Clean bores?

[Garth Gustafson]

My son and I shot a sporting clays course yesterday and we put 300 rounds thru my 2 Parkers. I use RSTs exclusively and the bores were filthy. I laid out the barrels last night for a good cleaning using my typical combination of bristle brush, patches, Hopppes #9 and gun oil and I sat down to spend some quality time with the old girls.

I must be an idiot because I ended up with a pile of 50 lead streaked Hoppes soaked patches and although the bores looked ok, after all that effort the patches still weren’t coming out clean. I probably could have continued running patches thru the bores all night but I finally ran out of patience.

What am I doing wrong?

[Bill Anderson]

Worrying too much about shiny bores is what would be wrong, in my opinion. Each shot cup melts a little from friction each time you fire the gun and traps the burnt powder in the softened plastic. But, even after you listen to several cleaning opinions from different members, when you fire the first RST you will get right back to the same look down the bores that you had before you started all the cleaning. If you don't see a noticeable change in hits or misses, or changes in patterns, keep firing, enjoy yourself and worry less about having factory shiny bores at the end of each day. When you go home push out the heavy gunk, stand the shotgun on it's muzzle and go watch some TV and have a drink. :)

Bill

[Kevin McCormack]

I have mentioned this to Morris Baker many times over the years; whatever powder they are using in their 'Lite', Falcon Lite', etc. it burns filthy dirty. I always douche my barrels with excess (dripping) patches of Hoppe's #9 and let them hang muzzle down for a few hours or overnite, then swab them with clean patches I cut from old T-shirts over a wire brush. Because of the residue in the bristles of the brush, they never come out completely clean, but the bores wind up like mirrors after 2 or 3 passes.

[CraigThompson]

To each his own ! Typically I run a wooly booger Rod thru a couple passes each barrel and they’re shiney . If I shoot a bunch of buckshot or slugs I might use the bronze brush with Hoppes and patches . When I shot skeet/trap all the time a couple times a year I’d get some brake cleaner/gun scrubber and scrub wash the bores until I was satisfied . Here’s a picture of the label on one of my Woolley Booger rods

[Randy G Roberts]

What am I doing wrong?

Garth this is an easy one. Your Son should be doing the cleaning :)

[Patrick Lien]

Garth this is an easy one. Your Son should be doing the cleaning :)

That is funny. My son stopped by in need of guns, shells, pistols, rifles, etc late last evening to go chasing roosters and stuff today. I got home this evening and the roosters were cleaned, guns were spotless, and everything was put away where it should be. Good kid!

PML

[CraigThompson]

That is funny. My son stopped by in need of guns, shells, pistols, rifles, etc late last evening to go chasing roosters and stuff today. I got home this evening and the roosters were cleaned, guns were spotless, and everything was put away where it should be. Good kid!

PML

I can relate ! When I was a good bit younger and they had decided I was okay to hunt or shoot by myself anything in the House was okay to shoot . It was never mentioned but I knew well before hand if it wasn’t mine and was put up dirty that would most likely put a kink in gun borrowing relations at the old home place :whistle:

[William Davis]

Shot a round of Clays with a friend who used his O/U & factory AA shells, he said they were 1325 FPS. I used my Trojan & 2 reload recipes 3/4 - 7/8 powders 20/28 & Unique all in AA hulls. Velocity little over 1100 FPS

Sorting out empties yesterday was struck by how clean his hulls were. Not a spec of powder residue inside the hull. My Unique loads are always very dirty, 20/28 less but still dirty. Seems to me some powders burn clean others dirty , real difference in how clean a load burns is pressure. Higher the pressure more complete combustion . And we always look for low pressure loads

No doubt holding pressures down contributes to dirty bores. Easiest way to clean is spray some solvent, I use Balistol, and let it sit overnight , next day one pass with a cut down blue shop towel wipes most out, 2nd clean patch bright and shiny.

My opinion, worth what it cost.

William

[Harry Collins]

Like Kevin, I too give my bores a good sloshing of solvent and let them sit overnight muzzles down. In fact I do this with rifle and pistol. After they are cleaned and put up I go back in about three days and clean them again just to make sure all is well.

[Garth Gustafson]

Garth this is an easy one. Your Son should be doing the cleaning :)

Good one Randy! Very true.

[CraigThompson]

Like Kevin, I too give my bores a good sloshing of solvent and let them sit overnight muzzles down. In fact I do this with rifle and pistol. After they are cleaned and put up I go back in about three days and clean them again just to make sure all is well.

