Copper fouling question

mahony1977

mahony1977

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I posted a while back about rebarreling my bsa turns out it was just sereously fouled up. I had it cleaned , scoped it last weekend & sighted it in , after 6-7 shots it was sighted & shooting MOA . I cleaned it afterward & noticed its already starting to foul up again . Is there any way of stopping this . Ive never had it happen before or with any other rifle ?
 
A factory barrel can foul quite easily...

You may or may not benefit from a breaking in procedure... all it will cost you to find out is some time and about 20 rounds of ammo...

Breaking In A Barrel - Read fully before starting the procedure

Understand what a clean barrel means before shooting...

When cleaning, always use a good bore guide and a good rod.

Start with a clean, lightly lubed barrel, fire one shot, then run a loose patch through with Sweets 7.62 or any other solvent that will “eat” jacket fouling. Saturate the bore and let it sit a few minutes. Sweets indicate jacket fouling with a blue colour.

Run patches through to dry the bore and then wet patch it again and saturate the bore. After a few minutes dry patch it again. Repeat until the jacket fouling is removed (no blue patches).

After cleaning with Sweets, brush with Hoppes #9 and dry patch the bore and then leave it slightly lubed with a wet patch of Hoppes #9 before firing. This is considered a clean barrel.

Then fire one more shot, and repeat the above procedure. Do this for a total of 20 shots... and then test to see if it fouls less... It should be cleaned after every 20 or 30 shots there after, if possible.

You will find when the bore is broken in properly; the cleaning procedure is very quick, because there is very little jacket fouling in the bore.

I prefer Sweets 7.62, because it shows “blue” if there is any jacket fouling. I never use a copper or bronze brush with Sweets, because it will eat them, and give a false blue indication of fouling. I never let any other chemicals mix with Sweets. That is why there is a lot of dry patching and swabbing with rubbing alcohol and dry patching between switching chemicals.

For storage after cleaning with Sweets, dry patch and then swab the bore with several patches using rubbing alcohol; this will dissolve any remaining ammonia. Then lightly oil the bore.

Sweets will not harm a bore... it will however leave it so clean that the bore will be susceptible to rusting and so it should be oiled after cleaning with Sweets..
 
Has anybody tried fire lapping? I think Tubb has a product out there. I wouldn't do it with a SS match barrel but with a factory barrel that proves to be a fouler, it might be worth a try.
 
RePete said:
I wouldn't do it on ANY barrel, unless you want premature wear out.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't start off with the course grit bullets but might try the finish just to try to smooth out a fouler. I wouldn't do it if I was after MOA but on a hunting rifle where in most cases 2 MOA is acceptable it might be worth it.
On the other hand, how many shots are you going to fire through your rifle before hunting accuracy drops off?
 
copper

J B is the most effective copper remover out there.
Fire lapping is for old abused milsurp bores - last ditch effort to save em.;)
 
Break in period and a couple of good polishings with JB and then occasional cleaning with JB. That being said, some barrels are just prone to fouling.

44Bore
 
SeamusMac said:
How often do you guys use JB? I was reading about it on Brownell's website and one of the reviewers mentioned using it with discretion.
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You can use it as often as you like. It is not abrasive to steel and works well for removing copper... how ever your method of using a cleaning rod may cause more damage than anything else..
 
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Thanks for the step by step GT & everyone else for input . Il go through the break in procedure this weekend . Would it be advisable to jb it first or wait & see what happens after break in ?
 
guntech said:
Understand what a clean barrel means before shooting...
Click to expand...

Can't over emphasize that the barrel must be clean before each shot. Whatever roughness there is in the bore that is stripping copper off the bullet is also now protected under this layer of copper from the next bullet. If you want the next bullet wear off this roughness you must remove the protective layer of copper. You want absolutely no copper in the bore before each shot.

As a test to see if you think your barrel is clean, clean as you normally do and then wipe your bore dry with a patch. Push a patch soaked with Hoppe's #9 through your bore and let sit over night. Next day push a clean white patch through the bore, and if there is no evidence of blue on the patch the bore will be free of copper. Hoppe's #9 by itself is a poor copper remover but is harmless to the bore but will turn blue in the presence of copper if left long enough.
 
absolutleeee tru !

hart said:
Can't over emphasize that the barrel must be clean before each shot. Whatever roughness there is in the bore that is stripping copper off the bullet is also now protected under this layer of copper from the next bullet. If you want the next bullet wear off this roughness you must remove the protective layer of copper. You want absolutely no copper in the bore before each shot.

As a test to see if you think your barrel is clean, clean as you normally do and then wipe your bore dry with a patch. Push a patch soaked with Hoppe's #9 through your bore and let sit over night. Next day push a clean white patch through the bore, and if there is no evidence of blue on the patch the bore will be free of copper. Hoppe's #9 by itself is a poor copper remover but is harmless to the bore but will turn blue in the presence of copper if left long enough.
Click to expand...

I broke in a bench .223 with J B - clean after each shot for first 50 after every second for next etc. etc. - took me a whole summer. Was worth it - amazing accuracy resulted ! BUT - Now I can get only three shots through the same hole - then the group opens to half inch until I paste the bore.
SAYAAAH.jpg
 
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