How Clean is Clean?

Discussions of powders, bullets and loading information.

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Coltsmoke
Posts: 1513
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 8:55 am
Location: GA.

Re: How Clean is Clean?

Post by Coltsmoke »

How well do you want it to shoot? That's how good I would clean it when I was done for the day. poorly, fair, good, like a new barrel. You decide. :wink:
Normal isn't coming back, but Jesus is.
hepburn
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 2:25 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: How Clean is Clean?

Post by hepburn »

Been using some form of diatom abrasive for 50 yr & no damage that I could tell. Used for Benchrest , High Power & last 20 yr for BP. It smothes a barrel about like a PP--very slowly. It will remove lead,copper,carbon & even moly. Stopped worrying about damage after talking with Mr. Obermeyer (barrel maker) at Camp Perry in mid 80"s He recommended it ! Original product called Gold Medalion is now same as Rem 40-X cleaner. Its basically JB dissolved in oil which is why you shake little ball in bottom of bottle to mix. I put on tight patch wrapped on old brush at end of every weekend to clean barrel & then protect with patch of bore butter. Zeros are always the same--never wander after 2nd shot.
hepburn
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 2:25 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: How Clean is Clean?

Post by hepburn »

Re-reading your post I understand your question more clearly (got carried away about Rem Clean) Everyone has their own ritual & favorite products for cleaning. I can only speak for GG bullets that I use. Nothing works better than H2O for BP. I use the old windex & water mixture with shot of alchol added. At end of day 2-3 wet followed by dry to get most fouling. I then follow with modern solvent Gunzilla on patch & brush. Dry & follow with patch saturated with bore butter. Never had rust with bore butter in 20 yr.

I believe the old dead guys would laugh at some of us if they saw how many try to get guns squeaky clean between relays---I only clean at end of day. For sil. we blow tube only---blow & put one dry patch between animals. For BPTR we patch with oil-h2o---using extra patch for first shot of relay.
One of most important things about fouling is how the bullet fits the barrel--if correct & using good lube the fouling is minimum with no lead. I have seen shooters lose zeros between banks of animals because of too clean gun. Accuracy depends on constant conditions in barrel---YOUR cleaning routine needs to be consistant during match. At end of day now matter how much you clean you will find something on a patch ----decide what is clean enough & be done with it. Only thing about BP is its corrosive so you do need to oil afterward. I don"t use anything petrolem---bore butter is the best rust preventive I have found last 20 yr.
SSShooter
Posts: 2910
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:06 am
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: How Clean is Clean?

Post by SSShooter »

BryanY has a good regimen. Use whatever products work for you.

Barrels also make a difference. My old 38 & 40cal, non-lapped barrels took forever to clean. Only started to take less effort after 10K+ rounds, but still took some work. My two newer 38cal, lapped barrels have cleaned up very quickly from new. All are good shooters, but lapping has made a BIG difference in cleaning effort.
Glenn
opencountry
Posts: 3236
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 8:26 pm
Location: WA State

Re: How Clean is Clean?

Post by opencountry »

Since I quit shooting greasers years ago, switching to pp for good, I cannot find any traces of carbon or lead fouling in either of my Shiloh barrels. I really believe this is because the cotton paper that wraps my bullets keeps the bore spit-shined as it passes down the barrel with each firing.
It’s so imperative to wrap pp slugs a little past the beginning of the slug’s ogive to prevent the lead from contacting the rifling.

Robert
Beware of the man that owns one rifle.
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