Interesting fouling

[jonk]

Last summer, while shooting my Yugo M48 A Mauser, Lee 175 gr WQWW, GC, 50/50 lube, with a variety of loads, I got to see some rather interesting fouling.

I de-coppered the bore before switching from surplus to cast. Bullets were sized .325, bore slugs .324. Nice accurate gun, didn't see any fall off in accuracy over time, and didn't see any of the telltale leading signs. However scrub though I might, I kept getting a brown residue on the patches. It looked almost like lacquer. I was driving the loads at about 1600 fps to maybe 1800 fps tops. It does not look like leading, is not severe, doesn't look like carbon, it's actually rather the color of the 50/50 lube or even of light rust. However any lube left in the barrel should wipe out early on in the cleaning process.

Now I always used hot soap/water followed by Hoppes and an oiling when shooting surplus in the gun so I don't think it's rust I'm oncovering, plus the bore is bright and shiny.

Any ideas?

[BABore]

Alox!

[Boerrancher]

Sounds like Alox to me. That is why I don't use the stuff. I found other lubes that work better and don't leave a mess for me to clean up.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[mrbill2]

I have the same thing when I clean. What lube can I buy without alox that works good?

[Ricochet]

Wonder if you're still getting oxidized cosmoline out? I had a Turkish Mauser I thought completely worn out, because there were just faint ripples where the rifling grooves ought to be. I scrubbed that bore with a brass brush with gasoline and Hoppe's, patched it out, nothing was coming out and I thought it was just a sewer pipe bore. Took it shooting twice and cleaned it all out again. Went to replace the barrel and had trouble removing it. Heated the barrel with a torch. Smoke came out the muzzle, a little debris fell out the breech, and lo and behold, the barrel was rifled again! No normal cleaning method would've gotten that stuff out.

[runfiverun]

some lubes with petroleum bases leave a brownish gunk behind.
like tar from a cigarette.
i would almost bet money the gunk is about a foot down the bbl.

[docone31]

Wow, my Turk, I swapped out with a Swede 6.5 X 55. The small ring Mauser fits the K-Kale Turks. Only the front reciever ring needs to be ground down
What a rig!
It was a dead replacement, I could use the original wood, and it was a tack driver!
The barrel swap was simple, and yes, it had dried hard cosmoline that when I heated the barrel, it turned into ashes inside the bore.
Apparently, cosmoline can really pack the bore. Easy Off Oven Cleaner is effective on it though. I now spray my MilSurp projects inside the bore and yes, there is cosmoline in it.