Removal of Barrel Fouling on Milsurps

[Drachenblut]

Hello all,

The question is how do you remove the excessive amount of carbon/lead/copper fouling found in a "dark" bore? What methods do people on here use? i've heard everything from spending 10 hours scrubbing it with brush, patch, and bore cleaner, all the way to plugging the front of the bore with a lead bullet and filling the bore with nitrosolvent and leaving it overnight or a couple days. I've even heard of someone who used a gasoline mixture of somekind in passing. SO! How do YOU do it?
Personally, I've tried using Remington Bore Cleaner and though it does a great job of "visually" cleaning the bore, I find when I run it down the bore again, it comes out just as black as before after only a few passes. What gives? Am I wearing away my barrel?

Yours,
Drachenblut

 

[desporterizer]

If the bore has fairly deep pitting, the only way to get it out is with an electric cleaner. Mind you, next ten rounds will deposit a new layer of crud deep into the pits. I don't bother cleaning till the patches come out white any more on rifles with pitted bores. 10-15 patches soaked is powder solvent followed by copper solvent & oil is my method.

 

[ArtyMan]

I use Hoppes #9 on my K98, No4 and 3 Mosins. Never had a problem.

 

[Tyler]

You can make your own home made electric bore cleaner very easily with a steel rod, alligator clips, some small guage wire, and an old cell-phone charger.

I only use that in the worst cases though. Most of the time I use one or two applications of Gunslick foaming bore cleaner and it gets everything with only a few swipes of the bore with a pull through required. The amount of copper and other fouling I get out is unbelievable somtimes, and I use this on every new milsurp rifle I get.

Excessive scrubbing is for suckers.

Read this thread here.

 

[H Wally]

Hmmmm. When I've got some time over christmas I'll be making that for sure!

 

[44Bore]

Wipe-out or some other foaming bore cleaner--3 or 4 overnight sessions will get out as much as you will be able to get out--rest likwly won't matter.

 

[cosmic]

The problem is - a pitted bore will refoul quickler than as you can clean it. Give it a good soak the first time around, and shoot it. Lots of fouled bores shoot well.

 

[Pblatzz]

I use the following:

For Cleaning

Hoppe's No. 9 (give it a few days with a soaked bore, watch the copper come out)

Kleen Bore lead away yellow patches (no matter how clean you think your bore is, try one of these and run it throught the breel a dozen times, You will be surprised. I use these on fouled bores to get all of the crap out.)

Shooter's choice lead remover (works but it is S L O W...) Hoppes is better

Gunslick foaming bore cleaner (It works ok, but can drip into the bolt etc.)

Oiling & lube

CLP for cleaning & general oiling

3in1 Oil, I like a general oil

 

[Drachenblut]

I've heard that this electrolisis is nasty... that it can do weird stuff to your bore? Also, I'm no skilled technition, where can I obtain these parts in a tiny town?

 

[Drachenblut]

I only have a Home Hardware, not to mention I do not wish to damage my rifle. Can I buy a ready-made version of this that's commercially availiable?

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

I only have a Home Hardware, not to mention I do not wish to damage my rifle. Can I buy a ready-made version of this that's commercially availiable?

Outers Foul Out can be duplicated a hundred different ways from plans on the interweb.

 

[Tyler]

I've heard that this electrolisis is nasty... that it can do weird stuff to your bore? Also, I'm no skilled technition, where can I obtain these parts in a tiny town?

A Home Hardware should be plenty.

You don't need to be a "skilled technician" to assamble an EBC, just a 9th grade science class understanding of electricity should be more than enough.

Also, where did you hear that electric cleaning is "nasty"? I'd like to know since they make these things commercially, but they will cost you more than 10 times what it costs to make them yourself. I spent $12 in parts and I had mine going in less than 30 minutes.

 

[Dryzen]

Wash, srub, solvent and patch, over here.

 

[Winchester-1897]

If the bore has fairly deep pitting, the only way to get it out is with an electric cleaner. Mind you, next ten rounds will deposit a new layer of crud deep into the pits. I don't bother cleaning till the patches come out white any more on rifles with pitted bores. 10-15 patches soaked is powder solvent followed by copper solvent & oil is my method.

