M14 barrel fouling in start of rifling
- Thread starter bjorn17
- Start date
How many rounds on the barrel and do all the lands look like this. Fire cracking in the leade is to be expected with use but it looks like you have a big glob of copper there.
I generally don’t use Sweets cause you need to be careful and not leave the solvent in there too long (ammonia based I believe) but it’s hell on copper.
Perhaps one of the more expert members here will chime in.
All lands look the same.
Ca 1000-1200 rounds on the barrel with factory ammo. Has been cleaned before, but not borescoped. This was a surpise. The barrel has gotten hot multiple times with 10 round strings back to back. I assume this is copper, lead and carbon fouling which has "melted" into a strong substance.
Ca 1000-1200 rounds on the barrel with factory ammo. Has been cleaned before, but not borescoped. This was a surpise. The barrel has gotten hot multiple times with 10 round strings back to back. I assume this is copper, lead and carbon fouling which has "melted" into a strong substance.
You shouldn't short stroke when cleaning a barrel, unless you're using a worn out brush, although I suppose using a nylon brush would be OK too.
In any case, how does it shoot? If it shoots well, I wouldn't worry about it. I had a borescope at one time. Scoped my Criterions and saw all sorts of causes for concern, but they shoot very well. I broke the borescope in a mishap and for the sake of my sanity, decided not to replace it.
You can try a more aggressive cleaner, maybe a suppressor cleaner. Something like break through. Plug the barrel and fill it, then let it soak over night or even a couple of days.
That is odd. I assume you're talking about a Springfield Armory, Inc rifle. The barrel would have been manufactured in the late 1950's or 1960's. They did use a lot of USGI barrels in earlier years, but I thought most were new old stock barrels. It is possible that it was a used barrel that was refinished on the outside.
I would talk to the manufacturer, explain the problem and see if they will replace it.
