Nasty Wad Residue

[EricW]

I've cleaned a lot of shotguns over the years. But, I have never, ever, ever seen anything on the epic scale of nastiness as my 1100 last night:

Major, thick gooey plastic residue coated the forcing cone and ran back into the chamber (which probably explains the sluggish cycling). The entire barrel was gooked up a bit. The choke tube was completely coated in black, sticky polyethelene. You can't just use the ol' boresnake on this stuff. Getting the residue out is a major ordeal.

I'm using miscellaneous leftover factory loads, then my AA reloads (1-1/8 oz in a Win AA wad over Red Dot - the same load I've run a gazillion time in my Beretta with nary a problem.)

Am I just shooting the barrel until it's too hot and melting the wads?

Will polishing the forcing cone help? Are 1100 barrels chrome-lined - do I need to remove the chrome before polishing?

Has anybody tried spraying silicone or some other slick stuff in their bore to try and keep the wad residue from sticking?

[uscbigdawg]

Eric,

I know what you mean. I just deal with it and clean more regularly. A good course brush and some elbow grease. Sweet's 7.62 would probably work really well, for killing the stuff quicker.

Rich

[Bronco]

Been there also, found that claybuster wads are the worst offender. Some of the promotional shells sold have to be loaded with soft wads. Brake cleaner and the appropriate ga. brush hooked to an electric drill on fast speed, when you get the barrel warm enough so it uncomfortable to hold run a snug patch through it. May take 30 minutes and several reps to get most of it out. Kurt says not to get it all out as it helps to open the wad faster. LOL Keith

[TeamGE]

EricW,

Fast, Hot barrel shooting is the reason for the residue, (plastic wad, and lead). Chromed barrels are already smooth and polishing won't help. Spray lubes will work for a few rounds, but won't last long. The best cleaning brush I found is the Hoppe's "Tornado" brush. 30 to 50 strokes through the bore and the plastic and lead falls out the end. No chemicals, just dry. Bore comes out looking brand new.

[JD45]

I used to wrap a 20ga. brush with cotton patch until it fit super tight in the bore, and goto work with RemClean ( sometimes I would JB the hell out of it). Carb and brake cleaner will make the plastic curl-up, but I worry about getting that stuff on the gun.

[George]

I have been using a bore mop with JB on it. I recently read a tip posted by TBF about using 000 steel wool soaked with Kroil. I’m gonna try it.

--

Regards,

Edited July 23, 2004 by George

[mike.45]

JD45

Dont be afraid of brake carb cleaner I use it all the time and it dont hurt the guns at all. In fact I pretty much swear by it as part of the cleaning process and I am the first to try and protect my girls good looks .

[kurtm]

You all are going to laugh at me ....but... deep woods off, or anything else with a high DEET content will eat plastic so fast your head will swim. Maybe it's the fumes! Amazing what a few free minutes and Pacena beer will get you. Spray it in and wait a few minutes and then swab well this stuff is gummy! finish off with what ever bore cleaner you like. I like the tornado brushes and Kroil also, but for eating plastic nothing beats deet! the up side is that it also works the "bugs" out of Remingtons and Brownings . I found this quite by accident while cleaning a old Remington with spray Break Free, both cans were sitting on the table and well you know the rest of the story! I did mention beer was involved KURTM

[Patrick Sweeney]

Back when Second Chance was consuming my every Spring and Summer (sniff, I miss it so!) we nearly killed 1100s all the time.

Slug guns got a coating of lead on the bore, and the Front Range guns got bores wadded with plastic. What we found worked was to take a rod or a length of 550 cord, and secure a bore swab. (You push the rod or pull the 550 cord.)

From the grocery store, get a copper or bronze pot scrubber, the mesh kind. Cut it into a sheet with scissors. Wrap it around the swab until you can just fit it into the chamber. Scrub. Three or four passes, and the ribbons of lead or plastic would fall out like bad dandruff.

Once you could see clean bore, then switch to the bore cleaner of your choice. The hard-core guys would eschew the use of bore solvents, and just scrub with the mesh until clean, run a patch down, spray with oil or silicone, and get back to shooting.

[mike.45]

I found this quite by accident while cleaning a old Remington with spray Break Free, both cans were sitting on the table and well you know the rest of the story! I did mention beer was involved  KURTM

If I recall you do most of your best gunsmithing at 1am after a few cold ones !

[TBF]

"000" steel wool and Kroil will take it out quick.

Pack the chamber end with steel wool tightly, squirt on a little Kroil, push through with a Solid large diameter rod ( A 22 cal rod will just get bent ).

Put the barrel on a towel on the floor to stop the wool before it gets out the end of the barrel, push it back and forth about 4-5 times. ( Keep it tight in the bore )

Follow with patches, etc.

