Don't Abandon That Poor Bore - there could be hope!

Andy

Andy

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Just thought I'd share a story of a few bores that I've salvaged, that I could have easily given up on. I've done this a few times, but I recently bought a parts gun with a "shot out bore", that turned out to be a decent shooter, so that reminded me to finally share this.

This gun (a sportered SMLE Mk III*) came to me priced as if the barrel was shot out. I looked at it and it was ugly. Black, with rough hairs down its full length. A bronze brush followed by a few patches came out dark orange, then lighter orange (rust), then just black. The patches came out roughed up and although it became less dark, it had every appearance of being junk. I had nothing to lose, so I wrapped medium steel wool around the same bronze brush (don't do this on good bores!), soaked it in oil (Kroil actually), and forced it back and forth a good dozen times. It was a tight fit and required lots of effort, but it got easier with each stroke. A few patches later, and the bore was what I could call Good+! Quite bright, good strong rifling, with minor pitting in the groozes. It shoots well, but is about 3-4 thou over standard groove diameter (0.316"), which is not so bad, because that's not unusual for an excellent bore in a SMLE, and since I cast, it's no issue for me.

When you have nothing to lose, it's worth a try.
 
when the SMLE was standard british issue, most cleaning kits were issued with a wire gauze for the pull through. If a bore got ratty (as yours was) a troopie could seek permission from the RSM to "treat with gauze". If one asked to do so in barracks, one was in for a good drubbing. In the field on long exercises with corrosive ammo and wet English weather, it was more forgivable.

I have personally DRASTICALLY improved several poor SMLE bores by using the standard pull through with the wire gauze applied. Works amazingly well, even better than steel wool on an older bronze brush.
 
Poor bores

It is amazing just what a couple of applications of one of the new "foaming" bore cleaners will do to clean a bore. Although most do not recommend a bit of a scrubbing with a wire brush when using them, I have found that a couple of strokes about half way through the first "setting" time really loosens up the crud. Then patches at the end of the "setting" time until the patches come out fairly clean, followed by a SECOND cleaning by a foaming type cleaner and waiting and using the patches again to get the bore a lot cleaner.

On some of the worst bores, I have resorted to a lead lap on the bore. Being one of the Old Farts here, I was taught very early on just how to properly use a lead lap without ruining the bore. Any rough spots, tight spots, or irregularities can really be improved with this method, and a poor shooting rifle can be salvaged and turn out to be a rifle worth keeping.

As CLAVEN2 mentions about the wire gauze treatment, he is right about the consequences of not paying proper attention to bore cleaning. The rod and brass brush from the rear is preferable, and pull throughs for field use do work. The problem with pull throughs is that they can easily be mis-aligned when pulling them through the barrel, with the cord wearing on the end and crown of the rifling at the muzzle. as it is difficult to pull them through the bore straight. As to the incidental consequences, the RSM now knew your name personally, and if there were any of his "projects" that required work related input, you can guess who was requested to participate. This lasted for a while until some other unlucky soul "rang the gong", and you were off the hook.

Bren Gun barrels were cleaned in the field by a bit different method, as the Bren pull through was longer and had the loop in the middle of it. One person put the barrel behind his back, and locked it in place by pulling forward with the inside of his elbows, while another Soldier on each side grabbed the ends of the pull through and alternately pulled back and forth. Gauze was a bit more acceptable with the Bren Gun because of the larger number of rounds fired from them.

Glad to see that you got the old girl in to acceptable shape.
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Is there anything wrong with "shooting" it clean?

I had a Ross MkII with a bad bore, dark with a bunch of grime through the barrel - I would say poor if I had to sell it. After scrubbing for an hour which seemed to do nothing except blacken many patches, a few old timers told me to take it to the range and shoot it clean. I did so with nothing to lose, and after 5 rounds I had an almost minty bore - shiney but had some freckling! I guess it was shot once and put away without cleaning, a long time ago. I've done this with a few other rifles with mixed results, but it usually for me it comes out better than an hour of scrubbing. I have never tried the steel wool.

If it seems to work well, but why scrub when you can shoot? Am I missing something, is it dangerous? Is steel wool easier on the bore than bullets when bores are bad?
 
X2 did the same thing shoot a few non corrosive rounds, and then give it a good cleaning.. Works awesome.

stoggie said:
Is there anything wrong with "shooting" it clean?

I had a Ross MkII with a bad bore, dark with a bunch of grime through the barrel - I would say poor if I had to sell it. After scrubbing for an hour which seemed to do nothing except blacken many patches, a few old timers told me to take it to the range and shoot it clean. I did so with nothing to lose, and after 5 rounds I had an almost minty bore - shiney but had some freckling! I guess it was shot once and put away without cleaning, a long time ago. I've done this with a few other rifles with mixed results, but it usually for me it comes out better than an hour of scrubbing. I have never tried the steel wool.

If it seems to work well, but why scrub when you can shoot? Am I missing something, is it dangerous? Is steel wool easier on the bore than bullets when bores are bad?
Click to expand...
 
In general, a hot bore cleans easier than a cold one. I'm not a fan of "shooting a bore clean". There are potential pressure problems, and sometimes all that happens is you hide pitting with shaved-off jacket material.

If I need a wear barrel to improve cleaning results, I pour boiling hot water down the bore with a barrel funnel, then clean with a proper brush and patches.
 
Claven2 said:
In general, a hot bore cleans easier than a cold one. I'm not a fan of "shooting a bore clean". There are potential pressure problems, and sometimes all that happens is you hide pitting with shaved-off jacket material.

If I need a wear barrel to improve cleaning results, I pour boiling hot water down the bore with a barrel funnel, then clean with a proper brush and patches.
Click to expand...

That's a good caution. A badly fouled and corroded bore will raise pressures substantially if you fire the rifle in this condition. I'd only try this after using bore brushes, JB Paste, and de-coppering agents such as Sweets 7.62/Butches Boreshine. Running a plug gauge first would be a good idea too.
 
X2 did the same thing shoot a few non corrosive rounds, and then give it a good cleaning.. Works awesome.
Click to expand...

This worked for me on my Fin M39. I used some foaming bore cleaner and cleaned it out pretty good with that and then took it to the range for 20 shots of so.

What looked like a rotten sewer pipe turned out to be a nice dark shiny bore with good rifling.
 
One thing that worked quite well on an old Trapdoor Springfield that had probably never been cleaned, after spending hours trying to clean it is this: I bought some of those copper scouring pads that look like coarse steel wool. I tore off chunks that would fit tightly in the bore. I notched a piece of 3/8 dowel so the copper would stay put, then I put the dowel in a drill. I ran this through many times, cleaned, then repeated 3 or 4 times. The bore came out very well. I don't think the copper hurt the steel.
 
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