Thread: Cleaning Heavy Copper

Hi all, Ive got myself a new 300wsm that's running 180gr accubonds at 2920. i haven't put a lot of rounds through it yet so still learning its behavior but what i do know is that it is fouling terribbly, as in after a few rounds i can visually see the copper in the barrel. last range day i put 16 rounds through it and after an hour of cleaning i can still see the copper on the lands, and my patches are still visually blue in four strips.

A bit more info for people to answer me with,
Im not a newbie, i have been shooting f class for a long time so i have spent a lot of time cleaning barrels and have never had one of my comp guns come up like this, all my cleaning methods have worked after 10 to 15 min max to give me clean patches.
i use for a quick clean and finish off with bore-tech eliminator and have ally jags for true readings, Ive only ever needed to do push through patches to get the job done.

the questions i really have is what are the current techniques and products recommend for copper? used to be nylon brushes and eliminator. have other accubond shooters noticed the high copper fouling?
i did a basic break in with shoot and clean. i have less than 40 rds through it so far.

Cheers, for any help and keen to get the chat going.

Kg products does a very good copper remover as well. I prefer it to boretech, however that is meant to be good as well.

Plug the muzzle and fill the bore with ammonia.

Apparently that’s what the old timers did to get rid of copper fouling.

Wipe out patch out goes good.

Originally Posted by charliehorse

Wipe out patch out goes good.

Wipe out is very good. But like everything else, I don't think there's any about at the moment.

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I fill my barrel with Wipe Out Bore Foam as soon as I get home, first thing. Then, unload the the vehicle, have a coffee, yarn with the family, then return to finish the barrel cleaning.
Generally the foam does a good job but will also use Wipe Out Patch Out plus Accelerator on occasion.

Wipe Out products have always been hard to source but more so now of course.

If I still have copper (check with bore scope) I'll attack it further with Boretech Cu+ or KG12. Boretech Eliminator is OKish just, for copper, but Cu+ much much better as it's a dedicated Cu solvent.

If the barrel is one that resists all those I will mechanically clean it with an abrasive cleaner like USP Bore Paste or Autosol. Thankfully I don't have more than 1 barrel like that. Generally any barrel that presents me with that much bother usually doesn't live in my safe for long. My service rifles excepted.

Carbon rings I attack with USP Bore Paste or Autosol with localised cleaning.

Long since got rid of my ammonia based cleaners. Whether they damage barrels I won't get into that discussion it's just the likes of Boretech Cu+ and KG12 are superior.

Originally Posted by Gerardo

Wipe out is very good. But like everything else, I don't think there's any about at the moment.

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I got some brought into Guncity Hamilton from down the line a while ago, can't think of the guys name or his shop, heard a lot of fellas on here talk about him. Has a unisex name. Should have just got it direct from him because Gunshitty put a huge mark up on it.

Originally Posted by charliehorse

I got some brought into Guncity Hamilton from down the line a while ago, can't think of the guys name or his shop, heard a lot of fellas on here talk about him. Has a unisex name. Should have just got it direct from him because Gunshitty put a huge mark up on it.

Dead Eye Dick on ocassion has it but he's not cheap either....

Originally Posted by zimmer

Dead Eye Dick on ocassion has it but he's not cheap either....

I tried them recently but no luck. No idea of when it may come in either.

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Have you tried giving it hone with JB’s, I’m no expert but my 6.5-284 was doing that and smith Tony Titheridge got out the JB’s and it made all the difference.

I addition an old fella showed me to use a funnel and tube to pour a jug of boiling water down the barrel before you start cleaning and it really sped up the process. Not sure how that would help copper removal but hey you couldn’t touch the barrel for heat!

KG12 and bronze brush..

Originally Posted by stuart165

Hi all, Ive got myself a new 300wsm that's running 180gr accubonds at 2920. i haven't put a lot of rounds through it yet so still learning its behavior but what i do know is that it is fouling terribbly, as in after a few rounds i can visually see the copper in the barrel. last range day i put 16 rounds through it and after an hour of cleaning i can still see the copper on the lands, and my patches are still visually blue in four strips.

A bit more info for people to answer me with,
Im not a newbie, i have been shooting f class for a long time so i have spent a lot of time cleaning barrels and have never had one of my comp guns come up like this, all my cleaning methods have worked after 10 to 15 min max to give me clean patches.
i use for a quick clean and finish off with bore-tech eliminator and have ally jags for true readings, Ive only ever needed to do push through patches to get the job done.

the questions i really have is what are the current techniques and products recommend for copper? used to be nylon brushes and eliminator. have other accubond shooters noticed the high copper fouling?
i did a basic break in with shoot and clean. i have less than 40 rds through it so far.

Cheers, for any help and keen to get the chat going.

Sweets 7.62 Solvent or any other ammonia based solvent. Same stuff the full ore shooters have used for ever. Leave for 10 minutes and then wipe out and repeat. As it’s water soluble don’t forget to use a meths patch and then Hoppes for storage

As I store rifles with hoppes in the bore I find that I have less jacket fouling

The main thing with barrel cleaning is to avoid if possible the scrubba dub dub and let the solvent do the work. With KG12 or Boretech Cu+ you do need though to agitate them with a brush be it bronze (make sure the core is bronze also) or a stiff nylon.

KG for heavy removal when required and wipeout for maintenance between that.

I also use Sweets but leave in over-nite.Works great in old military rifles but smells like cat piss so don't use inside.