Dark bore

Ammunition, reloading, shooting, etc
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carbon outlaw
Posts: 279
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:19 pm

Re: Dark bore

Post by carbon outlaw »

I shoot 17 Remington and get copper fouling in the barrel ... Its so fast the friction melts the copper ... Anyway what I use is Montana X-Treme bore conditioner and it works very well ...

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carbon outlaw
Posts: 279
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:19 pm

Re: Dark bore

Post by carbon outlaw »

Back in the 60s the my neighbor fixed barrels that had a lot of pitting ... What he would do is he had a big handle off a old push lawnmower with a long steel rod and a washer that was rounded off so 30 cal. He would put the rod in the barrel and pore in bullet lead and use valve grinding lapping compound and run the plug up and down the bore and restore the bore and rifleings ... Back then a lot of people used cast bullets so if the bore was over sized it didn't matter ...

Whig
Posts: 2006
Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2016 12:53 am

Re: Dark bore

Post by Whig »

The old method, shockingly, would involve plugging the chamber with a cork or rubber block of some sort and filling the bore from the muzzle with mercury. Leave it in overnight and it would amalgamate with all of the lead in the bore and clean it right out. This method actually is one of the best and easiest ways to clean the bore of deep and compressed lead. Of course, we don't use mercury for this purpose anymore because of it's toxicity but what a great solution to a leaded bore!

I have lots of mercury and, as a former chemist, have experimented and played with it carefully. Even taught my kids, safely, about the amazing properties of this metal. I have never used it in a bore, though. Too easy to lose some of it and contaminate something (like me.)

So, now we use bore brushes, chemicals and brass screens to pull through the bore to get the lead out. Or, as some do regularly, shoot a few full jacketed bullets through the bore to clean the lead out.

Kroil is nice and one solvent/lubricant I use at times. I love Sharp Shooter's Patch Out/ Wipe Out which can be combined with their Accelerator solution. Brownell's sells these.This will quickly pull out copper from a barrel as well as deep carbon and lead. Amazing to see the patches come out dark blue with copper when I use these products.

But, everyone has their fav. I use some Hoppes but there are better chemicals.

Capt. Frank
Posts: 267
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 4:33 pm

Re: Dark bore

Post by Capt. Frank »

My bad, Kroil.

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