Thread: My Rifle is a dirty whore, how to clean it?

So after 2 years of chasing my tail trying to find a suitable load in my M70 featherweight, I finally had a lightbulb moment.
It turns out my rifle is a dirty whore and doesn't liked to be cleaned.

Now I quite like cleaning my rifles so I'm going to have to change my habits with this one.

Question is how to keep the moisture sucking carbon at bay while keeping the barrel dirty enough for it to perform at it's best.

Is it literally a case of one wet patch (no9) one dry then one oiled?

Just put an oiled patch threw before storage then a dry before shooting.

breakfree CLP may be your new best friend...... couple of patches with couple of drops of it on a spear jag,then a clean patch,then another with few drops to protect the bore in storage..and put it away.... this routine kept my model 70 in top nick for many years without issue.

Seems unusual. Has it had a bore treatment in the past, or a time when it's been to the naughty red side and it had to be fully defurred which left a few marks in the bore? Referring to the red rust there not the red fuzz...

Couple of passes with a boresnake with a bit of oil on the brush bit and the floss immediately behind the brush. Done. That's how all my smokeless rifles are treated.
Except the .303 using that nasty dirty Greek ammo though! Full scrub every time.

Originally Posted by No.3

Seems unusual. Has it had a bore treatment in the past, or a time when it's been to the naughty red side and it had to be fully defurred which left a few marks in the bore? Referring to the red rust there not the red fuzz...

Not on my watch but god only knows what went on before it came to me. I tried to have a look down the bore the other day with a microscope, I don't think it is the prettiest bore you'll ever see.
I did note it is a 6R fwiw.

Have you given it a proper clean, take it back to steel and start again? Get rid of all carbon and crud and see what it does then. My experience with very few variations is normally the things take one or two shots after a clean to settle to the 'normal' point of aim, and then you get a certain number before the groups start opening up and you know you need to clean again. There's a bit of a tolerance to how much opening up is OK for the shooting you do and a factor is the ranges you hunt at obviously, but for me a rifle that won't shoot when clean and after a couple of fouler shots is quite unusual.

What caliber is it and what is the grouping like that you normally expect from it?

7mm08

Yes, did give it a deep clean. that's what triggered my ah ha moment. Went from shooting a bit over a inch (with current components I'm trying) to 2 1/2 inches and velocity dropped 100fps over night.
Shot a few more with a known load and similar results although not as bad.

So last night it got a light cleaning, was only after that when the penny dropped.

This morning let off 17 rounds, some with a proven load and some with current development and a couple left over from earlier load tests.

It took around 3 or 4 shots for me to see results consistent with what I would expect with proven load.
Development load put 2 under an inch and a flyer.
The ELDX's that I couldn't get to shoot last year all hit the X with less than 10 fps between them.

It would seem that while this rifle is never going to produce startling velocities, it is no where near as fussy when it comes t projectiles as I previously thought.

Get a can of Inox with a little pipe spout.
Givt it a squirt down the barrel from the breech. Store it muzzle down then push it out when you want to use it.
Should prevent nasties growing, but leave enough of the desirable fouling to keep your accuracy.
Works on my work guns.

Here is what I found from experience. It surprised me.

1. Carbon and copper fouling is deposited in layers one on top of the other. I discovered this 25 years ago when I kept getting clean patches and green patches after repeated attempts. The "clean" barrel would produce green swab when I ran a new patch after storage. I did a lot of research and then I came across the info about multiple layers in another forum. It drove me nuts until I understood it.
2. Hoppes No9 is a waste of time. Many of the copper solvents work but the ammonia based like Sweets will remove the micrometals from the alloy and create microscopic pits as the ammonia dissolves the vanadium etc in the barrel. The late Din Collings the gunsmith educated me on this. The bore will look fine to the naked eye and even in a borescope as the effect is microscopic rough surface which leads to more fouling.
3. Butch's Bore Shine & Shooters choice do an ok job of removing copper, but it takes time. Wipeout with Accelerator was the best for removing copper. By a long shot.
4. Carburettor cleaner is amazing for removing carbon. Easily available at Repco or Super cheap auto. A swab of carb cleaner will come out brown. the next swab of Wipeout will come out dark blue again. Keep alternating until you get only clean patches. Some rifles can take 5 passes of each.
5. Big bores foul a hell of a lot more than the deer cartridges. I think it the large bearing surface of the bullet such as 470, 416 etc.
6. Breakfree CLP is amazing for lubrication and storage. Also for wiping down the outside of the rifle. Shake the bottle really well to mix the white gooy stuff with the oil. Clear oil is not well mixed. Pale cloudy means it is well mixed.
7. Bronze brush is tricky as it will give blue colour. Nylon brush is good.

While my pig hunting mate is layed up recovering,light duties at home only sort of deal..I suggested if he was bored he could get his guns out of cabinet and give them a clean...his reply "how can I ??? its not RAINING"

@Micky Duck surely you know that In certain circles mud is used both a lubricant and rust preventative. Blood and hair an excellent stock polish, and a few twigs in the breech are believed to enhance accuracy by correcting headspace.

Originally Posted by Makros

Couple of passes with a boresnake with a bit of oil on the brush bit and the floss immediately behind the brush. Done. That's how all my smokeless rifles are treated.
Except the .303 using that nasty dirty Greek ammo though! Full scrub every time.

Is that Greek HXP ammo corrosive primed? Asking for a friend....

Originally Posted by schwen

Is that Greek HXP ammo corrosive primed? Asking for a friend....

No, it's not supposed to be. But the powder is filthy, and hard to shift. It certainly takes a good scrub with a bronze brush and oil. Can't get away with a few passes with the boresnake that's for sure.