Outers Foul Out 1 or 2 anyone use???

[218bee]

Always wondered about one of these gizmos. Would like opinions on them good or bad. I shoot a lot of crappy old rifles and go through LOTS of patches especially with the military stuff and was wondering if these truly work and how well. I wouldn't expect a new barrel but can they get a lot out so hand cleaning becomes more manageable

[noylj]

I have the Foul Out III and love it. Take your barrel out, run a Hoppe's patch or two through it to cut most of the powder residue, run a patch of isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) through it, cork the breech end, fill with lead-out or copper-out as needed to about 1/2" from muzzle, clean steel rod, put o-rings on rod, insert rod in barrel, and fill-up to the muzzle with the Lead- or Copper-Out, slide unit down to the muzzle, place clip on barrel or other metal grounded to the barrel, plug unit in, walk away, come back in 30 minutes. Unit will either say "cleaning," "clean," or show a short circuit. Unplug unit, pull rod out, clean it of lead or copper. If unit was still "cleaning" or "short," then you have a lot of lead or copper to be removed. Place unit back in barrel and give it another 30 minutes.
When done, flush barrel with water to remove lead acetate or copper acetate salts, run a brush with IPA to remove the water, brush and patch a couple of times and you will be amazed at all the **** you pulled out of the barrel.
I have had a couple of guns that shorted out and the area from the rod to the barrel was all lead "foam." It was like the barrel had never been cleaned before.
The only thing better for lead was mercury.
What I want to know someday is how to use it for cleaning an AR15 barrel.

[bhn22]

I have a Foul-Out II, and it works perfectly. To clean an /AR barrel you have to plug the gas port somehow. If your gas block is held in place with screws, you have it made. If it's pinned, it's still doable, but repeated removal of the tapered pins will cause you problems down the road.

[dragonrider]

Foul Out II also. Easily the best tool I have for cleaning.

[imashooter2]

I also run the FOII. Better living through chemistry.

[bobthenailer]

yes the foul out works good , i have the earilyer one , i first bought it to clean the lead from my compensated pistols that i use lead bullets in and the lead accumulates on the inside of the comp . but i found a better method shoot light weight j bullets at high velocity with slow burning ball powders and in about 10 shots in conjuction with a arrendo comp cleaning tool its clean with a lot less work as the foul out cleans it out 1 layer at a time .

[dudel]

I've got a Foul-Out II, and it works great. I only use if for heavily fouled barrels rather than regular cleaning.

[imashooter2]

I've got a Foul-Out II, and it works great. I only use if for heavily fouled barrels rather than regular cleaning.

As do I. I failed to mention that in my original response.

[MtGun44]

ESPECIALLY useful for old milsurps that have NEVER been properly cleaned back to bare steel. It
can be like an archeological dig, often have layers that are insulating that are uncovered as
you remove a layer of metal fouling, then need to scrub off a layer of insulating crud with
Hoppes and a brass brush and then deplate again, and again. Eventually you'll strike steel!

On some old guns the chemicals can take weeks, literally, of scrubbing and soaking.

Bill

[geargnasher]

I've got a Foul-Out II, and it works great. I only use if for heavily fouled barrels rather than regular cleaning.

Ditto. What I use when retiring a gun from J-words. You wouldn't believe how much copper can come out of a "clean" barrel.

The solutions are water-based, so you have to have the barrel absolutely degreased or the stuff won't work at all. A presoak in Kroil and a good scrubbing with alcohol generally does it. Hot, soapy water works too. Get the powder junk out too, the tool is just for metal fouling removal.

Gear

[BD]

I built my own from a length of steel rod, 3 O-rings a rubber stopper, 2 alligator clips, a flashlight battery and some wire. I used 3 volts for about an hour, or one and a half volts while I was at work for 8 hours. Cost was $8.00 total back around 1990. Works great. +1 on cleaning up the milsurps, the layers of steel and powder fouling can take weeks to scrub out.

