Bore Cleaners & Type 4 Trigger Housings - Oops

[gsp45]

Bill you are completely correct on a clean bore is a must and I'd also be in agreement in the use of Aluminum Oxide and Kroil if I had a bore that had corrosive particulate trapped under some copper fouling. My point is, I wouldn't use this abrasive mix every time I cleaned my bore. In fact on a "new" barrel you will get the copper to fill in the microscopic fissures, which is "burnishing" a new barrel, but that's a whole other topic all together, and is off this topic.

[DaveHH]

Dave, albeit this is correct for the most part, corrosive fouling trapped under the copper fouling will do nothing but eat on the steel of the barrel. Cleaning the barrel completely is a must.

Fellas, I only offer this information because since working in a custom barrel shop and talking to the owner about barrel care I thought I would pass that info on to my milsurps family.

I have a question: What do you consider to be "Corrosive Fouling" and how does it get in the bore? I ask because when I received my SA 12/65 rebuild in 1983, it was all new. I shot it for almost a full year and never once used a chemical copper remover. As a matter of fact, I rarely used a brush. I would clean the bore with Hoppies and patches. The barrel was perfect and remained that way. I won five bench rest shoots with that M1 using handloads of 4064/Sierra 168 Internationals. My main concern was barrel preservation as I was taught to fear the rod and brush by Drill Instructors. I was determined to not clean it to death. I suppose I might feel different about it if I owned a barrel shop.
Thanks Bill.

[Bill Hollinger]

Dave, did you bore scope it to know for sure it is perfect? I only ask this because I learned a valuable lessen working in a barrel production shop. I've cleaned and scrubbed and cleaned some more with Hoppe's #9 and felt it could not get any cleaner only to be embarrassed when a bore scope was put to it. The owner of the company said Hoppe's was worthless for cleaning anything but soft fouling in a barrel bore. For 40 years I've used and relied on Hoppe's and would swear by it's abilities. Boy was I ever wrong! I will only use it on cleaning the actual parts of a gun now, not the bore.

To your question, any residue left behind from the combustion of the round going off can be detrimental to the life of the barrel. also, only use one piece coated rods like Dewey brand. Your DI was correct for sure about jointed military style cleaning rods. They will destroy a muzzle in short order. I would encourage all, please don't take my word for any of this. Clean your bore, clean it as you never have before and then have it bore scoped. You will be amazed at what you see.

BTW, we might just be producing M1 rifle barrels in the future. Look up Pac-Nor Barreling. Great company and great product!

[ed skeels]

Copper isn't the barrel/accuracy killer most think.
Carbon is Master of barrel death.
The longer it's left untouched, the harder it get's.
Ed