Best barrel-cleaning practices to enhance accuracy

[timlt]

Hey Gundoc, I think we've touched on this subject before, but never heard conclusively what YOUR thoughts/suggestions are for getting carbon, lead, copper, other kinds of fouling out of a barrel, maximizing accuracy, and not hurting the barrel in the process. I'm not talking Mini's here, I'm just talking rifle/pistol cleaning in general.

Specifically, I wondered the following:

1. Do you think the use of brass brushes is ok, if quality ones are used? Or, do you think a person should stick with nylon brushes or perhaps not even brush at all? I've been finding that if I don't use brass, it's extremely difficult if not impossible to get my bore completely clean.

2. Do you think that the best all-purpose cleaning compounds to get tough stuff out of a bore are the mild abrasives, such as JB Bore paste, Iosso, USP bore paste, or the new Break-free paste? If so, do you think any of these are better than the others, or are all roughly similar?


Thanks,

Tim Teebken

[gundoc]

I have an arsenal of products that all perform different tasks for me. Be it my own guns or a customers, I let the gun and the fouling dictate what I use, and a lot of them aren't common off the shelf products. I do use jags made of brass, plastic and nickle coated ones, I use phosphor brushes as well as brass and plastic, I use carbon rods and for shotguns I use an old aluminum rod chucked in a cordless drill. If I need to remove lead fouling in a revolver I reach for a Lewis lead Remover, or for general cleaning of anything I use KG1 from KG Industries. For copper I use KG12 or Sweets 7.62. But if you want me to say what I use 99% of the time for everything - it's the Outers Foul Out 3. With the right product and a clean rod it will clean the bore to bare metal while I am free to work on other things. For rod work I do use the KG products, JB Bore paste, Blue Wonder cleaner, Hoope's Elite, CLP and CLP bore cleaner, and quite often for general parts cleaning I use a product called Crud Cutter available in the paint remover section of most stores. I have a sink for cleaning and spray the parts down and with a little brush or my fingers I work it in and rinse with hot water. It absolutely cleans grease,grime, and old crud out of the parts so that I can apply fresh products.

The reason I do most of this is simple. Take a brass or phosphour bronze brush on an area like the underside of your barrel and rub it briskly. You will see a discolored area almost immediately from the brush leaving trace deposits. It does the same thing inside the barrel. Sometimes there isn't a choice except to use a stainless steel brush, which I do have, but it is a last resort. Normally, the Outers Foul Out and Crud Cutter do anything I ask of them without a huge mess or strong odor.

Now before everyone starts in on me for my choices, I do this for a living. When I have to clean a gun it is a full detail strip and clean and time is money. If I can do a better job in half the time or less, I get guns back to their owners that much sooner.

And if you've never cleaned a shotgun with a cordless drill, you're in for quite a surprise. Clean the gun until you think it's clean, and then remove the handle of a cheap aluminum rod and chuck it in a drill. Use a brush and some of whatever cleaner you prefer and spin the brush up and down the bore for a handful of passes. The crap that comes out, the plastic and powder that you thought was all gone, will amaze you. There's your gunsmith trick of the trade for today.

[timlt]

Gundoc, thanks for the detailed reply. I'm also tempted to repost your reply in the Mini and 10-22 sections--or put pointer-posts in those sections back to this thread--because I think folks would find this info useful.

One follow-up question. I understand why you need a variety of specialty solvents, but as an individual, if possible I'd like to limit myself to just one--or perhaps a combination of two at the most--solvents that will general cover all my common bore-cleaning work: lead, copper, carbon, plastic, etc.

With that in mind, do you think one of the paste cleaners (JB's, Iosso, Break-Free, USP bore paste) would be the best all-purpose stuff to use for an individual who has to limit to one solution? Or would you say a liquid stuff, like the Sweets you mentioned? Or do you think a couple of these items in combination would be ideal for most people as a general bore cleaning strategy? If you're reluctant to name specific products, it would help to even hear your general recommendations, such as "Use a quality mild abrasive paste cleaner together with a quality liquid copper remover", or something like that. Even a general guideline like that would be helpful. If you think a person can get adequate all-around bore cleaning by using just ONE product, like JB's, I think that's ideally what I would want to do.

[gundoc]

I use JB and RemClean and the pastes only as needed. They are all an abrasive, albeit a mild one, but routine use will eventually catch up with you. I would use Sweets and Breakfree Bore Cleaner for off the shelf products. The interesting thing about copper cleaners is that almost all of them use ammonia. KG 12 is a nice water based product that removes copper without the risk of etching the barrel. It was developed for the 120mm cannons in use by our Armed Forces and works.

[timlt]

Thanks again for the info Gundoc--appreciate it!

One other new cleaner I came across, and this one truly looks interesting far beyond everything else out there, is this all-purpose CLP-like product called Gunzilla. This stuff is very different from everything on the market, it's completely plant-based, it's not water or petroleum-based. Supposedly it has been extensively used in Iraq, and is just transforming the experience of maintaining weapons for the troops that have gotten their hands on it. I just ordered a sample today, and am going to try that, along with some combinations of the other items you suggested.

Here's the info on Gunzilla CLP cleaner, for anyone who cares:

http://www.topduckproducts.com/

[gundoc]

I also requested a sample and some other info. I asked them if the product was Jojoba based, which is the only natural replacement for sperm oil we used in the old days, and if the product was made of plants with common allergens like peanuts. Can't send a gun home to have someone be allergic to it. Let's see what they say.

[timlt]

Sadly, I think they aren't going to tell you much about the composition of the product. I asked myself, and while they'll say it's based on "agricultural products" (my guess would be corn or soybean extracts of some type), they sound kind of paranoid about someone stealing their idea (because it's patent pending), so they won't tell you much beyond that.

Despite that, it sounds like a really effective product though, and I can't wait to give it a look.

[Philipp2]

What are the opinions on the Gunzilla Organic CLP product, one year later? Is it a keeper? Worth trying? Sounds interesting.

[kkina]

I started using Gunzilla based on Timlt's suggestions, and just love it. I swear it does a better job of cleaning than anything else I've tried. I know for a fact that copper-fouling is much less of a problem now. This is my main bore cleaner now.

[gundoc]

One year later I don't use it. It did a good job, but not a great job, for me.