Barrel cleaning procedure question...

[Stache]

I've been cleaning rifles for more years than I care to admit, but I just ran into something I've never seen before and hope one of you may have.

I normally use Hoppes #9 for cleaning out powder residue, and Shooters Choice for scrubbing out the lead and copper. I then swab the barrel and the rest of the gun with CLP for rust prevention. I recently decided to try MPro 7 since my wife keeps complaining about the smell of the other "junk" (her term....;) ).

Last weekend I was cleaning my Mini-14, SS, (195 Series), and had already gotten much of the powder residue out of it. Then I sprayed the MPro 7 in the barrel and decided to let it sit while I ate dinner to soften the lead buildup per the instructions. Dumb ol' me got busy after dinner and forgot about the gun in the shop for a couple of days. I've never done this before, but this time I did....what can I say. Anyway, I went down last night to finish cleaning the gun and my first dozen patches through the barrel literally had a rust color on them! I then scrubbed the barrel with Shooters Choice and a brush, then patches again, etc. When I went back to MPro 7 to finish cleaning, the patches came out dark gray for awhile and then finally fairly clean. I put then put a couple patches of CLP through which came out pretty clean. On a whim, I ran a patch with MPro 7 back in and it came out dark again.....? So I started over and kept getting dark patches with MPro 7, but not the others.

Is MPro 7 that good that it gets stuff that the others don't, or am I seeing some sort of chemical reaction?

Any ideas or suggestions?

[djskit]

I know break free has teflon in it that will coat your barrel. Maybe that's it? :confused:
Have you tried soaking the barrel in Shooter Choice for an hour or so? I use Butch's Bore Shine and you can leave that stuff in there for a week without damage. Then you really know its clean.
One other possiblity is that you havn't got the rifle fully clean and you have alternating layers of copper/powder.
Havn't used MP7 myself and have been experimenting with JB paste with my fatory barrels. They say it will scrub the barrel without damaging it.

[cajungeo]

hey Stache, I went to their web site: http://www.mp7.com/NAdvice.htm , and read up. They say there is nothing in there to harm metal, so the gray must be more residue. I have been using Hoppe's #9, but just bought some Sweet's 7.62 to try. It says not to leave it in the bore more than 15 min. I noticed when I switch bore cleaners, I have to clean a lot longer, not shure why. Just a note: I don't believe there is much lead build up as there is copper build up. Most bullets are jacketed, so using a good copper cleaner makes sense.

[Stache]

djskit, no I haven't tried soaking the barrel in Shooter's Choice, but I will to see what I can get out of it. When you "soak", do you plug the barrel, or just wipe it in the barrel with a patch?

cajungeo, you're right about the copper vs. the lead. I think that was "stuck" in my head based on the description on the bottle, and the color of the patches. The rust colored patches I got out really confused me. I know that stainless steel can rust over time, but I sure didn't expect to see that. I suppose it could have been copper, although most copper removers turn it a green color.

I'll try it again in the next few days and let you know what I come up with.

[djskit]

No I don't plug the barrel, just leave it wet. The patch you run after will tell you if you have all the copper out. No blue/green color on the last patch = clean barrel. It may take seveal goings over to achieve this.

Hey Cajun - Be real carful with 7.62!!! This is heavy duty stuff. When they say 15 minutes, they mean it. And be sure to be well ventilated. I almost passed out once because I didn't open the garage door. :eek:
IHMO - If I were upgrading from Hoppes #9, I'd go with Shooters Choice or Butch's Bore shine. They both do the job and you don't have to worry about damaging that fire lapped bore of yours.
GOOD LUCK!
:usa:

[cajungeo]

Thanks for the tip diskit, I'll be careful, and may only use that stuff once in a while. If I had known it was that potent, I wouldn't have bought it. :eek: