Best Bore Solvent?

[cwlongshot]

Why no eds red!?!?!?

[gypsyman]

Use a couple different methods. Straight Kroil, let it sit, muzzle down over night, cast bullets'. Jacketed, Shooters Choice Copper Eliminator, 15-20 minute's, patch it out. Whatever I have handy, Gunzilla, Hoppe's No. 9, military CLP. Use bore polish every so often to make it shine real nice. What ever works for you.

[huntinlever]

To the OP - this thread is starting to get confusing regarding the various opinions. I'm not saying anyone is wrong or right. In my personal opinion the only way you can know for certain what type of fouling you have is by borescope inspection. Many people do not like them for various reasons but I think it's hands-down the absolute best way to know what a bore needs and to monitor your cleaning efforts.

If you'd like to PM me I will be happy to provide any assistance I can to help you determine what best fits your needs based on my personal experience. If we're going to do that, I do need you to invest in a Teslong borescope. They can be purchased from Amazon for a very reasonable price of roughly $70 and will work with most any smartphone. The only reason I make such a stipulation is I know of no other way to determine what, if anything your bore or bores need. You can easily spend more than that in solvents fairly quickly and you'll know if your efforts are working or not.

If you'd rather not go with my suggestions I completely understand. No hard feelings at all. I'm just offering help if you're interested.

Thanks Hannibal. As usual your generous offer of help is really appreciated. I totally get the logic on the use of a borescope as the only way to truly know whether you've gotten the bore clean. For now, I have to try to do to "good enough" as I just can't justify another purchase of gear, however reasonable.

You're absolutely right on the plethora of options and methods this would bring about by a thread like this. I did expect it as I knew I left an open-ended question and the ways members go about this not only differs by a limitless set of goals, but limitless philosophies, opinions experience and expertise on how to dial in on those goals. Add to this my knowledge of everything is limited to my own, very narrow experience, yeah, it's easy to drown.

To that end I want to thank everyone. Taking up a cue from Blahut and a couple others, I'm going to give the Boretech Eliminator a try, though I'm hanging on to the JB Compound and Kroil. Actually, I suspect the JB will do well on my son's vintage Winchester 38-55, which he got from his grandpa, which he got in turn from his own dad. 1905 or so. Shot it for first time a week ago and it shoots like a dream. Cleaning it, though, was a shock. Well-taken care of by the looks of it but I'm not certain on last time the bore was clean, so it was really fouled and could use, I think, the JB's polishing.

I think I want to end my use of either Gun Scrubber or a non-CL brake cleaner, just not comfortable with it's possible effects otherwise. So still looking for a way to blast out actions as well as the aerosol GS does, without the issues. Not as forceful, but what about Ed's Red in a pump aerosol bottle? Or just Eliminator, same thing?

I should mention I field strip the Marlins every time and clean from the breech, but don't yet know how to break down a Winchester so can't yet get into the deeper clean.

Thanks again. I can close my participation for now.

[murf205]

Montana Extreme is my go to solvent when powder fouling is noticeable. Follow the warning to NOT SNIFF IT!!! It will take your breath away but it is the best I've found to get fouling out, even Bl-c2 in my 223, which looks terrible after about 25-30 rounds but the rifle loves it. I also like the Montana Extreme stiff nylon brushes to scrub with. If a bore just needs a mild cleaning I use Butches Bore Shine. In either case I run a clean patch with Ballistol through the barrel when I am done. As far as the bore scope, I do'nt have one but I must be getting the barrel clean because most of my guns need 3- rounds to get fouled enough to start shooting to their potential.

[BadgerShooter]

For just cast bullets I use Ed's Red or or or Hoppe's simply because it has a nice smell. For bore fouled with copper or bullet jacket alloy I use Montana Extreme, but I warn you it has a high content of Ammonia and best to use it outdoor and wear rubber gloves. It works really well.

