Just curious if anyone has ever experienced such a thing, since a lot of military ammo is/was steel-jacketed, it should be safe to assume that it would leave some sort of residue along with the usual copper/lead/powder mix. I've been trying to clean up an old 1917 dated no1 mk3* sporter for some time now with mixed results.
On a recent trip to the US I bought some of the latest and greatest gun cleaning products I could get my hands on. One can each of hoppes elite foaming bore cleaner and break-free bore cleaning foam. So out comes the ol' 303 for a test run on those. The gun is unfired by me and after cleaning with the regular stuffs I use the barrel looked pretty much perfect except for <one> slight raised spec of rust about 2/3 down the barrel that just wouldn't budge, I could live with that. So I applied a CLP soaked patch and put her away.
I hadn't touched it for a few months so I decided to have a go at it with the new miracle stuffs to see if they could lift out crap that the other stuff left out. First came the hoppes, nice environmentally-friendly pump, the "foam" has about the consitency of soap suds, application is a real PITA, the tube that comes with the can really isn't long enough so instead of going down the bore the foam just comes right back out the chamber. After waiting the recommended time I pushed the "foam" out with a dry patch and it did come out slightly bluish so it would appear to lift out <some> copper deposits.
I sent down several dry patches to dry out the barrel and out came break-free. The foam is much thicker, about the consistency of shaving cream and the long tube and quite powerful aerosol can sends the stuff down the bore with authority, in fact some of it flew out the barrel clear across the room !
After the first application the outgoing foam came out DEEP BLUE and so did the patch, that stuff WORKS ! A quick peek down the barrel and to my horror the <one> small spec of rust has multiplied and they were now all over my precious bore !
2 more applications later, scrubbing with a bronze brush and countless dry patches and those specs just wouldn't budge, so out came the hoppes "tornado" brush and some CLP, problem solved in a dozen or so passes. After 2 days and about a dozen application of the break-free stuff I've come to realise that my bore is most likely covered in layers of crud dating all the way back to WW1, as my patches are still coming out just as dirty with no end in sight. Today will be day 3 of my cleaning attempt. This all got me thinking, could the rusty spots that I say back in day 1 actually be the remnants of steel jackets from period military ammo lifting out along with the other crud ?
On a recent trip to the US I bought some of the latest and greatest gun cleaning products I could get my hands on. One can each of hoppes elite foaming bore cleaner and break-free bore cleaning foam. So out comes the ol' 303 for a test run on those. The gun is unfired by me and after cleaning with the regular stuffs I use the barrel looked pretty much perfect except for <one> slight raised spec of rust about 2/3 down the barrel that just wouldn't budge, I could live with that. So I applied a CLP soaked patch and put her away.
I hadn't touched it for a few months so I decided to have a go at it with the new miracle stuffs to see if they could lift out crap that the other stuff left out. First came the hoppes, nice environmentally-friendly pump, the "foam" has about the consitency of soap suds, application is a real PITA, the tube that comes with the can really isn't long enough so instead of going down the bore the foam just comes right back out the chamber. After waiting the recommended time I pushed the "foam" out with a dry patch and it did come out slightly bluish so it would appear to lift out <some> copper deposits.
I sent down several dry patches to dry out the barrel and out came break-free. The foam is much thicker, about the consistency of shaving cream and the long tube and quite powerful aerosol can sends the stuff down the bore with authority, in fact some of it flew out the barrel clear across the room !
After the first application the outgoing foam came out DEEP BLUE and so did the patch, that stuff WORKS ! A quick peek down the barrel and to my horror the <one> small spec of rust has multiplied and they were now all over my precious bore ! 2 more applications later, scrubbing with a bronze brush and countless dry patches and those specs just wouldn't budge, so out came the hoppes "tornado" brush and some CLP, problem solved in a dozen or so passes. After 2 days and about a dozen application of the break-free stuff I've come to realise that my bore is most likely covered in layers of crud dating all the way back to WW1, as my patches are still coming out just as dirty with no end in sight. Today will be day 3 of my cleaning attempt. This all got me thinking, could the rusty spots that I say back in day 1 actually be the remnants of steel jackets from period military ammo lifting out along with the other crud ?
