Cleaning question.

[fighthedude]

Fellas,
New to the forum so take it easy on me. Got a quick question on cleaning. It seems as if I am never totally able to clean my barrel. I am using standard hoppes, bore bright, rem oil etc. Brands my old man used growing up cleaning shotguns. Been shooting lead last couple months because I have some in hopes of being a better shot this upcoming deer season. Ill probably shoot another hundred rounds of federal 150 and switch it back to copper and resight in come August. Any recommendations. Ill attach a few photos of the products and you will see the patches. The lightly dirty ones are after probably close to 20. Thanks men! Cheers

[hermosabeach]

Been shooting lead last couple months

If you are shooting lead- you really need something designed to remove lead...

birtchwood casey lead removal cloth

it's kind of waxey

cut a patch out of the sheet

run it down the barrel
repeat until clean

[hermosabeach]

https://safarifirearms.com.au/lead-remover-polishing-cloth-6inx9in/

[flyer898]

I feel your pain.
I do not shoot lead bullets much in rifles. However, I have sent a very great many lead revolver bullets down range at high speed. Sometimes there has been significant lead remaining in the barrel. I have found it useful to fire some full power jacketed bullets to remove the lead fouling.

Copper fouling from hi velocity rifle bullets is a different problem. I have found chemistry rather than elbow grease to be my friend here.

I like to use a good copper fouling remover. I like Sweet’s 7.62, but there are others that are just as good.

I wet a patch with solvent and put it through the bore. I expect it to show copper and powder fouling. Repeat. I like to wet a patch in a loop jag, plug the muzzle with my finger, and run the patch back and forth the full length of the bore and generate some “suds”. Then I let it set a little while and repeat.

Once the jacket fouling has been removed, I use some GI bore cleaner to remove the ammonia and any remaining powder fouling.

Then I switch to a clean patch and Froglube cleaner until the patches come out clean. The last step is a wet patch with Froglube, followed by a dry patch.

Before shooting, I like to put another patch soaked with cleaner to remove the lube, followed by dry patches to remove the cleaner and remaining lube.

[ja308]

I like JB from Brownells as it seems to work well .
FWIW Im no expert - just saying !

https://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-chemicals/solvents-degreasers/bore-cleaning-paste/j-b-non-embedding-bore-cleaning-compound-prod1160.aspx

[pennstater]

Ok, looks like a rifle in question. for lead removal, I've used a 50/50 mix of Kroil and Hoppes #9. Let soak for 30 min or so. Couple applications ought to do it. You could also use "Chore-Boy" all copper dish scrubbers[all copper, not plated stuff]. One of these two should work for you. Hope this helps.

MLC

[ja308]

Ok, looks like a rifle in question. for lead removal, I've used a 50/50 mix of Kroil and Hoppes #9. Let soak for 30 min or so. Couple applications ought to do it. You could also use "Chore-Boy" all copper dish scrubbers[all copper, not plated stuff]. One of these two should work for you. Hope this helps.

MLC

Regretfully the great product Kroil is not available in the not so great state of California.
It fell victim to a full time legislature run by the democrat party.

On can only guess why this product is banned ?
Might have something to do with not greasing enough palms, or possibly they contribute to republicans?

[Pofoo]

Many times, even if a patch comes out fairly clean, if you run a bronze brush and solvent down a bore, you will get a lot more gunk out.
Solvent alone will usually not get the job done. You need a stiff brush (not nylon).

[Beelzy]

Get some brass pipe screens from a smoke shop and run one down the pipe.

[M1A Rifleman]

Takes up to a week to get barrels clean with constant use of Hoppes by swabbing and letting sit overnight and repeat next day. Sounds like you keep at it. Use copper bore brush to remove heavy fouling and make sure patches are tight in the barrel.

[subscriber]

Regretfully the great product Kroil is not available in the not so great state of California.

Try buying it from this amazon link. You might be pleasantly surprised:

https://www.amazon.com/Kano-Kroil-Penetrating-liquid-KROIL/dp/B000F09CF4

Perhaps it is you local municipality that does not allow it.

[fighthedude]

Thanks for all info and recommendations. Ill get and try some of these things you all suggested. Cheers men!

[God Bless America]

Fellas,
New to the forum so take it easy on me. Got a quick question on cleaning. It seems as if I am never totally able to clean my barrel. I am using standard hoppes, bore bright, rem oil etc. Brands my old man used growing up cleaning shotguns. Been shooting lead last couple months because I have some in hopes of being a better shot this upcoming deer season. Ill probably shoot another hundred rounds of federal 150 and switch it back to copper and resight in come August. Any recommendations. Ill attach a few photos of the products and you will see the patches. The lightly dirty ones are after probably close to 20. Thanks men! Cheers

Lead core bullets, or cast lead bullets?

There are no "federal 150" loads for a rifle like your Tikka that do not have copper jackets.

You do not have lead in your barrel. You will have powder fouling and "copper" fouling (actually gilding metal, 95% copper, 5% zinc). They can be in layers, so alternate between copper remover and good solvent.

Your patches are more than clean enough. More barrels are said to be ruined by overcleaning than shooting.

The patches will never come out perfectly white, even in a perfectly clean bore.

Find a clean piece of steel, and rub a wetted patch on it, and see the discoloration. It's normal.

[Donny1]

The patches will never come out perfectly white, even in a perfectly clean bore.

Not a big rifle shooter but I've learned over the decades that this is true.

One thing I've found that after I clean and get "almost" 100% clean patches if I soak the bore with just plain oil for a few minutes a whole new batch of gunk will come out.

[ohsmily]

Fellas,
New to the forum so take it easy on me. Got a quick question on cleaning. It seems as if I am never totally able to clean my barrel. I am using standard hoppes, bore bright, rem oil etc. Brands my old man used growing up cleaning shotguns. Been shooting lead last couple months because I have some in hopes of being a better shot this upcoming deer season. Ill probably shoot another hundred rounds of federal 150 and switch it back to copper and resight in come August. Any recommendations. Ill attach a few photos of the products and you will see the patches. The lightly dirty ones are after probably close to 20. Thanks men! Cheers

You're really shooting hard cast lead bullets in your rifle? Or just lead core with a copper jacket? If lead core.with a copper jacket, then you have been very misleading and you can disregard almost every post in this thread.

If you're shooting copper jacketed lead bullets, stop cleaning your rifle so much or stop completely. You're probably damaging your rifle by cleaning so much (damaging the crown, etc).

And how are you mew to the forum? You joined a decade ago.