Thread: HXP 303 ammo corrosive? found rust in my barrel

Originally Posted by Old_School

Yes I agree, going by what No.3 suggests, there may be a chance of remaining corrosive primer salts from the previous owner that we don't know about.
So probably no harm in using boiling water.
Going forward, main thing appears to use some sort of powder solvent, then apply oil, so I will research what products are best to address removing powder residue for a start, if no9 does the job, I guess I will stick with that.
Regarding the copper solvent dissolving brushes, ive never experienced this using hoppes no9. Is this stuff truly a copper solvent? Would also suggest this stuff contains some kind of acid if it can dissolve copper.
The guy in the shop also said that the eezeox stuffs probably not the best oil to protect the barrel.

yeah I stick to bronze brushes and use very sparingly - protection after- I stick to Remington oil -lasts well

Originally Posted by Old_School

Ok, so I went into my store to grab some breakfree, they had heard about it but didn't stock it.
He said he only puts a bore solvent such as hoppes through the gun every 100 rounds or so. He just puts a few patches of a good penetrating oil down the barrel after a shoot.
He told me CRC brakleen is a good solvent to put down to clean all the crap down the barrel too.
Also was told you are supposed to put a dry patch down the barrel before shooting to get rid of any oil, can damage the barrel. He said a 303 is more forgiving, but if it had caused a bulge, you would feel it.
He sold me a can of Kroil to use, said this is a good penetrating oil that coats the barrel but it not too thick.


I will do the boiling water trick tonight, then spray with brakleen and then go over with a good scrub of hoppes followed by patches soaked in the stuff and finally the oil.
Quite a process!

Used Brakleen for years. Buy several cans at once when on special. Use it for other cleaning tasks, not just gun cleaning.
It will remove carbon and a bit of Cu when using it for the initial part of the clean. I mainly use it to neutralise any solvents I use. Despite what the manufacturers say (eg Boretech) I don't leave their stuff in my barrels too long. I also use the Brakleen to blast my brushes clean or flush them under the hot tap first followed up by Brakleen.

Hoppe's is basically useless for quich Cu removal and their benchrest blend is even more so..

Serious Shooters was the only place I could find Breakfree when I went looking about 6 months ago. Had to contact them and they bottled a smaller amount. Didn't want the 1 gallon they list on their website.

I always use a bore guide and put 2 layers of those cheap microfibre cloths over the butt and up to under the bore guide. Learnt my lesson of solvent attacking wooden stock finish years ago.

dont overthink it..... clean it,reoil it,put it away..clean rag before shooting and repeat.if you use a LIGHT oil like you Mums 3n1 oil for sewing machine or the likes of breakfreeCLP for that final pass before putting it away,you can get away without clean rag before shooting again....
3n1 is actually pretty good general purpose gun oil.

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

yeah I stick to bronze brushes and use very sparingly - protection after- I stick to Remington oil -lasts well

Ok, I think I have a spray bottle of that stuff, ssyd it's silicone based, I know some people are not fans of silicone based oils, but its supposed to be good to keep moisture away.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Used Brakleen for years. Buy several cans at once when on special. Use it for other cleaning tasks, not just gun cleaning.
It will remove carbon and a bit of Cu when using it for the initial part of the clean. I mainly use it to neutralise any solvents I use. Despite what the manufacturers say (eg Boretech) I don't leave their stuff in my barrels too long. I also use the Brakleen to blast my brushes clean or flush them under the hot tap first followed up by Brakleen.

Hoppe's is basically useless for quich Cu removal and their benchrest blend is even more so..

Serious Shooters was the only place I could find Breakfree when I went looking about 6 months ago. Had to contact them and they bottled a smaller amount. Didn't want the 1 gallon they list on their website.

I always use a bore guide and put 2 layers of those cheap microfibre cloths over the butt and up to under the bore guide. Learnt my lesson of solvent attacking wooden stock finish years ago.

I use brakleen for car parts and all sorts of stuff. Supposed to be great for removing carbon deposits, was also told its good for cleaning the action of semi automatics.
If hoppes isn't very effective for copper removal, what would you recommend instead?

Originally Posted by Old_School

Ok, I think I have a spray bottle of that stuff, ssyd it's silicone based, I know some people are not fans of silicone based oils, but its supposed to be good to keep moisture away.


I use brakleen for car parts and all sorts of stuff. Supposed to be great for removing carbon deposits, was also told its good for cleaning the action of semi automatics.
If hoppes isn't very effective for copper removal, what would you recommend instead?

Ha ha that's the 64 million dollar question that comes up on forums. Almost a Holden Ford thing.

I started with Hoppes 9, then Sweets, a host of Yankee ones mostly ineffective, KG-12 plus some others I cannot remember names of.
Currently use Boretech Eliminator but if problem Cu use Boretech Cu+2 which is a dedicate Cu solvent. Also have Wipe-Out and Accerator but almost out of that and cannot locate any more. They also make a bore foam which is effective. Bore foams is another topic again.

If just going for one snake oil buy a bottle of Eliminator. It will also deal with carbon. One bottle lasts for ever. But don't use it to protect the bore in storage.