Cleaning shotguns is a piece of cake compared to my rifle cleaning regime. If it a new to me used rifle it begins with 25 passes of a Hoppes soaked brush followed by three passes with a clean patch each time . And this is repeated eight times for a total of 200 passes with a Hoppes soaked brush . After the 200 are done sometimes after the bore is dry I’ll go back with Hoppes Copper or Sweets 7.62 solvent on a nylon brush with the copper solvent I make a pass wait a minute or two and a clean patch normally I’ll make 8-10 passes with the copper stuff . And after I’m done with the copper stuff and think I’ve gotten it out as best I could I’ll then take a clean Hoppes #9 soaked patch wrapped on a bronze brush thru a couple passes then a dry patch thru a couple times . This sounds like a lot a trouble and may be more then you need but it’s done wonders on many used rifles I’ve bought that looked a skoosh rough inside and came out spotless and then (with handloads) shot some amazing groups for what they were . I did leave out that I generally use a bore guide , but have done it without and came out fine , of course that’s from the chamber end .

[Bill Anderson]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST SHOOT IT !

[Allen Gill]

When my shotguns get real dirty, I use the home made Ed's Red (YouTube). Acetone is the ingredient that gets rid of the plastic residue. Automatic transmission fluid is a great rust preventative. A copper scouring pad wrapped around a bore brush make the scrubbing easy and quick. A couple of patches followed by an oil patch and I'm done. Shiny bores every time.

[Ed Blake]

It probably isn’t the powder used by RST, but the effects of low pressure. Higher pressure loads burn propellant more completely than lower pressure loads.

[John Allen]

The excess residue is caused by not burning all of the powder.The modern hot loads get additional velocity by using powders that burn almost completely.That is why they leave the barrels cleaner looking.Another problem with modern Hoppes #9 is that they have reformulated it and it is not as strong as it used to be.As Horace would say "they took the animosity out of it."I bought a full bottle of the old stuff at an antique mall of all places.when you opened it,the odor hit you.It smells like a gun.The new stuff just ain't the same.

[Kenny Graft]

I have found a product that changes the cleaning game! I own Shooting Stars Firearms and had a sales call one day. This is a local company in Youngstown Ohio and I have heard it all about magic concoctions, the sales man was lucky it was a slow day. Anyway he left a sample bottle and smiled. We were shooting 410-s about that time and was having the same trouble as this thread talks about. After 100 rounds of good 410 ammo I could hardly get a brush down the tubes. Lead, plastic, that would not come out! Thinking about the sales pitch and magic juice I read the bottle and started the project. First....the barrels had to be clean and free of any fouling. Worked at that a good hour or so.....O.K. Treat the barrels with a clean wet cloth of the clear juice making sure to give it some stokes. O.K. Now follow with a dry patch and buff the tubes dry. I then put gun aside till next shoot. So I takes the gun out to the clays range...forgot about the magic juice job and shot my rounds. At the cleaning bench I removed the barrels and had to take a 2nd look to make sure this was the gun I had just shot! The barrels only had some loose speckles of fouling that could be wiped out with one pass....dang stuff works!!! Look up Gun 21 on face book. Made for a dry lube on M-16 rifles. In the shop we sell a small bottle that last a long time for 10.00 It can be sent in regular mail as it is not flammable. Its all I use on all my gun barrels now, perfect for black powder too....(-: After the first good cleaning all is needed is a fresh wipe and buff and maybe a little work at the cones with a clean dry brush as they may have a little streaking in the 410 gun, but very minor...good to go. This is the best stuff I have found so far! SXS Ohio

[Garth Gustafson]

Hallelujah! Thanks all!

[Drew Hause]

I believe stainless steel tornado brushes should not be used in vintage barrels. The brass brushes work great
https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Shot-12-Gauge-Gunsmith-Tornado/dp/B00CFYAPR2

I use a gauge larger to scrub the chamber and into the forcing cones.

Leaving the cleaning solution to sit after one pass is the key, then another scrub.

[William Davis]

To determine bore residue composition push a clean patch through your dirty bore. Light the patch’s corner and watch it burn. Unburned powder will Fizz, soot won’t .

William

[Phillip Carr]

I am not a member of Facebook. Kenny is Gun 21 the name of the product? I googled but did not find.

[Dean Romig]

The excess residue is caused by not burning all of the powder.The modern hot loads get additional velocity by using powders that burn almost completely.That is why they leave the barrels cleaner looking.Another problem with modern Hoppes #9 is that they have reformulated it and it is not as strong as it used to be.As Horace would say "they took the animosity out of it."I bought a full bottle of the old stuff at an antique mall of all places.when you opened it,the odor hit you.It smells like a gun.The new stuff just ain't the same.


The California EPA must have found a carcinogen in the old stuff that may have been linked to the eventual demise of a laboratory rat.....

Guess what?.... WE DON'T CARE!! - Bring back the old formula!





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[Kenny Graft]

I will find out more info and post it...thanks Kenny