At a no progress point cleaning my buddy's mosin.

[todd9.3x57]

Guys,

Some barrels are really BOAT ANCHORS! During WWII, the soldiers needed to fire their duty arms. Bore cleaning was a distant second need, if the soldier survived. Parts guns exist for a reason.

Adam

apparently you have never served. "gun, horse, equipment and finally yourself" said my drill seargent on cleaning.

[Winger Ed.]

I got a really nice looking CMP M1 Garand on the cheap several years ago.
They owner went through the process and got it. Then he fired it "until it lost all its accuracy".

He'd never cleaned the bore!
It looked like a sewer pipe in there. You couldn't hardly see any lands or grooves at all.

Just for a project, I ran a wet flannel patch with Hoppe's #9 down it every day--- no bore brush at all.
The black went away after a couple weeks, and after 73 days, the patches weren't green any more, and the bore looked new.

[zarrinvz24]

I got a really nice looking CMP M1 Garand on the cheap several years ago.
They owner went through the process and got it. Then he fired it "until it lost all its accuracy".

He'd never cleaned the bore!
It looked like a sewer pipe in there. You couldn't hardly see any lands or grooves at all.

Just for a project, I ran a wet flannel patch with Hoppe's #9 down it every day--- no bore brush at all.
The black went away after a couple weeks, and after 73 days, the patches weren't green any more, and the bore looked new.

I bet that was a fun experiment!

[jonp]

JB Borepaste and Montana Xtreme cleaned a Mosin for me with much elbow grease and about 250 patches. Long process but I wasn't busy. Managed 4in or less groups with that old rifle and Yugo Surplus. I was very happy with the results. Bought the rifle for $69 like ShooterAZ out of a big barrel of them at an LGS in NH. Wish I had bought a dozen.

[BigAlofPa.]

I took a look down the bore with my eyes. It looks better than when he 1st bought it over. No more sewer pipe look. I can see the rifling good too. Getting there at least. I just did the boiling water too. Going to do it again. Then back to the chemicals. I'll run some more patches with mothers on too. I feel more confident with it since i can see the rifling is good.

[missionary5155]

Your journey to the bottom of the grooves is the joy of recouperating a tomato stake back into a rifle that will serve you well.
My last was a Krag that slugged 1st time through with a .312 groove but shot awful with .314 cast.
Lots of "fun at the bench" and found a .316 groove. It shoots great now with .318 cast at 1900 fps.

[Geezer in NH]

https://www.amazon.com/Sweets-OK-762...95356742&psc=1

This is the stuff I used in my gunshop fantastic.

[405grain]

Years ago I had a junker take off barrel from a VZ-24 Mauser that I was sporterizing. This was a throw-away barrel and the bore was so dark that I couldn't even see any rifling. Just to try out the process and see how it would work I tried electrolysis cleaning on this barrel. I shoved your standard foam ear plug up into the neck of the chamber and made up an electrode from a TIG welding rod. I put a wrap of electrical tape on the TIG rod in a couple of places so that the rod wouldn't contact against the inside of the bore. I was able to stick a small plastic funnel into the muzzle tight enough that it wouldn't leak. Standing the barrel up vertically I inserted the TIG rod electrode down into the bore and then filled the barrel up until there was liquid inside the funnel with Windex (it contains ammonia). I took a square 9 volt battery and some wire and attached the positive side (+) to the barrel and the negative side (-) to the end of the TIG rod. Within less than a minute the liquid started to gently fizz. I left the barrel like this all day. That night I removed the battery, poured out the liquid, and pulled out the TIG rod. The rod was coated with more disgusting Gaak than the bottom of a harbor buoy. I ran some patches through the bore until they were no longer covered with blobs of dark goo. Then I cleaned the barrel normally. When I was done the bore was remarkably clean. The inside of that barrel was pitted like the craters of the Moon and was completely useless, but it was super clean. I determined that the electrolysis cleaning process was very effective on even the dirtiest and most heavily fouled bores. Then I threw that barrel into the scrap metal bin.

[Led]

What your seeing in this picture is pitting in the barrel steel caused by rust that was caused by corrosive ammo. Cleaning will not remove pits in the steel.

Later,
Stephen

[Adam Helmer]

todd,

Would you like to see my DD 214? As far as military arms go, while growing up in Chester County, I was blessed to have many WWII veterans as my neighbors. One guy told me during the Battle of the Bulge he did not take his boots off for 17 days. He advised he did not have time to clean his rifle. All the ammo in WWII was corrosive, except for the M1 Carbine ammo.

Which war was your drill sergeant referring to? I mean care for the horse, etc. My neighbors were in WWII. Which was your military time?

Be well.

Adam

[IHuntDragons]

I took a look down the bore with my eyes. It looks better than when he 1st bought it over. No more sewer pipe look. I can see the rifling good too. Getting there at least. I just did the boiling water too. Going to do it again. Then back to the chemicals. I'll run some more patches with mothers on too. I feel more confident with it since i can see the rifling is good.

How did this turn out?

[john.k]

reminds me of when I worked for a tractor dealer.....the younger son (35ish) of the owner was a dreamer ,and bought some liquid from a travelling sales man that "would put the metal back in pitted gears and bearings."

[Scrounge]

I've seen some, and own one that the bore is 309×314, it's an older M91. Still shoots good, and the cleaning on that one took a while, a mix of hoppes, Ed's red and a foaming bore cleaner helped. It still took a lot of elbow grease to get it "clean" .

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

I've got one I bought with a known .316 bore. Factory ammo is useless in it, but it shoot .316 sized boolits very nicely.

Bill

[GunnerAsch]

I have learned the joys and dangers of Stainless Steel bore brushes, working with milsurps. The trick is to get some Kroil into a plugged barrel after a good Hoppes cleaning, and let it soak for day or 3. Then run a proper sized stainless steel brush down the tube a dozen times, slowly and evenly. Then reclean with Hoppes until the patches stop turning green/yuckie. Repeat one moretime with Kroil soak, another dozen slow even strokes with a stainless steel bore brush, repeat with Hoppes and recheck. That will usually remove even the most burned on, nasty crap. You can swap Sweets 7.62 for Hoppes when cleaning out a sewer pipe barrel. You may not like what you wind up with... but it wont get any cleaner. Few milsurps were shooting cast... shrug..and if you find one the previous owner leaded up... its still hard to beat mercury as a lead solvent. All caviats should be followed when dealing with mercury. Ive got the same couple ounces I stared with 50 yrs ago... still disolves lead nicely in badly plugged guns.