If a gun is really coppered up, this stuff is amazing. I cleaned some old military rifles that had been shot and not cleaned for decades. It actually pushed out metallic copper slime on the patches. Definitely an outdoor use product - no joke.

[TD1886]

If a gun is really coppered up, this stuff is amazing. I cleaned some old military rifles that had been shot and not cleaned for decades. It actually pushed out metallic copper slime on the patches. Definitely an outdoor use product - no joke.

yes it's pretty potent. The ammonia is over whelming. I wear gloves like I said and use it in a ventilated place, but as you said it works very well. Remember after you clean with it to wipe your bore dry and then run a patch with good gun oil on it through the bore.

[huntinlever]

Man, I learned my lesson re nitrile gloves. I am out of Gun Scrubber and went to Brakleen non-chlorinated for spraying out parts and the receiver. Burns the hands pretty quickly, at least in my experience.

I used the Boretech Eliminator for the first time. I'd thought I'd cleaned up my son's 30-30 pretty well with Hoppe's 9 then Copper Cleaner. The Boretech lifted quite a bit off his rifle. Pretty happy.

On a side note, I did a clean of my 45-70 with a Kroil soak of an hour or so and JB for the first time. It made a huge difference at the range. I've never done it and I know I'm well over 1000 rounds. I'll plan to do it every several hundred or so.

[metricmonkeywrench]

needed an all of the above choice. The majority of the time i just go with the simple Hoppes #9 which is readily available about everywhere. I have on my shelf products from Otis, Outers, Break Free and a couple others. All seem to work just as well or just as bad depending on the condition.

In my green suit days we went through copious amounts of CLP though many of us were not convinced one bad tasting juice could do all three effectively the old farts swore by RCB to take care of any nessissary cleaning. Working in a maintenance shop we had access to the Safety Cleen tank that made short work of any bore cleaning specifically.

[TD1886]

needed an all of the above choice. The majority of the time i just go with the simple Hoppes #9 which is readily available about everywhere. I have on my shelf products from Otis, Outers, Break Free and a couple others. All seem to work just as well or just as bad depending on the condition.

In my green suit days we went through copious amounts of CLP though many of us were not convinced one bad tasting juice could do all three effectively the old farts swore by RCB to take care of any nessissary cleaning. Working in a maintenance shop we had access to the Safety Cleen tank that made short work of any bore cleaning specifically.

Shooters Choice is better then Hoppe's and it is readily available.

[Hannibal]

Shooters Choice is better then Hoppe's and it is readily available.

Definitely agree.

[huntinlever]

How do you guys feel about Shooter's Choice v. Boretech Eliminator - specifically, for copper removal? (Secondary to me - I shoot my cast 45-70 10:1 any other rifle with jacketed or monometal copper).

[Hannibal]

I have heard good things about Boretech Eliminator but have never tried it. However I've heard equally good things about Boretech Carbon Remover C4 and I have tried that. I find it hard to believe saliva won't do just as good if not a better job on carbon than the C4. I'm loathe to spend more money on Eliminator and find out it's more of the same hype and no performance.

I have also used Shooter's Choice MC#7 and it does pretty well. Still isn't a one-solvent-removes-all solvent but if such a thing exists I've yet to find it.

[huntinlever]

I have heard good things about Boretech Eliminator but have never tried it. However I've heard equally good things about Boretech Carbon Remover C4 and I have tried that. I find it hard to believe saliva won't do just as good if not a better job on carbon than the C4. I'm loathe to spend more money on Eliminator and find out it's more of the same hype and no performance.

I have also used Shooter's Choice MC#7 and it does pretty well. Still isn't a one-solvent-removes-all solvent but if such a thing exists I've yet to find it.

Oh, right, sorry Hannibal, I'd forgotten your bad experience with the C4. After I exchanged with a member here I did do a fair amount of digging around the web and the Eliminator seems to have a really good rep so I bit the bullet and bought some, though pricey compared to others. So far so good.

