How to clean a really dirty barrel

[Brewster]

I use the Outers Bore Foam. It works well. Just shoot and repeat the cleaining. You'd be surprised how blue the stuff comes out the first time....the blue is copper...

[crunchman]

New member here, but I have a lot of years working on guns of all types. I used to be a partner in a small custom rifle shop and cleaning was one of our services. For the really grundgy rifles that came in, we used an Outers Electronic bore cleaner set-up. This uses a mild electric charge through the cleaning solution to free the fouling from the barrel and attract it to a steel rod inserted into the barrel. This is a fairly pricy set-up, but here's a link to a home-built that does the same thing and it does work well. Hope this helps.
http://www.surplusrifle.com/reviews/copperout/index.asp

[Claven2]

One problem with electrolytic cleaning is that it CAN be overdone. If you leave it on too long, the electrically charged amonia will damage the bore.

i have used the mbefore and they work if you don't overdo it, but I've since switched back to chemical cleaners as they are more idiot proof and you never know when the wife might get on your case to drop everything and go do some distracting thing around the house instead of carefully watching your electronic bore cleaner...

[Ian Robertson]

I use Wipe Out. Spray it in and give it many hours to work, don't rush, wipe it out and repeat. I have a couple of wooden P-H rod guides around for Lee Enfield, if anyone wants numbers to make some copies let me know.

[Claven2]

Another "old hand" truck I use is I'll wet a patch with regular Hoppes No.9 and liberally coat the bore. Let the rifle sit horizontal for a week, every so often (once or twice a day) turning the rifle so it all doesn't collect in one spot.

You'd be surprised how dirty the patch will look. Even when you thought the bore was "clean".

[sdh1911]

I have used Lanolin based hand cleaner on a couple hard cleans and found it worked pretty well HTH.SDH

[powmia56]

Old shotgun shells work nicely as bore guides. Just pick one that is the right size for your barrel and punch the old primer out of the center for your cleaning rod to go through.

[Cantom]

Old shotgun shells work nicely as bore guides. Just pick one that is the right size for your barrel and punch the old primer out of the center for your cleaning rod to go through.

I used to do exactly that on my M14-a 12 gauge shell fit perfectly over the flash hider.

[Oatmeal Savage]

Anyone use bore snakes?

[Cantom]

Anyone use bore snakes?

Lots of people do. The story is, they don't do a really first class job of cleaning, the're kind of an expedient for using at the range, before using a good rod at home. I recently bought a .22 bore snake but haven't used it yet.