British Military bore solvent: Was there such a thing?

[Steve762]

In WWI, WWII and Korea did the British and Common Wealth Nations issue any kind of bore solvent to combat the effects of corrosive primed .303 ammunition? If so, was it a commonly available item or did the front line troops have to use water or spit patches followed by an oiled patch?
Thx, Steve

Information

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[Maxwell Smart]

All the literature I've seen only mentions Hydrogen hydroxide, heated to boiling point at atmospheric pressure...

[Parashooter]

All the literature I've seen only mentions Hydrogen hydroxide, heated to boiling point at atmospheric pressure...

Hey, that's some dodgy stuff that can seriously corrode your rifle and even your health!

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[jmoore]

Hey, that's some dodgy stuff that can seriously corrode your rifle and even your health!

And to think I was exposed to it for some hours whilst hunting the other day! Scary stuff. And it DID cause some very minor corrosion in the bore of my muzzleloading Tower made Enfield...

[303tom]

Here is what I use & I think the British used it to !.....................Attachment 56979

[Bruce_in_Oz]

When I were y’ung lad with SMLE…..

Basic cleaning consisted of several runs with the “dry” 4 x 2 on a pull-through before inspection by the NCO in charge. Then:

A couple of drags through with, I vaguely remember, OX-52 or OX-18,

A CLEAN piece of oil soaked cloth over all exposed action, magazine and sight surfaces, then back to the armoury after a scond “viewing” by the NCO.

If there was a LOT of shooting going on, a supply of boiling water would be made available, sufficient for cleaning rifles and making “a brew”, preferably NOT consecutively with the same water.

The hot water dissolved all the nasty, soluble primer-residue salts that have otherwise destroyed millions of Lee-Enfield barrels. The idea was to pour water, via the specially-shaped, ISSUE funnel, from the chamber end, until it ran CLEAR.

The heat of all that boiling water warmed the barrel up quite a bit; thanks to all that wood, it was fairly hard to burn your hands. I guess that’s why they call them “hand-guards”.

The bore was then given the eagle-eye by the NCO in charge and off we went and carefully dragged a CLEAN piece of “4 x 2”, soaked in oil, through the bore a couple of times. Even that process would often wash out some more “dark” stuff. The rest of the exposed metal was also given the “once-over” LIGHTLY with the same oil on another clean piece of cloth, ready for ANOTHER inspection before it went back into the armoury. This was a good idea, as most of these old girls only had a “shooting season” of about four months each year.

A GOOD armourer would arrange for a “work party” to re-clean and re-oil these rifles a week or so later, just to remove any residual “nasties” from the barrels. That way, the only thing anyone had to worry about was throat-erosion form the Cordite combustion.

As to your question re “issue” solvent”; the first time I saw something like that was well after the introduction of the L1A1, and it was not “regularly available". But that is another story..

[Beerhunter]

In WWI, WWII and Korea did the British and Common Wealth Nations issue any kind of bore solvent to combat the effects of corrosive primed .303 ammunition?

Yes, as has been said - boiling water, followed by OX52.

[Peter Laidler]

Ah..........., you youngsters forget another thing we used to use.......... There were what were called KNS tablets that supposedly stood for Cupro NIckel Solvent tablets or 'Kleen Nuthing Safely' is you forgot that you had a barrel filled with the stuff. These KNS tablets were only issued to Armourers shops and were mixed with pure water to form something toxic. You put a wood plug in the muzle and poured this stuff down the breech and left it for an hour or so until it did its thing. Best for Bren and Vickers barrels that got laced with copper fouling. Alas, if you did use them and forgot, they'd cause chaos inside the barrel

We were taught it as apprentices as being the Armourers easy way of cleaning barrels while the crunchies were forced to use gauze and pullthroughs - and anything else abrasive that they could lay their hands on such as wire wool and emery cloth etc etc. I can't EVER remember us using this stuff except in an old clapped sewer pipe out No4 I owned but S/Sgt Horne had a glass bottle of these KNS tablets in his drawer.

Maybe Tankie could ask his dad for further info about these things. But the short answer is that yes, we DID have something for cleaning more severe barrels. How good the KNS tabs were really is a matter of conjecture.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Ammonia-based solvents, like "Sweets" are purpose-designed to remove copper-based fouling.

NEVER use them in stainless steel barrels, unless desperate. Soaking the bore of a stainless barrel for a few hours will certainly remove the copper-based fouling, but it may also leave it with a slight, but noticeable "frosty" look. On your chrome-lined barrels, gas systems, etc., however, the stuff removes any jacket (and other) fouling very quickly and with no apparent damage.

[jmoore]

On your chrome-lined barrels, gas systems, etc., however, the stuff removes any jacket (and other) fouling very quickly and with no apparent damage

Until the chrome starts flaking out as more than a few have a thin copper wash sandwiched between the chrome and steel. M14 barrels, for instance. Done that!