Here is a home made electric cleaner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S32C4SJ-NrQ

 

[Andy]

Even an electric cleaner might not take the dark away. I made one a few years ago, but haven't used it for a while.

You need a metal rod about 1/8" in diameter and 6" longer than the barrel length. Take a fired cartridge, wrap teflon tape around it and close the bolt on it - that seals the bottom. Wrap electrical tape around the bottom of the wire rod to isolate it from the fired cartridge and do the same to the top right where it exist the muzzle. You want the rod to be one electrode and the barrel to be the other. They need to be isolated from each other. I secure the gun in an upright position and use pure Household Ammonia for the electrolyte and fill the bore to about 3" form the top. An old battery charger with a 6 volt setting serves as my electrical source. Attach the negative lead to the barrel and positive to the rod, turn on the power source and away you go. It will foam up (which is why you don't fill the bore) and after about 20 minutes I turn it off. There will be a deposit of black gunk in the rod. Run a few patches through and you're done. I don't know how much is the ammonia and how much is the device, but it works well. Just not worth the effort IMO.

 

[Drachenblut]

Now one of THOSE little doohinkies from Iraqveteren I could possibly rig up. What size washers would I need for a .30 cal rifle? (I'm thinking of testing it on my Mosin) What happens if you get a short/ ie the rod touches the barrel?

 

[Elliott]

Wipeout foaming bore cleaner or Gunslick foaming bore cleaner. Spray either into the barrel and let stand overnight. May need to repeat once, but should be good to go after that.

 

[Kernalvax]

i built the electric gun cleaner today and im amazed at how well it works
tested it first on enfield no1, there were actually chunks of crap come out, and the ammonia turned a bright blue. i've got a k98 bubbling away right now

total cost was 15$, i got a 2 d cell battery box and some alligator clips from radio shack, and a steel rod from canadian tire, used wires from an old power box from my router and 5 mins connect the wires and i was in business

 

[Drachenblut]

Hey Kernalvax, can you tell me, step by step, how you connected the wires and where you bought the supplies? I would like to try it.

 

[Kernalvax]

yeah no problem

shopping list

The Source (Radio Shack)
2 D cell battery box - $4.99
pack of solder on alligator clips - $2.99
2 D cell batteries - $3.99 (i got the cheapy ones)
Shrink Tube - $4.99

Canadian Tire
one peice of 1/8 steel rod, 3 feet long - $2.00

Walmart

Pure Ammonia - $2.99

Stuff i had around home
Old power plug from a wireless router


cut the power box and connector end off the old power plug so you have the 2 strand wire, split the wires apart at the ends

connect the wires to the battery box pos and neg ends, with some solder and then the shrink tube

connect the alligator clips with solder, i used a piece of tape on the positive clip so its easy to see

give the steel rod a couple rubs with some sand paper to give it a bit of shine,the cut a couple of piece of larger heat shrink tube and shrink them to the 1/8 steel rod, i left mine loose enough that i can move them around on the rod. this will keep the rod from contacting the barrel and stopping the flow of electricity in the barrel.

i used the Teflon tape over an empty casing to seal the breach

fill the barrel with ammonia and let it sit for 20 seconds, then dump that out so all the oil is gone

refill and place steel rod in the barrel, making sure that the rod doesn't contact the muzzle directly

Place the negative clip on the steel rod, and positive on the gun barrel (front sight, rear sight, what ever) with in seconds the ammonia will start to bubble up so you know its working

want 20-40 minutes and dump it out, run a couple patches through the gun and a bit of oil and admire that your guns have rifling again. you'll be amazed at the crap that comes out of old milsurp rifles

my enfield came out electric blue with copper flakes, my k98 was lead fouled and it came out dark with chunks of stuff. the rod will be covered in black crud too

Word of warning about the ammonia...it will peel a varnish off wood faster than a good wood stripper, so you will want to wrap the barrel with a towel to catch any spillage, its ok on blueing though.