Dunno how to stop the wad stuff completely but on my reloads, I dust the wads with " Motor mica " and it seems to help. WWW.MidwayUSA.com A can will last something like forever. Ziploc bag and shake N bake em, static electricity will make a thin coating of mica stick to the wad.

It does not contaminate the powder, and is a handy dry lube for other stuff in the reloading room too ( I dust the plastic sliders on my SDB with it too ).

Travis F.

[kimel]

The other day, before everyone posted these neat methods, I resorted to a "Green Scrubby" from under the kitchen sink. I wrapped it around a 12ga bore mop, sprayed the bore with MPro7 and went at it. It worked pretty well but I am going to try some of these other methods to see if they work better.

[Les Snyder]

Patrick... there is a produce on the market similar to the pot scrubber pads, looks like titanium lathe turnings, sold under the name of something like Frontier Big 45 that works well for getting lead etc. out of barrels....cut a small wad of the stuff and wrap it around a bore brush, but be careful, don't try to pull it apart like steel wool...I use the "Tico" tool fuzzy stick between cleanings.... regards

[KBK]

The easiest way to remove plastic in your shotgun barrel is a trick taught to me by an old trapshooter. Use a Hoppes Tornado brush, a short length of rod, insert rod into cordless drill and run drill in and out of end of barrel. Only the lst 12 to 10 inches should have the wad residue, so no need to go the whole length of the barrel. Works evertime, and no need for messy cleanup, barrel looks like brand new.

[texasag93]

I had the same stuff in my gun after a few rounds of skeet. I soaked it with Hoppes and let it soak while cleaning the rest of the gun. One tight patch and it was gone. The chamber was the worst!? Scrubbed it with bronze brusk and Hoppes. I was shooting Federal bulk pack shells from Wally World. TXAG

[EricW]

The Hoppes Tornado Brush is the sh*t! I had one laying in my cleaning kit, but totally forgot about it.

Thanks for the tip Beven!

================================================

I still think I might try polishing the forcing cone to cut down on the residue. That's where 90% seems to be. Any recommendations on polishing?

[TeamGE]

EricW,

There is a "ball/brissel" type hone in Brownells that is made to polish the forcing cone when you recut the barrel for a "long forcing cone", but I don't think it will be close enough to match the taper of a standard cone. I would look for one of these ball/brissel type hones that is the right diameter but only an inch or so long. Something in the line of an automotive brake cylinder hone maybe. It should just slip into the chamber and then touch the forcing cone taper. If your stock forcing cone is very rough, and sharp, it may help to clean it up.

My barrel gets residue the whole way down the bore, and it has been cut for a long forcing cone and polished. I didn't notice any recoil difference, and residue build up didn't change. I feel the forcing cone deal is strickly to minimize pellet deforming and pattern control for long shots.

[sargenv]

Weird.. I just cleaned my Gold last night and I did a lot of shooting while the barrel was too hot to touch and I didn't notice any residue. I shoot practically nothing but claybuster wads and for Slugs I use the S&B full power stuff. One time I had the barrel so hot that the yellow markings on the S&B casing were melting off and was attaching itself to the chamber. Other than that though, I haven't had a need to clean the barrel as it seems smooth as glass. *shrug* My loads are consistently what one would call high velocity (usually 1255-1330 fps) and generally heavier loads (1.125-1.25 ounce loads). Could it be the cheap shells I see everyone using(Winchester cheapies, Rio's, etc)?

I wonder why everyone else is having this issue?

Vince

[TeamGE]

I think you have the answer sargenv. Cheap ammo the wad material that is being used is causing the difference in residue build up. Speed is a factor also. I am shooting mostly 1290 to 1400 fps loads. I would relate it to shooting cheap lead bullets at high velocities.

[P.E. Kelley]

Ssssush Les, Big 45 Frontier bore cleaning wool is MY secret. I use it dry wrapped around a bronze bore brush on a section of cleaning rod chucked in a cordless drill motor. It works very well on leaded bores too. Great again for light rust removal without bluing damage. Let's just keep this to ourselves...OK?

PK

[sargenv]

I feel the forcing cone deal is strictly to minimize pellet deforming and pattern control for long shots.

Having done a large amount of shotshell reloading over the years, and reading some of the materials I've read (mostly from Ballistic Products load manuals) they state that a long forcing cone decreases pellet deformation(thereby increasing pattern density), lowers peak pressure(s), and actually cuts recoil a tad over the short abrupt forcing cones of many guns on the market. The idea is that if the forcing cone is gradual, it will tend to lend itself to better patterns and more consistent shot to shot consistencies over an abrupt "shove" into the barrel like some other manufacturer's barrels.

So making sure that forcing cones are gradual may lend itself in the long run to being able to shoot any shell and not worry so much about buildup of inferior wad materials. Otherwise, it just takes a bit more elbow grease to clean the barrels without this gradual forcing cone.

Now, if I just understood pistol shooting more

Vince