Whats the easiest way to clean your bore?

[rufracer]

I need an new method. Whats the best, common solvent?

[brshooter]

Really need to know what you are shooting, cast or jacketed, black or smokeless powder, cal or gauge? All have different techniques and they are a little different. Forgot, how clean you want to get it?

[fourarmed]

Assuming cast and smokeless, Kroil is about all I use anymore.

[jrgift]

For jacketed I use WipeOut,for cast I use either Eds Red or Kroils

[John Boy]

Whats the best, common solvent?
Eezox ... http://www.eezox.com/
Tried it 6 months ago and I'm convinced - there is none better for white and blackpowder loads, lead and jackets.

As for their claim about preventing rust, I coated a piece of steel with it and left it outside for 4 months ... I live next to the Atlantic Ocean. Just a few real light rust marks

[Leftoverdj]

Ed's Red is as good as any, and you can make a gallon for about the price of a small bottle of commercial solvent. Ed's equal parts of kerosene, mineral spirits, acetone, and transmission fluid with a squooch of lanolin dissolved in it.

[mto7464]

Ed's doesn't do much about the copper though.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Ed's Red is an organic solvent for organic residue from lubes and powder. It won't do anything for copper fouling except give you really clean copper fouling. Ammonia such as Wally World variety Parson's Ammonia will remove copper fouling. I use a wet patch of it through the barrel about every 10 to 15 minutes until they come out without any color on the patches. For lead, its a bronze brush.

[Wicky]

Hoppes #9 does it for me. If it's really bad then a quick soak with Sweets will do the trick mainly for copper. Just don't leave it in the bore too long, I work on 10 minutes at a time. Also have used Brasso on my range rifle after sweets - comes up really nice and is gentle on steel.:cbpour:

[MtGun44]

Hoppes #9 is good for fouling and copper, but slow on copper. Butch's
Bore Shine is also good. Fast copper removal is with Barnes CR-10, but
it doesn't take out the powder fouling.

Ed's Red doesn't seem to do anything to copper, and seems only fair at
powder fouling to me. Hoppe's Elite (new, high tech water based powder solvent)
seems to take out stuff that none of the petroleum based solvents will
get, has zero odor. I love Hoppes #9 smell but some women hate it.

Bill

[S.R.Custom]

Lead: Dry bronze brush.

Copper: Sweet's 7.62 on a plastic brush, swab with dry patch, repeat until no green shows on the dry patch. That's followed by a thorough brushing and hosing out with spray carburetor carb/choke cleaner to get the sweets and remaining powder fouling out.

[dromia]

Ditto post #8 by Shooting on a Shoestring.

I gave up using propriety cleaning products many years ago, I used to be a Hoppes fan, does as advertised and great smell, but the price was too much.

Some one tipped me off to Ed's Red or an equivalent as it wasn't called that then but when I came across Ed's recipe it was similar.

As ammonia is the active copper removing ingredient in most cleaners I buy that as household ammonia 10% strength from any hardware shop.

What I do is nylon bristle brush and patch the bore turn about with Ed's Red and then ammonia leaving it no longer than 10 minutes to soak for the ammonia as some one said too long in there will damage the barrel.

I've used this for years and it does the job effectively and cheaply, I don't go for the unfired barrel state but I do like to get the ammonia patches not coming out blue.

In saying all this I've been given some Wipe Out and rate it highly as its squirt and leave, it's pricey so I'll need to see how far a tin gans.

That covers condom bullets.

For proper boolits I just use Ed's Red, in the event of leading Kroil and a really tight patch or Wipe Out.

[EMC45]

I have to agree with Fourarmed here. I use Kroil and a steelwool wrapped old bore brush for light leading and for normal carbon and powder soot I use kroil and a normal brush. Sometimes use MP7 which is an awesome cleaner and has no odor.

[rufracer]

lead smokeless is what I was origionally asking about, but am liking all of the info on copper fouling too.

[Lloyd Smale]

i havent found anything that works that great on lead fouling. Wipeout is about the best ive tried but even it seems no better then leaving some wd40 in the bore overnight. Abrasion is about the only way to deal with lead. Best thing ive done is quit worrying about what chemicals work and put that time into eliminating the leading to begin with.

[Char-Gar]

I use Ed's Red to remove powder fouling. I use Sweet's 7.62 to remove metal fouling. I seldom have any lead, but when I do I use a brass brush wraped with 000 steel wool.

With Ed's Red or Sweets I don't use a brush. Just wet and dry patches.

