Jump to content

Where is the copper?


Mark Jones

Recommended Posts

Hi,

Some advice please. Had my Tikka .243 for a few years now starting shooting with Privi then on to Remmington accutips. I now home load Vmax 87's. When ever I clean my barrel I don't use a brush, just a bore guide, Speer jag and Hoppes no9. My question is where is the copper. My round count is now around 400 and when I clean the patch is black, black, slight trace of grey then clean. My barrel is a stainless sporter so am I not getting the copper out, using the wrong method or is there no copper to remove? Was expecting a blue/ green tinged colour patch,

Any thoughts or advice very welcome

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think Hoppes N09 will shift copper very well, could be there is no copper to shift! Try some Sweets 7.62 or similar or better still get it borescoped then you will see how good your cleaning method is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mark and Viajero, You need to use a dedicated copper removing solvent-there are quite a few-and not just a general powder residue or carbon remover.

Sometimes you can see copper glinting on the rifling,just at the muzzle,butnot always.

Beg or borrow some copper remover -leave it for a few minutes-then patch it out-blue/green tells the tale....repeat til clean.It will do accuracy no good at all if left to build up.

 

gbal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

Some advice please. Had my Tikka .243 for a few years now starting shooting with Privi then on to Remmington accutips. I now home load Vmax 87's. When ever I clean my barrel I don't use a brush, just a bore guide, Speer jag and Hoppes no9. My question is where is the copper. My round count is now around 400 and when I clean the patch is black, black, slight trace of grey then clean. My barrel is a stainless sporter so am I not getting the copper out, using the wrong method or is there no copper to remove? Was expecting a blue/ green tinged colour patch,

Any thoughts or advice very welcome

Mark

 

There are a few commonly available effective copper solvents - Sweets, Proshot Copper Solvent and Boretech Copper remover. There maybe others but you won't go wrong with any of these.

 

Swab the barrel with a loose-fitting patch soaked in the copper solvent - leave for at least 15 mins and then push out with a tight-fitting patch. Repeat if patch shows traces of blue.

 

Use a 6mm Proshot bronze brush if you want to get rid of the powder fouling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Talking with Marco Bean at the euros f class there is a train of thought that leaving the copper to fill any fire cracking in the barrel helps with the life of it, so now we don't make a big effort to clean the copper out only the carbon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Talking with Marco Bean at the euros f class there is a train of thought that leaving the copper to fill any fire cracking in the barrel helps with the life of it, so now we don't make a big effort to clean the copper out only the carbon.

This was put forward a while ago by a chap on youtube, "Todd Hodnet", he says after conditioning/running in a barrel, he only cleans carbon. Not sure the make of barrel though

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Talking with Marco Bean at the euros f class there is a train of thought that leaving the copper to fill any fire cracking in the barrel helps with the life of it, so now we don't make a big effort to clean the copper out only the carbon.

 

I bore-scoped a badly fire-cracked 308 barrel the other day that had a rather attractive copper infill in the cracks.

 

It still shoots quite well but needs a lot of cleaning. Apart from the cracks, it was copper-free though.

 

As long as you are using a bore-scope Dorg - to ensure you don't get copper elsewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does butchs boreshine shift copper?

Butch's contains a small amount of amonia so it will shift a bit of copper but, it was designed for benchresters (who clean every 10 shots or so) to mainly remove powder fouling but, at the same time, it will keep the copper at bay. We might fire 60 plus rounds in a match and Butch's prevents a serious build up of copper affecting accuracy.

 

Use a dedicated copper solvent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it shoots and you are happy with the performance, why the hell would you want to change anything?? :rolleyes: ~Andrew

Oooo, herecy- you know that even after one shot you have to clean the snot out of a barrel otherwise the goddess Diana will smite you down!! :)

 

Seriously - this sums it up, if it is working for you then carry on and be happy. Too many folks sweat stuff rather than just getting trigger time. I know that I miss because of me (not shooting enough) not thru' the barrel being a bit dirty.

 

T

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a Bartlein (cut and possibly lapped?) which never shows a trace of copper, a Savage, and a couple of Lothar's (button rifled) which initially picked up quite a bit, but as Vince mentioned, the copper does act as a crack filler to a certain extent.

 

If you really want to strip all the copper out, plug the muzzle, fill the barrel with Robla Solo Mil cleaner, and leave overnight.

 

http://www.ballistol.de/98-1-Robla-Solo-MIL-Barrel-Cleaner.html

 

RePete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it shoots and you are happy with the performance, why the hell would you want to change anything?? :rolleyes: ~Andrew

Kind of like saying my car is running fine so I`m not going to change the oil and filters :)

 

I have a Bartlein (cut and possibly lapped?) which never shows a trace of copper, a Savage, and a couple of Lothar's (button rifled) which initially picked up quite a bit, but as Vince mentioned, the copper does act as a crack filler to a certain extent.

 

If you really want to strip all the copper out, plug the muzzle, fill the barrel with Robla Solo Mil cleaner, and leave overnight.

 

http://www.ballistol.de/98-1-Robla-Solo-MIL-Barrel-Cleaner.html

 

RePete

Can it erode steel/stainless steel ? any risk of damaging a barrel?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Pacnor Supermatch shows so little copper ive stopped babying it. Last 3 cleans have been 200, 200 and now over 300 between......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's an interesting conundrum. Two .308 barrels, both Bartlein 12 twists. Both shot on same day with same number of identical rounds. One shows copper (blue) on the patch, the other just black, then light grey to nothing. Both cleaned with Wipe-Out Patch-out.

This is the same every time. Why?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been using Robla for a few years now, and I've seen no evidence of any detrimental effect on either chrom-moly or stainless barrels.

Be warned though, it's highly ammoniacal, (in case you're a bit "anal" about, it having read all the expert comments on it's effect on barrels, or don't like the smell................)

Just for the record, when it comes to removing copper, I've found KG-12 to be about as much use as a nine bob note......................

 

RePete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Just for the record, when it comes to removing copper, I've found KG-12 to be about as much use as a nine bob note......................

 

RePete

 

RePete,

 

I was beginning to think the same also, I had good results with the stuff at first then it didn't seem to work as well and I wondered it it was beyond it's shelf life, or had decomposed or something. Anyway I had a rifle come back from the proof house with streaks of copper everywhere, I had borescoped it before handing it to my gunsmith and it was as clean as a whistle. I really blathered the KG12 on a patch until it was literally running out the muzzle, left it for an hour or so, patched it out, borescoped again and no copper anywhere so it seems the magic has been there, maybe I just didn't use enough?

 

Richard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kind of like saying my car is running fine so I`m not going to change the oil and filters :)

Nonsense.

It's like saying, everything in my GI tract is working splendidly but i think I should take an sudsy enema anyhow. ;) Some folks just can't leave well enough, alone.~Andrew

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy