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Gunsmithing First custom barrel - what chemicals to clean it?
- By AccuSol-ERN
- The Armory
- 34 Replies
Good info right here.Wow...as said, there are as many ways to clean a barrel as there are shooters.
First, here is Bartlein's recommendation on barrel break-in:
How to Break a Barrel In | Bartlein Barrels
www.bartleinbarrels.com
For me, I'm a @Frank Green disciple. Last new Bartlein barrel I mounted the break-in was super simple. I think after 3-4 shots I really wasn't getting any copper so I shot a 5 round group, cleaned (and it looked great), and never looked back. The chamber was done by @AccuSol-ERN at Altus and the throat was immaculate. The end of the leade looked like it was drawn with a straight edge.
As for cleaning, again...after thinking 300-400 rounds was a good time to clean....I later subscribed to Frank's view of cleaning after a range session. Oh, maybe let it go 60 rounds or in a clinic it was more like 160-200. But I found frequent cleaning makes the cleaning so much easier and without needing a lot rigorous scrubbing.
I have settled on BoreTech. Mostly Eliminator but I will occasionally use their carbon remover followed by their copper remover.
I follow BoreTech's instructions on the bottles
I do have Patch Out...but I prefer BT stuff. However, the Patch Out is, IME, a bit superior for getting copper out.
I use their non-copper jags for patches and I almost exclusively use nylon brushes though I will occasionally use a bronze brush later in the barrel's life. Now, many won't like this....but I do scrub back and forth. I don't see a nylon brush doing anything to the crown and I do mount Area 419 universal adapters and the brush bristles are oriented properly when pulling back by this adapter.
I do have Rem 40X and JB (blue label) and also use those very occasionally and in particular with an older barrel that I'm trying to keep shooting. I do NOT wrap a patch around around a brush and, again following Frank, I do use a Parker Hale style jab with the patch/abrasive wrapped around it. Cap the muzzle so it doesn't exit and stroke it. Then clean it out thoroughly with solvent and patches.
Another thing I do that perhaps others may scoff at...but I run dry patches, one after the other, until they come our completely dry and clean. Maybe 10 patches. I do not understand how people can run 3 patches to dry the bore and call it good. After 3 patches, I'm still getting solvent and carbon/copper out. Eh, patches are cheap.
Also, i absolutely do not feel the need to scrub a barrel until it looks completely shiny and down to steel as when it was new. The carbon in the fire cracking ain't coming out and it doesn't...IMO...do any harm. And I definitely don't worry about a thin sheen of blue in the grooves as this is just a very thin deposit copper washed into the pores during cleaning and I don't find any need to scrub the living fuck out of the barrel to get every bit of it out.
But to each their own...your barrel so you do your thing, right? And yes, this is a perennial topic with people having different approaches that they are happy with.
Cheers
I will also say.....I recommend cleaning every 250-300rnds. This works perfect for match shooters.......200rnd count matches with 50-100 to confirm dope, practice, and foul in before a match. Clean after the match for storage.
Ern
Hunting & Fishing Help with Fly Rod
- By Fig
- Sniper’s Hide Fieldcraft
- 34 Replies
The old ones are only worth anything as wall art unless they weren't fished with much. They do get brittle with age, and I would not cast with one more than 30 years old, because it will likely snap under strain. They loose stiffness with use. Every time you cast you are breaking the bamboo fibers.
Almost all come with two tips not because they're fragile and easily break, but because you alternate tips every time you fish so that it will last. If you use the same tip and fish all the time it will go from a flimsy noodle to a wet noodle. A fiberglass rod is about half speed as a carbon one, and a bamboo is about 2/3s of a fiberglass. You have to slow everything down and read a short novel in your back cast. Once you get the hang of it they're actually pretty fun to fish.
My #17 bamboo rod is on my power wrapper as we speak.
Below is probably around 5 or 6...
The other tip was still drying when I took these. This is before the varnish, so it gets a little darker.
The last one I gave away the guy got offered $3K for it, and would not sell it. I told him he should have taken the money, and I could make him another one.
...and now I'm guilty of posting in the zombie thread.
Almost all come with two tips not because they're fragile and easily break, but because you alternate tips every time you fish so that it will last. If you use the same tip and fish all the time it will go from a flimsy noodle to a wet noodle. A fiberglass rod is about half speed as a carbon one, and a bamboo is about 2/3s of a fiberglass. You have to slow everything down and read a short novel in your back cast. Once you get the hang of it they're actually pretty fun to fish.
My #17 bamboo rod is on my power wrapper as we speak.
Below is probably around 5 or 6...
The other tip was still drying when I took these. This is before the varnish, so it gets a little darker.
The last one I gave away the guy got offered $3K for it, and would not sell it. I told him he should have taken the money, and I could make him another one.
...and now I'm guilty of posting in the zombie thread.
PortaJohn
- By lariat
- The Bear Pit
- 152085 Replies
Experts Warn Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" Could Codify Big Land Grabs | ZeroHedge
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