Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Copper Solvent


GSonnen

Recommended Posts

For precision rifles...

After a range session, if I actually put some rounds down range, I'll run wet patch hope's #9 down the bore. I let it sit about five or ten minutes, come back and run a couple dry patches and I'm done. Its not hard on anything, cleans out the powder fowling and carbon, leaves that shiny copper showing in the grooves, and won't let your barrel rust.

When your groups start opening like your barrel is worn out, J&B bore compound with kroil on a cotton pellet just like the video on brownells shows to use it, then your done for another several hundred rounds. Funny thing is, it always take a few shots before the groups shrink back up after I stripped the copper from the bore. Maybe has something to do with copper fowling.

I'd rather wear a barrel out shooting it than cleaning it...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use Sweets for copper removal. However, I don't worry too much about the copper unless it shows a significant amount. The barrel that's been on my PRS gun since last November has 1700 rounds on it and I've only cleaned the copper out once I think, which was after the Finale last month where things got pretty hot. This gun seems to like getting cleaned every 500 rounds or so, but it's run pretty hard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can say definitively that Copper fowling MIGHT be a problem. I say this because some LR shooters don't clean their bores at all and I knew another guy on the All Guard team that did not clean his AR at all, he just kept adding lube. Experience tells me that Copper and powder fowling are not as bog of an issue with a .223 rifle as they are with faster shooting rifles. My .17 HMR needs cleaning every 100 rds, just a bore snake, to keep shooting well. My .22-250 needs the same. Both of these rifles are hard use guns when the Gopher shooting gets going. My 6.5x.284 and .308 Palma get a FEW patches with solvent after each range trip to keep powder and copper fowling down, I don't strip it all out in order to minimize those first round fliers. Every few matches I will bore paste the bores and clean everything out and work the throat area over more then the rest to keep things smooth and monitor wear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Use a carbon solvent 1st, then remove the residue with 99% alcohol

Now copper solvent, follow direction on the bottle (Barns) 99% alcohol again

Oil patch , Done

More damage is done to the barrel by dragging jag across the muzzle, remove it don't pull it back

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clean Carbon first then Copper, my 308 bolt gun just got cleaned after1500ish rounds, my 6.5 Creedmoor opens up around 300 rounds, in either case I use BoreTech Eliminator, be warned that brass jags will give dark blue false copper positives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Depends some on the rifle but since this post is in Precision Rifle, I'm going to assume you are not speaking of a semi-auto shooting a high volume of off the shelf "surplus" ammo.

A lot of opinions have changed over the past few years about the need for this. Barrels are better, bullets are better, cleaners are better. For a lot of people, less is more. A few of the best shooters I know have opted to something as simple as using a squirt of WipeOut foam followed by a 30min set then a quick brush and patch. Then a few more patches with something like M-Pro 7 cleaner.

Copper cleaning may happen at the end of the season.

BTW, here's a trick I picked up. Put a couple patches with rubbing alcohol then a couple dry patches down the bore after everything else. Helps remove any residue of cleaning products.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1,900 rnds on my .308 bolt gun, nothing but a bore snake every 100-125 rounds....shoots 1/2"-3/4" groups out to 200 yds...1,000 rnds through 6.5 cm bolt...same thing...tried some varget today instead of H4350 and shot the below 4 round group.....looks like I have a new load.

post-6763-0-58370100-1416529576_thumb.jp

Edited by DrawandDuck
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

+1 sweets. About every 40 rounds in my bolt gun.

Have you tried a less aggressive approach? I ask because this used to be very common practice but I've seen a number of people go to a much less aggressive routine with no drop in performance - myself included.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I rarely do anything other to a rifle barrel than push a VFG pellet through that is wet with a 50/50 mix of Shooters Choice and Kroil. And I might do that once every 500-1,000 rounds if it needs it or not.

More guns have been ruined by improper cleaning than being shot dirty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I clean if I'm not going to shoot again within the next week to ten days and I've fired less than 150 rounds to that point.

To then clean I use Hoppes #9 soaked into a couple patches one after the other. I then leave the rifle alone for the next half hour or more.

Then patch again (dry) to check for cleanliness level. If necessary I repeat trying to not use brushes unless REALLY dirty.

Once powder fouling is out I spray Gun Scrubber down the barrel. Let it dry.

Then I use Sweets to get out the copper fouling. Only leave sweets in the barrel for maybe 10 minutes or so. Then patch it out checking for blue color.

I may use more if still detecting blue coming out. Once its out I again spray gun scrubber down the barrel.

The rifle gets put away "Cold, Clean, and Dry" which is the only true repeatable condition for cold bore shots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wipe-Out. You'll be sold. And since it has no smell, you can use it indoors.

A trick one pro taught me is to squirt some of the foam into the barrel at the range and then plug the chamber and barrel. Drive home. Remove the plugs and run a few swabs down the barrel and you are done.

Edited by Graham Smith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I've been breaking in a new barrel on a GAP rifle I just bought. They suggest one round, then clean with Shooters choice or Butch's, followed by cleaning with a copper solvent like Barnes or one other that I do not recall. The first 5 or 6 rounds produced a lot of copper, but then it almost stopped entirely. At that time, you shoot 5 shot groups then clean as above. After about 25 total rounds, I stopped getting any copper fouling. After that, they suggest NOT using the copper solvent as often, more like 200-300 rounds. The process is posted on the GA Precision website.

What I'm most impressed by is how much the regular commercial carbon solvents do or do not work. I've tried a few and the best seems to be the Shooters Choice, followed by Hopes #9. I did not have any of the Butch's to try. Because of this, I think how often you address the copper fouling really depends on not only the ammo you are shooting and the barrel you are shooting it out of, etc., but which solvent you use to clean your rifle with on a regular basis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a big fan of bore tech products as well for my long range precision rifles. Use eliminator pretty religiously (every cleaning on my target rifles), although am also a big fan of the c4 and may end up using that more (carbon remover). I only clean with carbon fiber rods and undersized nylon brushes wrapped in 1.5 or 2" cotton patches. 1 wet then sit then a few dry and repeat. This is how I learned from my mentor (a bench rest shooter) and it's always worked. After my barrels are broken in I only need a few passes with bore tech to come out copper free, and one or two fowler shots seems to recoat the inside of the barrel (although more often than not my first shot is dead on too). I do believe carbon (powder) is much more detrimental to accuracy and good match barrel doesn't seem to get copper fowled too much in my experience. For the record I'm a guy that cleans too much -- every 20 - 50 rounds depending on the gun, which is every range session or few. Also if my gun will sit for a week or more before it hits the round count it gets cleaned before storage. I'm also shooting mainly wildcat calibers (lots of powder and small bore) with sierra match kings or berger vld's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to drive myself nuts with this. Read Will schuemans thoughts on barrel cleaning. Google it.

At the most, I think it's ok to get it all out on a new gun for like 50 rds. Then just shoot it. You can clean once in awhile or not. I don't think it's a big deal. Chamber foiling may need cleaning if its bad. Other than that, a bore snake will prevent rust and knock out loose fouling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...