I shoot very, very few jacketd bullets. With cast, I just use Ed's Red wet patches until they come out clean ( most often 4 or 5) and then a couple of dry patches. I will then run a damp patch with Breakfree on it to protect the barrel. I run a dry patch down the barrel before I go shooting again.

If you get a new to you, used rifle and are cleaning the barrel for cast bullet use, I find I have to alternate Ed's Red and Sweets as the powder and metal fouling form a laminate in the barrel.

[Hip's Ax]

Lead and smokeless: Hoppe's #9 yellow label bronze brushes and patches

Lead and black powder: moose milk and patches until they come out clean, Shooter's Choice and bronze brushes and patches then dress the bore with lots of oil

Jacketed and smokeless: Shooter's Choice, bronze brushes and patches. Every so often Sweet's for copper.

[Naphtali]

When using cast bullets and smokeless powder in .475-inch revolvers, has anyone tried using [specify please] cleaning solution in an ultrasonic bath?

If YES, is any gun equipped with an optical sighting device of any sort? If YES, do you take special care/precaution to protect the sight?

[mroliver77]

Eds red for powder fouling. I shoot almost all cast these days. Like Lloyed says I try to not lead a gun and fix it if I do. If I lead some when playing(testing) I use old brush with copper scrubbing pad wrapped on it. My cast guns will get a wet patch or two of Eds and set until shot again. A dry patch and make sure the chamber is dry and I am off. If I am to be shooting gun frequently it dont ever clean bore. I have a 22-250 that needs to be prepared for cast and I dont even have any copper remover. Guess I will look for some 10% ammonia.
J

[lovedogs]

Agree with Lloyd on preventing leading. Nothing really acts on lead except some mechanical method; you just have to wear it away with something. I like ChoreBoy & JB. As for jacketed, the best there is is Montana Extreme 50BMG Copper Killer. It's at least twice as strong as 7.62 or Barnes but is an ammonia oil base so it doesn't harm steel even if you leave it too long. With a gun that doesn't lead Kroil will work great and I use it the most.

[lordgroom]

I see the recipe for Ed's Red earlier in this post. Where can I buy Lanolin?

[725]

Wal Mart has pure lanolin in the new mother's section / baby supplies. Marketed as "nipple cream" for nursing mothers. Biggest thing you have to do is muster up the nerve to ask the nice lady to show you where it is.

[carpetman]

I dont know if nipple cream is anhydrous or not. Thats pretty easy to believe as I dont really know what anhydrous lanolin is--except something or the other about no water in it. At a pharmacy if you ask for anhydrous lanolin they will either have it or be able to get it. I got mine at a Wal Mart pharmacy---didnt have it in stock but got it in two days I think I paid $12 for a pound of it. I did use it making bullet lube and some Ed's Red---see Im on topic afterall---I rate the Ed's Red with Hoppes and I like Hoppes---but Ed's red is cheaper.

[joeb33050]

All I shoot is lead.
KROIL on a tight patch, so it squeaks going through the barrel, removes lead.
KROIL cleaned barrels will LEAD because they're TOO CLEAN!!!
Oil after KROIL!!
I've been comparing EDS RED and MARVEL MYSTERY OIL for over a year, alternating. I can't find anything better about EDS RED. MMO works fine.
I use NYNEX brushes, when I use brushes, which is seldom.
I find a few paper towel (all I use now) patches gets enough of the black stuff out so that the gun shoots fine.
Now and then, from guilt, NYNEX brush and ER or MMO and patches for a long time until patches come out clean, but it makes no difference in my groups.
Found that hot soapy water cleans smokeless rifles fine with a patched small brush, stick the muzzle in and pump the water up and down.
Also works with oderless paint thinner.
But, ER or MMO and a few patches is easier and does the job.
MMO smells MUCH better than ER!!!!
joe b.

[lovedogs]

Don't know if it's true or not but I've heard you should use pharmaceutical grade lanolin when using it on metal or leather because regular grade contains a small amount of salt. We don't want any salt in our guns, do we?

[lovedogs]

joeb33050... I also use Kroil to clean after shooting lead but instead of running regular gun oil in the bbl. I run two patches of acetone through the bbl. to make sure it's really clean and to degrease it from all previously applied solvent ( Kroil). That allows any rust-proofer(Kroil) I apply to really soak into the metal. After I know it's squeaky clean and the acetone patches are coming out clean I annoint the bbl. with Kroil, then run one clean patch to clean out excess. Before the next shooting session I run a dry patch through again to make sure there's no excess. I never have leading using this method. I believe the Kroil lubes the bbl. for that first shot and all successive shots are lubed by my bullet lube. Anyway, this works for me.