[Hannibal]

Oh, right, sorry Hannibal, I'd forgotten your bad experience with the C4. After I exchanged with a member here I did do a fair amount of digging around the web and the Eliminator seems to have a really good rep so I bit the bullet and bought some, though pricey compared to others. So far so good.

Let me know what you see if you're using a borescope. If you aren't all you know for sure is that the solvent you are using is not removing anything from the bore anymore. It might be clean. It might not.

Some people despise borescopes. That's their right to do whatever they choose with their firearms. However you've no way of knowing if your bore is truly clean unless you can look inside it. And that means a borescope. If you choose to not worry about it that's your choice.

[huntinlever]

Let me know what you see if you're using a borescope. If you aren't all you know for sure is that the solvent you are using is not removing anything from the bore anymore. It might be clean. It might not.

Some people despise borescopes. That's their right to do whatever they choose with their firearms. However you've no way of knowing if your bore is truly clean unless you can look inside it. And that means a borescope. If you choose to not worry about it that's your choice.

It's on my cart (bore scope, Teslong). It's not the top of my immediate list. Copper is not a huge issue for me given cast boolits but that said, my son's primary rifle is his 336, and it will be good to know what's going on. My .338 WM and his 30-06 both apply.

[Bigslug]

Break Free CLP and elbow grease for any propellant system that doesn't corrode. It's one bottle that solves a lot of problems. Being a solvent and a lube, it does a good job of keeping powder fouling broken down and allows the moving parts of the gun to self-flush to a degree. It doesn't gum up. As a bore solvent, it does the job.

For corrosive applications, I've been using Ballistol straight up or mixed with water to make "moose milk". Great stuff. I haven't wrung it out as thoroughly as a general purpose lube as I have with CLP, but what I've seen, I've liked.

[huntinlever]

Break Free CLP and elbow grease for any propellant system that doesn't corrode. It's one bottle that solves a lot of problems. Being a solvent and a lube, it does a good job of keeping powder fouling broken down and allows the moving parts of the gun to self-flush to a degree. It doesn't gum up. As a bore solvent, it does the job.

For corrosive applications, I've been using Ballistol straight up or mixed with water to make "moose milk". Great stuff. I haven't wrung it out as thoroughly as a general purpose lube as I have with CLP, but what I've seen, I've liked.

Missed this, sorry. I did use Break Free quite a bit, in fact for a time it's all I used for several years, for the reason you say. This was when all I used was the 45-70/CB's. What are your thoughts re: copper?

[Hannibal]

I'd still invest in a borescope before you do anything else. They're available for about $60. By the time you've bought 4 solvents you've spent that much and you're still stuck reading patches.

All a clean patch tells you is the solvent you're using isn't removing anything that may or may not be in the barrel. Literally that's ALL you know.

If you just want to go by clean patches then why use a brush, solvent or anything else at all?

Just look at a clean patch and be done.

[jsizemore]

Montana Extreme bore solvent and copper killer depending on whether the gun has been neglected or not. Borescope tells me if it's clean or not. If solvent quits cleaning well than I use JB non-embedding compound to raise the surface of the buildup and use the copper killer to do it's thing until all the bad stuff is gone.

[jonp]

For just cast bullets I use Ed's Red or or or Hoppe's simply because it has a nice smell. For bore fouled with copper or bullet jacket alloy I use Montana Extreme, but I warn you it has a high content of Ammonia and best to use it outdoor and wear rubber gloves. It works really well.

I agree with Montana Extreme but it is "Extreme" and I only use it for very stubborn firearm bores. Mostly use Hoppes 9 or homemade with Ballistol if not much leading or powder. Real bad gets JB after soaking with Kroil.

I'd still invest in a borescope before you do anything else. They're available for about $60.

I got a cheap one that plugs into my cellphone on Amazon for less than $20. Dropped a socket down the back of the engine on my F150 and I never would have found it without the scope.