Is this barrel copper fouled?

CarJunkieLS1 said:

Thanks for the responses guys. I honestly don't think it is rust. This gun has never seen rain and stays in a safe with other guns and this is the only barrel I have that I've ever had do this. I clean it every time I shoot it, I clean all my guns the same way: copper brush, then a wet swap with solvent, let sit 15 minutes then clean patch it until the patches come clean, then I run a bore snake through it 3 times that has oil sprayed on the end of it.

I've done this process for all my guns and I've not had any foreign stuff stay inside my guns. Until this Tikka...what can cause jacket fouling? I've shot mostly sierra 130gr pro-hunters and 130gr Nosler Accubonds.

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outers bore foam or any other to me is the best copper cleaner I ever saw. there is no barrel damaging back and forth with a brush. just let it soak for a few hours and blue paint will come out. I know solid copper noslers leave a lot of copper in the barrel .I do not remember if accubonds are solid copper

Yep, based on the patch it is rust. Check your cleaning procedure and ensure you leave a light coat of oil in there.

and it actually "squeaked" as I forced it

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Patches don't squeak, cleaning rods in contact with bore when bowed out under force squeak.

The copper cleaning part in Hoppes #9 is fairly slow to work. I'd suggest you re-do your patch but this time run a well wetted and looser fitting patch of Hoppes and let it sit for an hour. THEN run a dry patch and see what the colours are like. If it comes out with lots of green-blue staining then it's copper. If it still comes out looking like this last patch it is clearly rust you see in there.

The other tell tale is that if it's rust it'll look black after the solvent wets it. If it's copper it'll stay orange looking.

Looks like copper to me cause it's only on the lands...unless you've figured out how to rust a land out of the barrel first. The brown stuff is small bits of unburned powder or rust( collectively occurring) varget looks the same in my stainless barrel after cleaning. Small copper flakes collect in the pores of the metal, no big deal. As others have stated nothing to worry about till it stops shooting good.

Excellent! Its nice to have a good shooter.

50 Shooter,

I don't think you know of what you speak. Take a look at post #15, see the reddish marks on the patch? Those are the grooves in the barrel, the rusted part. I don't see where anyone said anything about wrapping a patch around a brush and running it through the barrel, except you. If you apply JB to the patch, and its a tight fitting patch, you run the patch down the barrel, the patch will follow the rifling all the way to the muzzle, thats how it evenly applies it to the barrel. You apply just a little to the patch, not ladle it on. If the OP used just a wet patch, it followed it all the way down to the muzzle, did it not remove what was in the grooves? Thats all JB will do also, just remove the rust, not remove the metal in the barrel ! If JB's not for you, it leaves more for the rest of us.

Find someone or a gunsmith with a borescope. Then you will know.