Cleaning, Patching question.
- Thread starter FeistyLemur
- Start date
Doesn't Hoppes #9 state that it cleans the bore of lead and metals? .. as in the stuff your brush is made of. You're likely dissolving your brush and the residue is from that, not copper fowling in the bore. Try a nylon brush and see what happens.
- Location
- Aaaaaadmontin AB
Gun barrels are like my arse: no matter hard you wipe and scrub, they will never come clean! While the liberals and wanks shamelessly lobby to ban guns, nobody gives a thought to banning white underwear for men!
*Ahem*
Don't worry about getting your patches out lily white. You are primarily concerned about rust and fouling associated with lead. Some of the higher intensity handguns will be subject to copper fouling as well with jacketed bullets. Try to keep your cast lead reloads under 1000 FPS and leading shouldn't be a problem. If you are going faster than that at least use gas checks - I personally say to hell with them and go with FMJ's myself.
I clean my pistols once a month. They get soaked in solvent, wiped dry and lubed. Barrels get about 20 passes with the wire brush and then wiped down. I still get grey patches after cleaning but I don't care, my guns have never rusted and they shoot as well as any on the firing line. The only time to go to town on cleaning is if you plan on mothballing a gun for a long time in an aggressive environment. Out here in Alberta I have stored guns for decades with just a smidge of oil. Would that work for somebody in a humid climate like BC? I dunno, if I lived there I might put a little more on.
Routine cleaning shouldn't take you more than 10-15 minutes and shouldn't be a pain. Don't sweat grey patches.
*Ahem*
Don't worry about getting your patches out lily white. You are primarily concerned about rust and fouling associated with lead. Some of the higher intensity handguns will be subject to copper fouling as well with jacketed bullets. Try to keep your cast lead reloads under 1000 FPS and leading shouldn't be a problem. If you are going faster than that at least use gas checks - I personally say to hell with them and go with FMJ's myself.
I clean my pistols once a month. They get soaked in solvent, wiped dry and lubed. Barrels get about 20 passes with the wire brush and then wiped down. I still get grey patches after cleaning but I don't care, my guns have never rusted and they shoot as well as any on the firing line. The only time to go to town on cleaning is if you plan on mothballing a gun for a long time in an aggressive environment. Out here in Alberta I have stored guns for decades with just a smidge of oil. Would that work for somebody in a humid climate like BC? I dunno, if I lived there I might put a little more on.
Routine cleaning shouldn't take you more than 10-15 minutes and shouldn't be a pain. Don't sweat grey patches.
I gave up on trying to make the bore 100% spotless as that would require way too much time and a serious waste of it at that. A pass with a solvent soaked brush then 3 or 4 passes alternating with a wet patch then dry patch. After the final wet patch I put a few dry patches down the bore to soak up the remaining solvent then I finish with an oiled patch or two. That's for my centrefires and only when really needed or if I won't have them out for a while. 22 same process minus the brushing unless truly grimed up. I've put a brush through my marlin 925 once in the past three years.
If you don't shoot the gun, maybe you have a point. If you actually shoot it, how many shots do you think it takes the next time you have it out until it gets as dirty as you are describing? Answer: one. You are doing more to wear out the barrel by obsessively cleaning it than you are by shooting it. Modern powders and primers are not corrosive. Powder residue will absorb moisture, so if you don't shoot the gun and store it in a damp environment for a long time without using it, you could have some damage by not having cleaned and oiled it. Although probably not in the bore anyway.
It's not worth worrying about getting it completely spotless unless you're storing it away; and even then if it's properly lubed / greased that will protect it.
It's not worth worrying about getting it completely spotless unless you're storing it away; and even then if it's properly lubed / greased that will protect it.
If you want a CLEAN and conditioned barrel - do all the regular cleaning with your favorite bore cleaner that promisesWONDERFUL RESULTS until the patch comes out clean THEN use JB bore cleaner (paste) on a fresh patch. Scrub the bore - patch will be ABSOLUTELY BLACK. Scrub with fresh patch until patches come out clean then repeat with JB paste routine. After about three scrubbings with JB -the patches will come out clean and you will have a REALLY CLEAN barrel. IF you're really serious about the what to do and what NOT to do about barrel cleaning ... talk to a bench rest shooter...
The only time I've actually achieved what I would describe as a clean patch after passing it through the bore of a rifle was last spring when I was prepping my HMR for a trade with a member here. Took a few soakings with proshot and a few dozen patches to get rid of the green from the copper fouling. Don't miss that rifle one bit and it brought into my possession my very first pistol, my beloved wartime Tok.
We all agree a pistol barrel does not have to be spotless. But the OP wants to know why he can't get it spotless.
First, Hoppes #9 is a wimpy cleaner. You want a vigorous chemical cleaner (I like WipeOut) and an abrasive cleaner, like TemClean or JB paste.
I use the RemClean first, and then leave the WipeOut in over night. The next day it should be spotless. Although a real bad barrel may need several repeats, like an old milsurp.
First, Hoppes #9 is a wimpy cleaner. You want a vigorous chemical cleaner (I like WipeOut) and an abrasive cleaner, like TemClean or JB paste.
I use the RemClean first, and then leave the WipeOut in over night. The next day it should be spotless. Although a real bad barrel may need several repeats, like an old milsurp.
Trying to get a patch to come out nice and clean without dark gray streaks is a futile attempt. As long as the patch doesn't come out uber dirty with caked on black carbon/soot, that's about it for me. Light amount of gray streaks is as clean as she gets.
This ain't my pic but any of the bottom two patches is clean to me.
This ain't my pic but any of the bottom two patches is clean to me.
thenewbieglockguy
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Ontario (GTA)
I think the same!
1riot1ranger
CGN Regular
- Location
- Calgary, AB
You may be trying harder than is necessary.
Check out this article from one of the top competition barrel makers:
http://schuemann.com/Portals/0/Documentation/Webfile_Barrel_Cleaning.pdf
Quote:
My Personal Practice has become to never clean the bore of my barrels. I do use a brass rod
to scrape the deposits out of the chamber. But, I've learned to leave the bore alone and it very
slowly becomes shinier and cleaner all by itself. Years ago I occasionally scrubbed the bore with
a brass bore brush. But, doing so always seemed to cause the bore to revert to a dirtier look with
more shooting, so I eventually stopped ever putting anything down the bore except bullets...
Check out this article from one of the top competition barrel makers:
http://schuemann.com/Portals/0/Documentation/Webfile_Barrel_Cleaning.pdf
Quote:
My Personal Practice has become to never clean the bore of my barrels. I do use a brass rod
to scrape the deposits out of the chamber. But, I've learned to leave the bore alone and it very
slowly becomes shinier and cleaner all by itself. Years ago I occasionally scrubbed the bore with
a brass bore brush. But, doing so always seemed to cause the bore to revert to a dirtier look with
more shooting, so I eventually stopped ever putting anything down the bore except bullets...
It is amazing how things get over-thought when it comes to cleaning. Although, my Glock & CZ have had both over 1k rounds down the pipe. I closely looked at the barrels and saw that the rifling was almost completely carboned up. It took over an hour with carbon solvent and a brush and then Hobbes and then clp to get them clean like new.
I definitely won't let them get that bad again.
I definitely won't let them get that bad again.
hoppes is probably the worst cleaner out there.
It will take at least twice the effort to get something done with that bore cleaner... It is most mediocre cleaning product out there. I might have been great 50 years ago but we have better options now.
It will take at least twice the effort to get something done with that bore cleaner... It is most mediocre cleaning product out there. I might have been great 50 years ago but we have better options now.
