When a clean barrel isn't, and one way to clean it

[Tripodmvr]

Hence the method of pouring boiling water down the 303 rifles used for target shooting. The only problem is that with modern muti it tends to make it change due to some chemical reaction. I have seen this with Forrester Bore Foam.

[janfred]

The boiling water down the .303 is to wash out the salt from shooting army ammo.

Tried it with my 308 and does not make any difference that I can see.

[oafpatroll]

When I was a sleg troep goofing off from basics I used to be left to my own devices for longish periods during the day. Used the time to make a bit of cash cleaning other guys rifles. My method was to stand them barrel up with bipods resting on the wall below the shower heads and running scalding hot water over them for 10 minutes or so. I had adjusted the one geyser's thermostat to full speed ahead so the water was really hot. It did a remarkably good job of cleaning and degreasing. Anything that remained was easily sorted with a squirt of Preen and another session in the shower followed by a couple of pulls through with the bore brush. The lekker thing was that after a few minutes under the hot water they would be hot enough that they'd be bone dry within a minute or two. 

[Treeman]

When I was a sleg troep ......................y'd be bone dry within a minute or two. 

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Did same - oven cleaner and boiling water.

[big5ifty]

Picture of penetrating sprays I'm using. Q5 and Spanjaard. The Q5 contains graphite, you can see grey on a clean patch on the left. Middle patches are what's coming off the bore. Second patch from right is from today, day 3. 

Second pic shows work in progress on day 1.

[janfred]

What few realise is that the black isn't just carbon, it also contains cellulose. Cellulose is a plastic that acts as a good binder come heat and cold.

Any good bore cleaner should contain a solvent that softens cellulose. More commonly known as nitro solvent.

[big5ifty]

I always wondered what the little bottle of red stuff was for. Nitrocellulose.

I consolidated several small containers into one, thinking to mix it in with my Ed's Red.

[Treeman]

Would thinners or acetone not be fine as a nitro solvent ?
That why when I get a bad barrel I use all those things I listed - for a multi facet attack.

[oafpatroll]

Would thinners or acetone not be fine as a nitro solvent ?
That why when I get a bad barrel I use all those things I listed - for a multi facet attack.

Acetone is a part of the original Ed's Red formula and was included for exactly that reason you cite. This article is informative, to me at least. According to another article I can't find right now the "gum spirits of turpentine" and "aliphatic mineral spirits" mentioned in this one are functionally replaced by our hardware store turps.

*edit* 'kerosene' is our paraffin

[Treeman]

Try use biodiesel on your hands some day - amazing cleaner.

Now change to biodiesel in your vehicle and see how fast it blocks your filters !!!!! No, it cleans the shit out everywhere in the motor and tank and that blocks the filters.

[Againstthegrains]

So there are two types of build up in a barrel, copper and carbon. Both have a different chemistry. There are good products on the market for copper removal. Carbon removal requires a totally different chemistry. To give you a hint at works best for carbon, look at the ingredients found in most grill and oven cleaning products. The two main types of ingredient are a high pH, usually sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) coupled with a strong detergent. The detergent is there mainly to dissolve fat. A friend of mine cleans his barrels with braai cleaner and they seem fine.

[oafpatroll]

I suspect that gun cleaning and lubing products are to men what cosmeceuticals are to women. Some like to buy the most expensive ones with the highest magic power claims that they can. I'm extremely doubtful that many, if any, of the 'tier 1' cleaning concoctions work much better than Eds Red except in terms of copper removal. Similarly I doubt that there's much of a benefit to be had spending thousands a litre on lubricants over a 50/50 mix of ATF and paraffin for oiling or lanolin grease for rails and such.

I may be completely wrong but in nearly thirty years of using them exclusively on all my guns I haven't encountered an issue.   

[223]

I would be very careful with coke.  It contains phosphoric acid (about 10%).  While it definitely cleans pretty well, I would not want such an aggressive acid in my barrel.  Neither would I drink it, but that is a different topic.

[Treeman]

I would be very careful with coke.  It contains phosphoric acid (about 10%).  While it definitely cleans pretty well, I would not want such an aggressive acid in my barrel.  Neither would I drink it, but that is a different topic.

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Surely not 10% ? I do not know, but youch, that sound blerry high.

[Treeman]

Looked it up.
Cola drinks have a phosphoric acid content that is described as "from 0.057 to 0.084% of 75% phosphoric acid, by mass."

The main thing the graphic ignores here is the issue of concentration; the concentration of phosphoric acid in coke is very low (around 0.055%).

Still poison regardless of above, Coke is baaad stuff.