Cleaning Fouled Barrel

[MtnCreek]

Not sure if this is the right spot for this.

I have an old Winchester 22 that I'm having trouble getting cleaned up. The grooves in the bore are dirty with what I'm thinking is a combination of carbon and lead.

I ran a couple of kroil soaked patches through it, brushed it out and used more kroil patches, then let it sit overnight. The following day I cleaned on it with shooters choice solvent (MC 7 ?), using both patches and a brush. I can get it clean to the point where any patch will come out clean, but the grooves are still holding fouling. After brushing again I will get more black patches. I tried a new brush to make sure I was not reintroducing fouling into the bore and I keep my rod clean between passes.

I reluctantly used JB paste on two patches. One was JB in a kroil soaked bore and the other was in a solvent soaked bore. This did not appear to help the grooves.

I plan to work on it a little more today. I have KG1 and Hopps 9 and some more aggressive solvents made for copper. I believe I'm using the wrong tools for the job, but am unsure what the right tools are. Any suggests?

Thanks.

 

[W.E.G.]

Repeated applications of Kroil, and bronze bore brush will get that bore as clean as it will ever be without removing metal.

 

[boom boom]

Ultimately, you might try electrolysis e.g Foulout or a homebrew system. Works well if you do it right without harming metal.

Also could try Ed's Red either the commercial blend or roll your own.

Alternately, find a gunsmith where the entire barrelled assembly can be put in a ultrasonic cleaning tank but any aluminum parts could very well be stripped of finish.

Least favored option other than a new used barrel from Numrich etc. would be fire lapping the barrel as a last resort.

 

[joem1945]

Plug the barrel and fill it with Ed's Red let stand for 2 days. That should loosen any crud there. Alternate idea; mix red ATF and Kroil and plug barrel, let sit.

 

[RaceM]

Yup, no alternative to solvents & elbow grease. Just keep at it, you'll get there.

 

[JRadice45]

Try wipe out. http://www.brownells.com/gun-cleani...reasers/bore-solvents/wipe-out-prod19610.aspx

 

[GBExpat]

... I have an old Winchester 22 that I'm having trouble getting cleaned up. The grooves in the bore are dirty with what I'm thinking is a combination of carbon and lead. ...

Could it simply be some corrosion in the grooves that you are mis-identifying?

 

[MtnCreek]

^ Good point. I hope it's not the case though.

Could the color of a patch help determine what it is?

 

[Scooter22]

As mentioned above a scrubbing with a brass/bronze bore brush should clean out any fouling. Copper solvent won't help much as .22 bullets are lead. Old Hoppes #9 with soaking and scrubbing has cleaned up alot of old milsurps for me with an occasional copper solvent to get rid of jacket fouling. If your clean patches have a red to brownish color it's probably rust. Plain bullet fouling tends to be grey for lead and/or greenish from copper jackets. Give it some time. Scrub, soak over night and scrub. Time is your friend. Becareful of using the wrong thing like naval jelly because it will strip bluing. So will vinagars. Good luck. Oh what model .22?

 

[rcmodel]

If you are dealing with a very old Winchester, like an 1890, or 06?

And the bore is dark?

What you are dealing with is corrosion from back in the day when the ammo was corrosive primed.

Best method I have found is a tight patch wrapped around a worn bore brush.
Then lots of JB Bore Paste and elbow grease.

They will never clean up shiny bright again, but the JB will eventually take out anything that Mr. Winchester didn't put in there.

(No, JB Bore Paste will not hurt the bore any worse then it is already hurt by the corrosion.)

rc

 

[DeanDallas]

Look for Deep Creep/sea foam cleaner at your auto parts store. Do not inhale it/ outdoor use only.

 

[Blue68f100]

Butches Bore Shine is what I use for stubborn grime. Works better than any things else I've tried.

 

[243winxb]

Soak with #9 and keep brushing. Looking down the barrel can be deceiving. Test fire for accuracy. Clean brush when done with Denatured Alcohol/Isopropyl Alcohol 91%.

 

[MtnCreek]

It's a 67, so it's old, but not black powder old. I worked on it for a couple hours last night (first chance I've had) and it's getting better. I was using a brush with kroil and atf. I'm getting more of a grey patch (and red from the kroil/atf) now instead of black.

Thanks.

 

[Jim Watson]

You have the worst of the fouling out, go shooting. Take cleaning gear with you and clean it on the range while the barrel is still warm. Leave it wet with solvent and take it home to soak.
You may never get it sparkling clean but you can reach a "condition" where it will shoot ok.

 

[amlevin]

The only way to get the bore clean is to just be persistent.

Lots of soaking with a good cleaner (avoid sweet's for long term soaking as it will create worse problems) and lots of brushing/patching.

Get a bore snake and you can do both at the same time


The problem with long term fouling is that each cleaning session only takes off a layer of the hardened crud and there's no telling how many layers there are.

Just keep at it.

 

[Sunray]

JB paste isn't going to bother steel. You do need to give it or any other solvent time to work. Plugging the barrel, filling it with solvent and leaving it sit for a while(days is likely excessive, but won't hurt anything) will work better than endless patches and brushing.

 

[ku4hx]

I like Sweet's 7.62. Used per instructions it's always worked well for me.

 

[C.R.]

I have a simalar problem an old .22 pump that was shot a lot and never cleaned I have just been doing the swab,brush and repeat. I have used both the old standard Hopps #9 and Ed's Red it has taken lots of patches,and I have worn out a brush but the crud is coming off a layer at a time elbow grease and patents will win out over the gunk