Plastic fouling

[Proutfoo]

Hello shotgunners,

I went through a few boxes of cheapo trap loads this weekend and I checked the barrel of my 870 and I see quite a bit of plastic fouling in the first few inches of the barrel.... how do you go about getting it out?

Is Hoppes good enough to free it, or is there something else? I have a bronze brush that I can always scrub with, but I am worried it will wear the barrel prematurely?

 

[Claybuster]

Don't worry about the bronze brush. It won't damage the barrel. I've used Hoppes and G96 to clear out plastic fouling. If it's very severe you might consider using a chamber brush which is oversized and usually a little tougher than the usual shotgun bore brushes and using a plastic solvent meant for muzzle loaders who use sabots.

I've also chucked a cleaning road and brush into a power drill and used that to clear out severe plastic fouling.