Removal of Barrel Fouling on Milsurps

You don't even need alligator clips - twist the wires around whatever you want them to contact. You don't need a battery box - tape the wire to the battery. You don't need to buy tubing - use any little discs of non-conductive material. I did scrounge some rubber stoppers.
I try to get a funnel rigged at the muzzle. Then there is somewhere for the foaming to go. I remove the barrelled action from the stock.
After I have drained the barrel, I wipe it out, and then give it a really good brush scrubbing with the cleaner of choice and then clean normally. This might brighten the bore up a bit. Keep in mind, if the bore was pitted, and you can hope for are clean pits.
If you shoot corrosive ammunition, the fouling will be in the pits, and the corrosive action will continue, unless you deal with it.
 
Ok... question. Can I used tape to prevent the rod from touching the crown of the barrel? how do I keep it from contacting the bullet case? How can I seal the chamber without a spare bullet? (I don't usually keep brass laying around)
 
desporterizer said:
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.
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I spoke to a gent at the gun show today, who said he took electro-chemical engineering at university.
He said he wouldn't use an electric cleaner on a bore of his. Why?

Copper fouling is nobler than iron...so iron will be removed first. (that's a precis of what he said)
 
However, will it help remove lead fouling? Besides, I am sure the charge off of a single D cell battery would not be enough to pull a large amount of iron out of the steel in the barrel. My bore is very dark and I have spent about 20 patches cleaning it, it's shiny, but every time I run hoppe's down it, the rifling comes out black as night. Maybe electro cleaning is not such a bad idea?
 
Well I built myself a cleaning rig! Using a rubber stopper, a 3.50 51 inch brake line, some copper wire I scrounged off of random stuff, a six volt battery, alligator clips, and household non sudsing ammonia. I used this on an old bore that looked like it had no rifling... well lo and behold, it was built up "crap" along the grooves and lands, and once I had let this method occur for 40 minutes, I was AMAZED at how much rifling was really left after I ran about 30 patches through it with Hoppe's No.9 and scrubbing with my brush. Amazing difference... however, am I using too high a voltage? I found the ammonia literally vaporised/flowed out of the barrel, with nothing appreciable to "pour out". Ideas?
 
Try a 1 1/2v. flashlight battery.
Rig a funnel around the muzzle to catch the overflow.
The bottom end of your electrode can be stuck into the rubber stopper to keep it centered. Put a bead of insulator around the electrode every few inches to eliminate shorts.
 
Andy said:
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.
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Just a little add here, the hot wire (red) should be on barrel and negative (black) on rod to ensure electron displacement from barrel to rod.
I found that a "clean" barrel would still show lots of crap being dislodged after the electric cleaning.

BB
 
I was not kidding. Sometimes, there are strange waves in the force that make me not remember my voltages as I never bothered to check, or go through for being an electrician. Laugh if you like, I do not mind. Merely a senial old Jedi here.
 
Drachenblut said:
Amusing... it seems that everyone here has a soldering gun... so I'm guessing no one under 25 here and at University like me right? *Grins*
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Yep, I'm in your boat.

It's a pretty simple theory - low power, get the negative and positive right, go at it.

Pretty sure if you look around campus someone will be throwing out something that has a cord on it, grab that.

Or... go to value village and get a cell phone charger. They cost about $3, so about the same as a big battery or two, and you can use it whenever you want.
 
I managed to get a rig up. I just have to go to a lower voltage... I think the 6V I have hooked up is a bit too strong, however it did miracles for my Japanese Arisaka Cav. Carbine. I can actually see how much rifling is left! Amazing how much lead fouling and carbon is in there... tsk tsk. I will switch to a D cell battery and see how it works. Just need to go get a new rod.
 
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