush and start scrubbing. Change or clean the copper strip often as fouling impregnates it. Accept no substitute for the pure copper pads, the cheapos are just copper plated steel.

[dubber123]

I'll have to hit the store in search of the Chore Boys. I haven't seen them locally, but I haven't had the need to look too hard either. This is the first bore this nasty I have had to work on. Thanks guys.

[LAH]

I use Bore Tech Eliminator, soak, patch, soak, patch, & like some of the above it can take a week or two off & on.

[dubber123]

I think I finally hit bottom, the last patch was clean. Rifling looks acceptably deep, but it is pretty rough in the grooves. I think I'll lap it a bit, and try some cast loads to see how it does. Thanks for the tips.

[Zim]

BIL has a swede that he rescued for the action. Barrel is pitted. Well, after he pulled the camo tape off the outside & cleaned the bore, he decided to shoot it. One holers every time with a fixed 4x at 100 yards. When we first went shooting, he pulled it out and I did have my doubts. If I can shoot a one hole group, then the rifle is doing MORE than it's part.

20 years later, I have 3 Swedes of my own and he still has "old ugly". Won't tell me how much money he has won using it against the new rifle crowd...

[Huffmanite]

Own a few Swedes myself, and while mine are not the proverbial one hole shooters, they are accurate. Range I'm a member has several rifle shooting competitions, varmit style rifles, surplus military rifles and an open sight benchrest 22 rimfire. All three are held same morning, once a month. One of our regular participants in the varmit, showed to also shoot in the 22 benchrest for the first time. He'd bought a new Anchultz target 22 rifle ($1500 cost) that he'd received last Friday. Gent buys the best for his shooting. Now he wants to buy a surplus rifle to compete in it our surplus contest. I've got a decent reputation for knowledge about surplus rifles among my fellow range members.....so, this gent asks me for suggestions on what surplus rifle to buy. Named several surplus rifles that have a good reputation for quality and accuracy, pointed out some of them being used in yesterdays competition. His rifle for our varmit competition is one very nice custom made long range rifle with a Schimt-Bender scope and its chambered in 6.5x55 Swede. Bottom line, told him to get a M96 or M38 Swede to compete with in our surplus rifle shoot as he loves the 6.5x55 cartridge and already reloaded it. Told him that not only did Sweden build a quality rifle, they took very good care of them.....so finding one in decent military condition that should shoot accurately shouldn't be a real problem. Oh by the way, another range member has a nicely sporterized M96 Swede. Barrel has been shortened, in a thumbhole stock and scoped, but still has its military trigger. Have watched him shoot, on at least two occasions, 4 shot 200 yd groups you could cover with a quarter.

[corvette8n]

I cleaned a ratty Carcano with a homemade electronic bore cleaned it came out nice.

[BD]

I've cleaned up a half dozen old swedes over the years using a homemade foul out set up. I think the issue was mostly caused by the steel jacketed surplus 6.5x55 ammo that was cheap and abundant during the years most of these were being imported. Inexpensive rifles + cheap ammo led to a lot of shooting, and not so much cleaning. The layers of copper/powder/steel/powder/copper fouling are tough to scrub out but the reverse electro-plating will do the trick in a couple of sessions. If bubba hasn't wrecked the crown, most of the swedes I've seen would clean up and shoot really well.
BD