Outers Foaming Bore Cleaner

[Smokey Joe]

Hey, guys 'n' gals--I gotta tell you, these foaming bore cleaners are UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE!!!!!

Have heard a couple reccommendations for them; read abt them in one of the gun mags, and figured well it can't be any worse than what I'm using so I'll give it a whirl. Bought a can of the Outers Foaming. It wasn't cheap.

Am currently building a Mauser M-48 pseudo-scout rifle, and having fired it a couple dozen rounds figured I'd clean it. Used Hoppe's Elite (because I had a free sample) and got a lot of carbon-like crud out. Then used Blue Wonder Gun Cleaner, and got a whole lot more carbon plus evidence of copper fouling out. (When copper fouling gets dissolved it turns blue; your cleaning patch comes out in varying shades of pretty blue. The darker the blue, the more copper.) Used a bronze bore brush as appropriate with the patches in the above cleaning, of course rinsing the brush with water so's the copper cleaner didn't eat it right up. Also used some Sweet's 7.62 cleaner, which is famous for cleaning copper fouling. Got more copper, more black crud.

Then, oh then, I squirted a shot of Outers Foaming Bore Cleaner down the bore. Following the directions, I let the foam sit in the bore for 20 min, then patched and brushed and patched it out.

WOW!! The first patch out with the Outers was DARK blue, with a lot more carbon junk to boot!! This after cleaning with 3 other cleaners and patching after each to a clean patch. I AM IMPRESSED!!

It appears that the M-48 has never been cleaned in its 57 years of existance. The cleaning reported above was done last night, and I'm still cleaning today, and STILL getting more carbon out of the bbl's grooves. Think I've gotten about all the copper. But the Outers product is really doing a number on the copper, as well as the carbon fouling.

I didn't think any gun cleaning product could be that much superior. And I don't think I'll throw out my other cleaners--haven't tried the Outers Foaming on leading in a pistol--but it appears that the Outers Foaming Bore Cleaner is worth the price, and has earned a spot in my regular cleaning kit.

 

[cracked butt]

My experiences with the product are the same as yours, its very good stuff.

 

[Swampy]

I picked up a small can of the Outers Foaming stuff a couple weeks ago.

I'll second everything said so far. To this point, this stuff seems to be the best copper AND carbon remover I've ever seen..... and you can't beat the ease of use.

Best to all,
Swampy

Garands forever

 

[dfaugh]

Another vote in favor

I had picked up a Turk Mauser...decent rifling but dark and heavily copper fouled...I worked on that thing for many hours "the old fashioned" way...Got it so its wasn't too bad, but then got a sample of the foaming stuff...Squirted some down the bore, let it sit...continued squirting every 15 miniutes for about 3 hours, until it stopped coming out blue...ran a patch through and now it has a "mirror" bore...Amazing stuff, and little or no effort..Gotta go buy some more...

 

[RTFM]

Hmmmm thanks for the quick info:
I have a suspicion that my 91/30 is in for a bubble bath quite soon.

Cheers

RTFM

 

[ocabj]

I have to admit, this stuff is pretty good. I tried it on a Garand bore I had cleaned out a couple weeks ago and it got a mess of copper out.

What's the cheapest you can get this stuff for? The 6oz can runs for $6 local for me.

 

[MAUSER88]

I highly recommend it too. I wish it was a bit cheaper though.

 

[ocabj]

I highly recommend it too. I wish it was a bit cheaper though.

Yeah, I anticipate that I'll keep using the tried and true Butch's Bore Shine and maybe the Outers Foam cleaner once every 3-4 cleanings on a gun to get the residual copper out.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

I've been using the Wipe-Out Foaming Bore Cleaner; but it does work quite well.

 

[Hacker15E]

I personally think that Wipe Out works a little better than the Outers cleaner...

That being said, they are both excellent products.

EDIT: After thinking about this thread while driving home from work, I pulled out my Rack Grade CMP M1917 and broke out the can of Outer's. This is a typical CMP Rack Grade, and has a terribly dirty bore that I have been doing everything in my power to clean up.

Like the first poster in this thread, I've been using brake cleaner, Hoppe's, Sweet's 7.62, and Wipe Out (and as much shooting as I can muster!) to scrub this one clean. Just for kicks tonight I pumped in a bore full of Outer's, waited an hour, then swabbed it out.

Guess what...the patch came out *deep* blue!! This is a bore that, less than a week ago, I had scrubbed with all of the above products and felt was reasonably clean.

Perhaps it has to do with the sheer amount of crud built up in there (and is slowly being removed), but this application of Outer's tonight really brought a lot out (if the deep color of the patch is truly an accurate representation of how much crud the bore spray is actually removing).

EDIT 2: I've put two more applications of Outer's in my '17 barrel, and each time the patch is coming out very blue. Any chemistry-minded people on THR have an opinion about the blue color and what it really means? Is the darkness of the blue really indicative of how much copper is coming out of the barrel? What quantity of copper fouling in a 24" barrel will make a 2" x 2" patch come out indigo colored with the Outer's formula?

 

[dfaugh]

The blue color

is some salt of copper (copper sulfate?) created by the reaction of the cleaner with the copper.

And, while the stuff appears to be somewhat expensive, it goes a very long way...when I did the aforementioned Mauser, I started witha a partial can, given to me by local gun shop, to try it. and I really hosed that puppy down, probably 25 applications before it stopped coming out blue...And still had enough left to do an Enfield that I had recently picked up (which wasn't nearly as fouled as the Mauser.)