All it is is a steel conductor that is not touching the barrel, an ammonia based electrolyte solution and a little voltage to plate the conductor with whatever is on the inside of the barrel. On a few really cruddy swedes I'd stop and scrub the powder fouling out between sessions with the gadget.

BD

[lead Foot]

I built my own from a length of steel rod, 3 O-rings a rubber stopper, 2 alligator clips, a flashlight battery and some wire. I used 3 volts for about an hour, or one and a half volts while I was at work for 8 hours. Cost was $8.00 total back around 1990. Works great. +1 on cleaning up the milsurps, the layers of steel and powder fouling can take weeks to scrub out.

All it is is a steel conductor that is not touching the barrel, an ammonia based electrolyte solution and a little voltage to plate the conductor with whatever is on the inside of the barrel. On a few really cruddy swedes I'd stop and scrub the powder fouling out between sessions with the gadget.

BD

I to built my own and have good results, I use watered ammonia from the hardware store for the electrolyte solution. The rest is the same as BD's.
Lead foot;

[jeff423]

I built my own from a length of steel rod, 3 O-rings a rubber stopper, 2 alligator clips, a flashlight battery and some wire. I used 3 volts for about an hour, or one and a half volts while I was at work for 8 hours. Cost was $8.00 total back around 1990. Works great. +1 on cleaning up the milsurps, the layers of steel and powder fouling can take weeks to scrub out.

All it is is a steel conductor that is not touching the barrel, an ammonia based electrolyte solution and a little voltage to plate the conductor with whatever is on the inside of the barrel. On a few really cruddy swedes I'd stop and scrub the powder fouling out between sessions with the gadget.

BD

Do you put the positive wire on the rod or the gun?

Jeff

[HangFireW8]

Always wondered about one of these gizmos. Would like opinions on them good or bad. I shoot a lot of crappy old rifles and go through LOTS of patches especially with the military stuff and was wondering if these truly work and how well. I wouldn't expect a new barrel but can they get a lot out so hand cleaning becomes more manageable

Have an FO II, love it. I don't use it after every shoot, though, just on new-to-me guns, after a problem with copper fouling, or the occasional need.

For well layered old rifles, you have to run it an hour, clean with brush and patches, and run it again, repeat. The reason is that there are mulitple layers of copper (cupra-nickle, whatever), grease, and powder, and it takes a few tries to get it all out.

Degreasing before each run with RemClean, carb cleaner, brake cleaner, etc. also improves the process.

If you want a pitted bore, just don't follow the directions and run it overnight, like the illustrious editors of American Rifleman and other literacy challenged magazine writers. In most cases this is harmless and it goes to the high impedance state and does nothing, but on occasion it can continue to function against barrel steel instead of fouling.

I haven't really needed it for boolits. Not that I've never had a problem with lead fouling, but for handgun I've found my original old Lewis Lead Remover to be quicker and very effective. If I really fouled up a rifle barrel, though, I'd get it out in a heartbeat.

I don't use the factory F.O. rod any more. Buying a 316 stainless steel rod of aprox. 1/2 barrel thickness can increase effectiveness, decrease run time and decrease fluid waste. I also use thin cut strips of electrical tape instead of their expensive little O-Rings as well.

-HF

[BD]

positive on the barrel, negative on the rod. You are in effect plating the rod with the metal fouling from the surface of the barrel. +1 on not letting it run overnight.

BD

[sargenv]

The first time I cleaned my TC Contender pistol with the FO-II it took about 2-3 days to get all of the copper out of it.. really worked well.. also makes taking lead out of a leaded barrel very easy.. no more scrubbing and elbow grease with one of these "gizmos".. I even used it to clean the lead fouling out of my 357 magnum cylinder after shooting a LOT of 38's through it... same with my 610 cylinder after I shoot a lot of lead 40's and want to use the longer 10 mm cases in it again.