Old Barrel

[Th4tNinja]

I have this old pistol barrel that hasn't been cleaned in at least 20 years. I tried to clean it with Hoppes and the patches kept coming out blue no matter how many patches I ran through it. Would it be a good idea to soak it in Hoppes for a day?

[OpenSightsOnly]

use butch's bore shine, no need to soak it for a day, use patches

If you have hoppes, mix that with Kroil and use patches.

hoppes is mild, you can leave a wet patch in the bore for 2 hrs then push it out

[Pofoo]

Blue is generally copper residue. The fastest way to get rid of it would be to get some cleaner specifically made to remove copper--most brands of gun solvents will have a variant made specifically to remove copper. Follow directions.

[ar15barrels]

I have this old pistol barrel that hasn't been cleaned in at least 20 years. I tried to clean it with Hoppes and the patches kept coming out blue no matter how many patches I ran through it. Would it be a good idea to soak it in Hoppes for a day?

Are you using a bronze or brass brush with copper remover solvent?
If so, the brush can also turn the patch color due to the solvent leaching the copper out of the brush material.

Try using only a stainless or plastic or nickel plated jag and patches to wipe the bore with cleaner and then wipe the bore clean after the soak.
If you still get blue using a non-copper cleaning implement, then you still have copper in the bore.

[fguffey]

I have this old pistol barrel that hasn't been cleaned in at least 20 years.

Now what you need to find is an old guy or a rookie with an old book, complete with warnings.

F. Guffey

[smoothy8500]

Hmmm, must be a slow day where no one is mentioning headspace, shoulder bump, or neck tension....

[bzh362]

I've had good luck with kroil and jb paste for removing copper and lead out of abused bores. As Smoothy8500 mentioned, once it is thoroughly cleaned, I would get a gunsmith to make a chamber casting to make sure you are still in spec.

[Pofoo]

Looking back at the original post, if you only have Hoppe's, yes, a soak would probably help.
Or, \/

https://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm#Copper

[fguffey]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hmmm, must be a slow day where no one is mentioning headspace, shoulder bump, or neck tension....

If you do not drink do not start; if you do, stop, I believe you are silly enough sober.

F. Guffey

[fguffey]

Looking back at the original post, if you only have Hoppe's, yes, a soak would probably help.
Or, \/

Pofoo, Thanks for the link. I have an old reloading manual that goes back to the early 50s that covers hard to remove stuff in a barrel. About 110 years ago we had streaker bullets, the bullets caused a problem with build up in the barrel. They had to mix up some special stuff to remove.

Had it not been for your link I would not have thought of it. (place a 'roll your eyes' here)

F. Guffey

[kcstott]

I have this old pistol barrel that hasn't been cleaned in at least 20 years. I tried to clean it with Hoppes and the patches kept coming out blue no matter how many patches I ran through it. Would it be a good idea to soak it in Hoppes for a day?

A bottle of sweets 762 bore cleaner. Do not soak the barrel longer than the 15 minutes recommended by the manufacturer.