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Hacker, are you using a brass or copper jag?

 

[Smokey Joe]

Brass Jag

Bart Roberts--Can't speak for Hacker, but as I was doing my cleaning I thought about the advice to always rinse off yr bronze brush after using w/a copper cleaner, and dug an old nylon jag out of my cleaning kit to use when pushing the foaming bore cleaner out.

My patches were turning blue anyhow, and thus I can tell you it was NOT from the jag.

(Embarrassed snicker) I did copper-clean a rifle once with a bronze brush and brass jag, and Sweet's 7.62, and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, and just couldn't understand where all that copper was coming from. This was a new rifle that hadn't had all that many shots down the bore. Cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. More blue patches. More blue patches. Godfrey, is this NEVER going to end????? It took far longer than it should have for me to finally figure that the brass jag was giving me a constant false positive for copper in the bore. Man, that bore was clean! (/Embarrassed snicker)

 

[Ol` Joe]

I`ve been useing Wipe Out for a couple years now and wouldn`t use anything else on a copper fouled bore. That and Foresters foam is all I have experiance with but they are definitly the easest way to clean a barrel I have found. I give my barrels a squirt and go about my usual routine of tumbling cases, putting up the crono, wipeing the bolts, outer barrel, ect with a oil rag then patch out the barrel give it another squirt and leave it until the next day. Patch the bore and no more "blue" comes out with added applications and I`ve probably spent no more then 5 minutes total on cleaning.
I have found a little Butches and a brushing will often get a dab more carbon out after the foam cleaners. Because of this I nomally follow with a good brushing and Butches on a couple patches as a final step before running a final oiled patch for storage. If I`m shooting again in the near future I consider it clean after the Wipe Out treatment.

 

[Werewolf]

When using a strong copper cleaner like Sweets for example wrap a patch around a nylon bore brush. When it stops turning blue you know you're done and that the blue isn't coming from your copper/phosphor/bronze brush or your jag.

 

[Mike Hull]

I don't know much about Outers, but here's another vote for Wipe Out.

Just be careful of the foaming bore cleaners made overseas, they can etch the bore, or any metal it gets on if left more than a few minutes, and in cases of gas guns, the gas system.

Wipe Out is made here, and will not do that.

 

[Hacker15E]

Hacker, are you using a brass or copper jag?

Good question...not sure. I'll have to look at the bag it came in when I get home.

The situation I described occurred by swabbing the bore with a patch through the eyelet on the cleaning rod, instead of the jag.

I can see that using a copper jag would definitely affect the outcome of the color of the foaming cleaner.

 

[mattw]

do you guys think there would be anything to worry about when letting a foaming cleaner sit in the barrel of something like an M14/M1A? would it seep into the gas system?

 

[ocabj]

I ran this stuff through one of my Garands last Saturday, but I didn't check the gas cylinder to see if any got in there. I'll check tonight to see if there's any residue in it. But I'll also try it in one of my other Garands to see if any gets into the gas port. I doubt any will, especially if you sit the rifle upside down (which is how I always clean the M1). When you shoot the foam through the bore, as long as you don't plug the other end of the barrel, there won't be enough pressure to force foam into the small gas port.

 

[mattw]

yeah, that makes sense.. how do you clean the barrel, from the chamber forward or do you stick the rod down the muzzle end? i've heard that chamber forward is always best or something like that. on the can i bought yesterday it says to "remove the bolt" for all rifles except .22s... what? that doesn't make sense, if it doesn't matter for a .22 then why would it matter for anything else? do i have to remove the bolt on my M1A or my M1 carbine before using this stuff?

 

[ocabj]

yeah, that makes sense.. how do you clean the barrel, from the chamber forward or do you stick the rod down the muzzle end? i've heard that chamber forward is always best or something like that. on the can i bought yesterday it says to "remove the bolt" for all rifles except .22s... what? that doesn't make sense, if it doesn't matter for a .22 then why would it matter for anything else? do i have to remove the bolt on my M1A or my M1 carbine before using this stuff?

I clean from chamber to muzzle whenever possible. Obviously with the M1 or M14 you can't. Shoot the foam from the chamber end so the excess leaves the muzzle end. Keep the rifle upside down. Let sit then run the patch and jag from the muzzle end. The undissolved foam shouldn't get into the action as long as you keep the rifle upside down.

 

[mattw]

what is the best material for a jag when using this stuff? brass? copper? or some composite/plastic.

 

[Telperion]

I have an M1 completely disassembled for cleanup, and I decided to try out a foaming bore cleaner. So far it is better than anything else I've used. A few observations:

A very small amount of the foam did erupt from the gas port on the 1st try. I suggest shooting the foam in quickly to reduce this. The foam contracts on its own, so I doubt it will enter the gas system in significant amounts. However, when I patched out the bore, more of the displaced foam spilled out the gas port. I recommend patching from the muzzle to receiver to prevent a buildup of the foam near the gas port. This is the only way to go with a cleaning rod on an M1, but I have an Otis kit, and reversed the usual cleaning direction on the 2nd application.

The foam will flow slowly under gravity. I had a lot of fouling right up to the muzzle crown, and as noted, the foam will also contract, so I had to keep the receiver inclined to keep the foam near the muzzle.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Nylon jag

MattW--With ANY copper solvent it is best to use a non-copper-containing jag to push patches down the bore. You have to use a bronze brush if you need a brush, so rinse it afterwards in water, or the solvent will eat the bristles.

See my post, #13 above.