help with m1 carbine cleaning

[hilton00]

i just recently obtained my first m1 carbine, an inland. its in excellent condition. havent yet shot it. i am an avid shooter, but new collector. i decided to strip it down to the bolt, but not take the bolt apart since i am inexperienced. when i went to push a patch down the barrel i had to do it from the muzzle since i have a 1 piece rod(any other way to do this?! muzzle to breech=:nono:). i used several soaked patches of hoppes, left them for 10-20 minutes, came back, put a moist one through again, then a dry one, well this dry one came through green! it was green/blue. why?!!!!!! what was this guy shooting through this thing or cleaning with?

[Stevo]

The green or bluish colour on the patches is copper deposits coming out of the bore. Perfectly normal.

[John Lawson]

You should use a stainless steel cleaning rod, guide it very carefully to avoid damaging the rifling at he muzzle. DO NOT attempt to use a pull through style cleaning gadget (strong cord with metal patch eye attached, etc.) The string collects glass particles from primer residue and will act like a saw, cutting the barrel badly at the muzzle. It is not uncommon to find barrels that Ordnance has counterbored 3/8" to remove muzzle damage from carelessly used cleaning rods and pull throughs. Aluminum rods will collect abrasive and damage bores when used from the muzzle, as will some soft steel rods. Best to invest in a stainless steel rod and guide it carefully (straight in).
Once you have removed the copper fouling, KEEP IT CLEAN for best accuracy results.

[Lance Boyle]

Dewey coated cleaning rods are a nice choice. They also need to be kept clean. I've heard people say that the coating on the rod can also be imbedded with debris and to stay with the stainless rods. So you decide.

Also any aluminum rapidly oxidizes (and stops because the oxide seals the metal from further air contact). Aluminum oxide is a strong abrasive.

[Claven2]

I prefer graphite cleaning rods for situations like this :)

[neolithic1]

What ever you do, do not take the bolt apart without the tool to reassemble it. I took mine apart one evening and found out the hard way. Without the tool you'll need six hands to hold all the spring loaded parts and lots of luck.