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Not being a big fan to cleaning, it is something that must be done. Seeing that there is such a large group of people and smiths in this forum dealing with every barrel in the market, expensive and stock, cleaning is inevitable for you too.

Do match barrels have to be handled differently when cleaning, or are they all the same brush, patch and solution?

I'm just trying to figure out how to clean my Barsto barrel because there some minor fouling that I can't seem to get out with a patch. I'm currently using a brass jag loaded with two patches and Hoppes cleaning solution. I've tried to soak the area for 20mins, then scrub with a patch again, but it's still there. I've only put a few strokes with the brass brush before switching back to the jag and patches. I worry about using my brass brush or Brownells JB bore cleaning paste, which I use on my other cheaper barrels, thinking that it might be too harsh on the bore. I haven't used the paste yet and was hoping for any tips on what you guys do.

I'm not a pistolsmith by any means, but I have a lot of experience with precision rifle barrels from my sniper days. What you are seeing may be copper fouling. I usually run Shooter's Choice through my bore first- a few wet patches followed by a bronze brush. Then if there is a lot of copper fouling, I'll run a few patches of Sweet's solvent through the bore. Let it sit for no more than 15 minutes, then run a NYLON bore brush through the barrel. Follow with dry patches, then a protectant such as Sheath. I don't think you need to worry about a regular bronze brush scratching your stainless barrel, but I would never use a stainless bore brush, as I've seen them scratch bores before. I see no reason to use an abrasive like JB on a pistol barrel, they just don't need to be that clean. Also, never mix Sweet's with any other solvent. Just my .02.

Why a Nylon borebrush after Sweets?

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God Bless
45Fundi

I am not sure why some floks do what they do, but I think I know the answer to this one - You don't want a bronze brush to react to the sweets and give you a false sense of copper in the barrel.

If I'm wrong someone will certainly jump in here and point out my gaff.

JeffVN

Because Sweets will eat a bronze brush, while nylon will not be affected. Sweets has a high ammonia content and is extremely aggressive. Nothing else I've tried is as good at getting copper fouling out, but you have to be careful with it.

You guys'll think I'm crude here, but these are the things that work for me.

Copper pan scrubber, a piece cut off and wrapped around a well used bore brush. Wet it with a little Hoppes or whatever's handy, in from the chamber end, half way out, and back, several times until the barrel get just a little warm, that's my cue that I've done it enough. Run a patch through it and you've never seen such a clean barrel.

An alternative that I'm going to try is the new blue Nylon brushes from Iosso, they are really, really stiff.

For the chamber I have the Wilson chamber brush, and I take a .45 case and file notches, like saw teeth, in the case mouth-- so it looks like a hole saw. Then a hacksaw slot in the back, so I can put it in the chamber, press it to the bottom, and turn it. This gets the very front part of the chamber really clean where the brush doesn't quite get in there.

I do this stuff all the time on my own guns, been doing it for years, and there is no wear or damage from it. Actually, here in the shop, the chamber cleaning case I use is a steel one soldered to a screwdriver handle.

That copper pan scrubber come in fine and course, I use the course. try this once and you'l be surprised how instantly clean the barrel gets, be it lead fouling or from jacketed pills.

I remember seeing Ken Tapp at Second Chance one year cleaning .45 barrels using an electirc drill with a bore brush on it!

Thank you for all your responses.

I guess match barrels can take a beating like any other barrel. I was just worried if I'll mess up the rifling. I actually use Shooter's Choice No.7 Bore Cleaner, Accu-Bore, and the Hoppes cleaner. The Shooter's one STINKS of ammonia. The Accu-Bore works extremely slow and only on copper well.

From what I can see, it looks like lead fouling. I'll try soaking it a little longer and hit it with the brush. Time to field strip and put in some more elbow grease. I guess I'll lay off on the JB bore paste and the electric drill.

I love the filed casing trick. I've been using an oversized brush for the chamber but could never really get that shoulder in the chamber clean. I worry about scrubbing the brush perpendicular to the rifling. Must give the case trick a try too.

Thanks again for all the info.

Ned

Do you happen to have a picture of one of your custom filed cases to show us?

I also thank everyone for sharing their wealth of knowledge with us !

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God Bless
45Fundi

Sorry, no-- it just has a number of 'teeth" filed into it, like a little hole saw.

I had the same thing happen to a Kimber barrel recently. There was a lot of what looked like hard-baked powder fouling in the bore. I tried several cleaners such as CLP, FP10, Hoppe's, and a couple more. Nothing did much good until I pulled out the Blue Wonder and gave it about five good strokes with a brass brush. It took it right out and I was frankly impressed.

Little did I know it was a frying pan scrubber. I actually tried to search Brownells to figure out what that copper mesh was, Ned...