Ive rejuvinated more than one old tired black exmilitary bore over the years by gently plugging muzzle and filling with CRC 5.56 sort of stuff and leaving it sitting muzzle down over night then giving a good dung out with copper brush... then rags till come out clean... the other part of hot water cleaning that hasnt been mentioned is if you do the oily rag through it while its still hot..it sort of cooks on..it comes back to the youngs 303 or ballistio..not right name the Gerries used.. both were cleaner and also medicinal...smells like jeyes fluid..thats the tar bit..both were similar

we have come a long way since then but basic idea is still the same....
clean,lightly oil and store.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Ha ha that's the 64 million dollar question that comes up on forums. Almost a Holden Ford thing.

I started with Hoppes 9, then Sweets, a host of Yankee ones mostly ineffective, KG-12 plus some others I cannot remember names of.
Currently use Boretech Eliminator but if problem Cu use Boretech Cu+2 which is a dedicate Cu solvent. Also have Wipe-Out and Accerator but almost out of that and cannot locate any more. They also make a bore foam which is effective. Bore foams is another topic again.

If just going for one snake oil buy a bottle of Eliminator. It will also deal with carbon. One bottle lasts for ever. But don't use it to protect the bore in storage.

Seems everyone has their own favorite product to clean with, the boretech stuff was supposed to be good from what ive read, but the guy at our store said it was nothing fancy.
All i do know is that Hoppes has been around for over 100 years and has a good record, so it must be something decent.
As far as dissolving bronze brushes, ive never experienced any issues (yet)
The suggestion of cleaning the brushes with brakleen is a good one too, ive actually done that myself.

Collins 90 seems to work OK. Was recommended to me.
Don't know about its comparison to hoppes but was told hoppes wasn't as good as it used to be.
I haven't done enough barrel fouling to see

Originally Posted by csmiffy

Collins 90 seems to work OK. Was recommended to me.
Don't know about its comparison to hoppes but was told hoppes wasn't as good as it used to be.
I haven't done enough barrel fouling to see

Hoppes changed their formula over 10 years ago to a synthetic blend due to the original brew containing chems that offended, for one, Kalifornia. Maybe the "new" version is even less effective that the old.

Originally Posted by Old_School

Seems everyone has their own favorite product to clean with, the boretech stuff was supposed to be good from what ive read, but the guy at our store said it was nothing fancy.
All i do know is that Hoppes has been around for over 100 years and has a good record, so it must be something decent.
As far as dissolving bronze brushes, ive never experienced any issues (yet)
The suggestion of cleaning the brushes with brakleen is a good one too, ive actually done that myself.

Gun shops give weird advise on occassion. Some of them have good knowledgeable staff whilst others, although they sell the stuff, have low practical experience.
The fact that your brushes are not disolving says something about the effectiveness of your Cu solvent.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Ive rejuvinated more than one old tired black exmilitary bore over the years by gently plugging muzzle and filling with CRC 5.56 sort of stuff and leaving it sitting muzzle down over night then giving a good dung out with copper brush... then rags till come out clean... the other part of hot water cleaning that hasnt been mentioned is if you do the oily rag through it while its still hot..it sort of cooks on..it comes back to the youngs 303 or ballistio..not right name the Gerries used.. both were cleaner and also medicinal...smells like jeyes fluid..thats the tar bit..both were similar

we have come a long way since then but basic idea is still the same....
clean,lightly oil and store.

To clean sewer pipe bores I've used "bullets" of steel wool and pistol powder that shifts rust, carbon, copper, and mason bee clay very very effectively showing you what you have very quickly "without harsh scrubbing"

Any of the Greek HXP .303, .308 or .30-06 made since the 1960s is non-corrosive but as others have said, carbon can ruin your bore if not removed (copper kills accuracy, carbon kills bores).

A trick for all players is that mixed through the 1970s .303 and .30-06, I have found the odd round of corrosive British, French and American mixed in with the Greek stuff. It pays to check your head stamps.....

I went for walk yesterday with blued rifle..got home and sat it on couch in warm dry room overnight,cleaned it this morning and there was two good sized rust patches on action where sweat from my hands were..... for sure they came off easy enough but it goes to show how little it takes both in time and moisture.

Originally Posted by csmiffy

Collins 90 seems to work OK. Was recommended to me.
Don't know about its comparison to hoppes but was told hoppes wasn't as good as it used to be.
I haven't done enough barrel fouling to see

Probably removed all those carcinogenic goodies that did the dirty work.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Gun shops give weird advise on
occassion. Some of them have good knowledgeable staff whilst others, although they sell the stuff, have low practical experience.
The fact that your brushes are not disolving says something about the effectiveness of your Cu solvent.

Well I'm not too worried about copper solvent for now, but it should still be OK for removing powder residue.

Originally Posted by fernleaf

Any of the Greek HXP .303, .308 or .30-06 made since the 1960s is non-corrosive but as others have said, carbon can ruin your bore if not removed (copper kills accuracy, carbon kills bores).

A trick for all players is that mixed through the 1970s .303 and .30-06, I have found the odd round of corrosive British, French and American mixed in with the Greek stuff. It pays to check your head stamps.....

Yeah its impossible to mix this stuff up, they are all tarnished from the bunker, definitely no CAC or any other brands mixed in.
I would be interested to see how this rust compares from a corrosive primer.