Rust or copper fowling
- Thread starter matt0214
- Start date
True... When I first got into handgun shooting (1986) I'd owned some kind of rifle or shotgun for more than 25 years and had been a member of a junior rifle target/hunter-safety club. First year with a .22 pistol (SW41) I shot about 10k rounds in practice at either 25 or 50 m. (not to mention lots of shooting with an air pistol and free pistol)...
Don't really know what to say about your staining - if you use a copper solvent type cleaner (I've usually used Sweets 7.62) with ammonia: 1.. Run a wet patch through the bore (any gun cleaning solvent - Hoppes 9, Butch's Bore Shine, for example). 2. Soak a brush with the same solvent and run it through the bore a few times. Let it sit for a few minutes. 3. Run a wet patch through and remove it at the muzzle. THEN: 4. wet a patch with the copper solvent.. 5. push it through from breech to muzzle and take the patch off the cleaning rod - pull the rod out. (When you're doing this, avoid getting the solvent on the rifle's bedding or stock.) 6. Wait 10 minutes. 7. Run a dry patch through - breech to muzzle - and take it off the rod. If the patch is stained blue, it's copper deposits. If it's stained some other way, not sure but if it's brown, probably rust. 8. Go back to the original solvent (without ammonia) and run it back and forth through the bore, and keep doing that until a dry patch comes out clean. 9. Run a patch with some kind of gun oil through. Store the rifle muzzle down so any oil doesn't drain back into the action/stock/bedding. 10. Before you go shooting again, run a dry patch through and take it off at the muzzle end. That was what we did at fullbore back when I was still shooting regularly.
And...sorry - spelling 'nazi' here - it's "fouling" I believe "fowling" is using a hawk or falcon to hunt other birds.
Bubba Yugga
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Midwestern Ontario
I don't think my learning curve rose much above the zero axis till I was a good 10K in...
a thousand rounds is where shooters either become bored, broke or frustrated with shooting and it's also the point where they start to notice subtle differences which make big changes to their accuracy efforts, and start thinking about rolling their own. That's wen the "real learning curve begins"
Up to the point of hand loading, every box of ammunition purchased from a commercial loader is a gamble.
Of course, there are a few "jewels" out there which will shoot off the shelf ammunition well, until they change powders/primers and bullets and maybe even job out the production of their cases, then it all goes awry and an "expensive" search begins.
I have a 30-06 which shoots "almost" every commercial brand of ammunition I've tried in it well.
Where the point comes into play, is "what does the shooter considers shooting well" is to them.
I know lots of folks with very decent off the shelf rifles which will shoot consistently into 2.5 moa out to 300meters. That's good enough for Deer, Black Bear and even Moose, until you've got a nasty cross wind, mirage, and you're shooting off hand with the muzzle bobbing.
From a rested position, it's "good enough"
From an unrested position, in the hands of a shooter who only practices off the bench, it's likely a miss or worse a wounded/lost animal.
Up to the point of hand loading, every box of ammunition purchased from a commercial loader is a gamble.
Of course, there are a few "jewels" out there which will shoot off the shelf ammunition well, until they change powders/primers and bullets and maybe even job out the production of their cases, then it all goes awry and an "expensive" search begins.
I have a 30-06 which shoots "almost" every commercial brand of ammunition I've tried in it well.
Where the point comes into play, is "what does the shooter considers shooting well" is to them.
I know lots of folks with very decent off the shelf rifles which will shoot consistently into 2.5 moa out to 300meters. That's good enough for Deer, Black Bear and even Moose, until you've got a nasty cross wind, mirage, and you're shooting off hand with the muzzle bobbing.
From a rested position, it's "good enough"
From an unrested position, in the hands of a shooter who only practices off the bench, it's likely a miss or worse a wounded/lost animal.
I just read this complete thread and concur with bearhunter and the others who suspect that your cleaning products were /are not getting as much copper out of your rifle as you think.
Wipeout and accelerator are excellent products, and when used with Iosso , Bore tech or other nylon brushes are fantastic copper removers, but one must know what exactly it is that they are looking at when bore scoping a barrel!
If you google " yutube Speedy Gonzales barrel cleaning", you will find a great video interview taken by Erik Cortina with Speedy Gonzale on how he cleans his match winning guns.
Follow this and I'm sure you will be amazed at how easy ot is, ad how much of a difference it makes in actually removing copper and powder fouling .
As bearhunter mentioned, 1,000 rounds is just a start, but I also know quite a few shooters who have ten times that amount under their belts that do not pay attention to anything they have learned, and do not listen to people that are more knowledgable than themselves.
If you pay attention, watch and listen, you will gain a to of experoence in ver litltle time!
Have fun with your journey!
Cat.
