cleaning my rifle

[zamboxl]

Hi guys quick questions here about cleaning my rem700 30-6
I have cleaned the rifle several times, like 7 times with hopes #9 and a wire brush and then with a cotton patch with either rem oil or breakfree down the barrel to remove what the brush loosened up. The barrel looks clean when i look into it with a light, however every time i hit it with the wire brush and then run the patch with the lube down the barrel the patch comes out dirty.
No matter how many time i brush it and then run a patch down again the patch keeps coming out dirty the first time.

I already changed brushes in order to eliminate a dirty brush and i also experimented with this gray sandy cleaner that remington sell as a replacement for the hopes #9 and i keep getting the same results.

I only shot the rifle at the range once and i used remington yellow/green box ammo that they sell at walmart for like $18 and a box federal 30-6 the $14 dollar box of twenty round. Anybody know why i can't get a clean patch after cleaning the rifle at least 7 times? is that ammo that dirty?

 

[dmazur]

Are you using a brass jag tip and a bronze brush? These can react with cleaning products and give a false indication of the presence of copper. Especially if the "dirt" coming out has kind of a green color.

If you try it again with a plastic (or nickel plated) jag and a nylon brush, you may get different results.

Or, if you get the same results you know you've got some serious fouling.

 

[LaserSpot]

Is Remington selling J-B bore paste now?

 

[zamboxl]

laser i think that's what is called its got a little plastic ball inside and ur suppose to shake it before u use it.

Yes i have been using a copper brush or something that looks like copper maybe bronze but the cotton patch does not come out green it comes out black. i mean i heard of serious fouling but this can't be right.i only shot the rifle once well more like 40 times but it was all at once and i cleaned it or started to pretty soon afterward. anybody else use the ammo in question? is it that dirty??

 

[LaserSpot]

Must be different stuff, what's it called? I use J-B from a little tub; it looks like gray toothpaste.

I don't remember ever seeing a pure white patch after a bronze brush; I think demazer is right. Pull the patch a half inch back from the muzzle, then look in the muzzle with a bright flashlight. The patch will reflect and help you see any fouling.

 

[zamboxl]

not sure of the name i have it in storage in the back yard and its kinda late, but it does look like gray toothpaste.
I'll try that little trick with the patch and check the bore, When i look down the bore in the sunlight it looks clean so maybe u guys are right.

edit:: do u guys suggest some other type of brush?

 

[dmazur]

Here's one article about bore cleaning. Note the discussion at the bottom of the article about nylon brushes -

http://www.6mmbr.com/borecleaning.html

The article also expresses some concern about over-use of abrasives.

The most important thing that it covers, however, is that there is no univerally accepted method for cleaning a rifle bore. Bores appear to be different, and some clean easily (like hand-lapped custom barrels) and others require more work.

 

[Uncle Mike]

Stop using a brush to begin with.

Run a couple patches of Hoppes #9 through the barrel followed by several dry patches to mop out the Hoppes.

Run a couple patches saturated with a good copper cleaner such as 'Sweets 7.62' through the barrel and let it soak for however long the direction say to.

Again with the dry patches...see how things look now.

Stop with the brushes and bore paste! Barrels do not have to be cleaned so well they look like the day they were born, and most rifles will shoot their best with a slightly fouled barrel. You don't want to take ALL the fouling out of the barrel!

Clean it like above and shoot it, watch your groups, are they tightening as you go, are they opening up... once the barrel reaches its happy spot with the fouling, you should be grouping as well as it will ever get out of that particular barrel, once the groups start to open up, then hit it with the method above, and your good!

Be sure to run a patch soaked with a light oil through the barrel before storing your rifle for any length of time.

 

[Slamfire]

Stop with the brushes and bore paste! Barrels do not have to be cleaned so well they look like the day they were born, and most rifles will shoot their best with a slightly fouled barrel. You don't want to take ALL the fouling out of the barrel!

I agree.

Somewhere back in the eons of time, someone said "clean until the patch comes out white"

That person must have been selling cleaning products.

I don't know if I ever got a patch to come out white out of a chrome moly barrel. I know I have soaked stainless barrels with Sweets till the copper fouling came out and the patches came out white.

I think JB bore paste did the same as soaking in Sweets.

Regardless, now I just push a bronze bristle brush, with GI bore cleaner, down the tube until I feel the resistance change. That is under 10 swipes. At that point I believe most of the high stuff has been knocked off. That is good enough to win Highpower matches.

If I want to remove copper fouling I will use a copper solvent. Sweets and Butches are the most aggressive I have tried.

I used to use JB bore paste every 300 rounds, but I am trying to use bore paste as infrequently as I can. I am going to wait for barrel accuracy to go to pot before using bore paste. The stuff removes material and should be used sparingly.

When you totally clean a high mileage barrel, the point of impact changes radically as it fouls. I mean inches at 100 yards.

 

[DIM]

Yes stop using brass/ metal brushes, get yourself brushes, jags from boretech, get yourself bore guide, boretechs also sells their own. Now chemicals stay away from J&B it is only good for bore lapin, you can do it just once or twice per year... Boretech sells good cleaning solution called boretech eliminator, use it! Other choices would be chemicals from KG, like KG-1, KG-2, KG-3, KG-12. First you need to remove carbon from your barrel, both Boretech & KG-1 good at it, then remove copper fouling with eliminator or KG-12. If you need to polish your bore, KG-2 is the stuff I would recommend to use

 

[DIM]

here what clean barrel suppose to look like ;-)

by the way here what barrel looked like after initial break in... 30 rounds or so...

 

[Rokman]

When I switch from Hoppe's #9 to Butch's, Montana Extreme 50bmg, etc. I always run a couple of patches of isoproply alcohol followed by a couple dry patches. That helps to clear out the chemicals from other cleaners before mixing in chemicals from the new cleaner. I read that on an email from Sinclair International and it makes me feel better about my cleaning regiment. Copper brushes and jags will definately give false copper readings. Tipton and Bore tech have jags made specifically to prevent the false readings.