Bore Cleaner?

What do you find to be the best Bore Cleaner on the market? I have been using Shooters Choice, but am open to try others.

It depends on what you need to get out of your bore, powder fouling, copper, or lead, or a combination. Most any solvent will do a good job when used with a good brushing, but how much is the solvent and how much is the brush is a matter of some debate.

For general powder fouling, I like Outers and Shooter's Choice. SC is marketed as a copper solvent, but it is only mediocre at that job, while it does an excellent job on powder residue.

For copper fouling, nothing beats Sweets.

For lead, I like Rigg best, unless it's extreme, then there's nothing better than a Lewis Tool.

When it's really bad (like an old milsurp), I use an electronic bore cleaner and alternate solvents with lots of brushing to get the layers off.

Versifier Would you mind telling me a little more about Sweets, I find it hard to get a good copper solvent where I am .
Thank you g

I would think it ought to be a bit easier for you to get than for us as it's made down in your neck of the woods.

Sweets Wholesale Pty. Ltd.
45 Irvine Street
Kingsford, 2032
NSW Austrailia

Sweets is a 5% ammonia based solvent. Most decent copper solvents have at least some ammonia in them. When it reacts with metallic copper, it forms an oxide that turns the patch blue, so you know when it's present and when you've got it all out of the barrel. Make sure you use a nylon brush, not a bronze (a copper alloy) one, or you will get blue patches forever. ;)

Ed's Red

You mix it yourself- just go to Cast Boolits and get the recipe.
Cheap, excellent esp. carbon and lead.

For copper fouling I have found that most of the foam type bore cleaners do an OK job-not harmful to barrel and easy to do.



Gary

Hi Gents,

Just joined but wanted to jump in here.

Must be a good subject because it keeps resurfacing year after year. I have to be honest in that I've used Outers, Hoppe's, Marksmans Choice, Shooters Choice and any number of store brands over the years. I've also used lots of regular gasoline, coleman fuel, and some kerosene and sometimes 3-n-1 oil or WD40. Never found a lot of difference in any of them for general cleaning although the few times I felt I had copper fouling the Shooters/Marksmans Choice did the job.

But I believe the absolute best chamber/bore cleaner out there is hot soapy water followed by clean hot water, then denatured alcohol, let air out, then regular bore solvent followed by light oiling. Naturally to go to this much trouble I would generally be thinking of an "end of season and put it away until next year" sort of thing.

Regards,

TB

I have found the best way to get lead fouling out of my barrels is to use 100% copper Chor Boy pad strands wrapped around an old cleaning brush. Two or three strokes and the lead is out. I finiish up up with Hoppes #9.

Take Care

Bob

Wipe Out/Patch Out plus accelerator for really fouled bores.

Eds Red and 10% ammonia patch and patch about for J word fouling.

Kroil for any leading

go for the sweets best there is IMHO

Just think back. If we had had Sweets in 1952 we could have cleaned all those 220 Swift and 220 Weatherby Rocket barrels that were "shot out". They weren't; they were simply copper fouled and we didn't know about it or how to get it out. Same for the early Winchester Model 70 "Westerner" stainless steel barrels in 264 Winchester magnum. I remember barrels being changed after as few as 1200 rounds because they were shot out. We are older and better informed and maybe even wiser. OH WELL!!!!!!!!!

I've tried a passal of copper fouling cleaners. All of them used ammonia. Of those, Sweets did the best job of removing copper. That is until I tried KG-12. It's a water based copper solvent, doesn't smell bad and doesn't need neutralizing.
Tried an experiment using a copper penny. 1 drop of Sweet's on one penny and 1 drop of KG-12 on another. KG-12 was still dissolving copper when Sweet's quit.

Mostly I use Kroil & JB, but Hoppe's makes a decent lead remover and Butch's Boreshine does copper. On the guns I have Ultra-Coated, I just don't get copper build-up (and don't use the JB!).

I like the Lewis, but they don't make them small enough for several of my guns. From .38 on up to 10-bore scatter-gun, though, they'll cut lead when nothing else will touch it. I usually saturate the screen with Hoppe's Lead Remover.

Ed's red for all bore and gun cleaning, I make it by the gallon.

Outers Foul-out II for copper fouling, followed by either Shooter's Choice copper solvent, Sweet's 762, or Hoppes' Benchrest #9 copper remover just to be sure.

Bronze brush wrapped tightly with either bronze wool or strips cut from a copper Chore Boy for removing lead on the rare occasions I get it anymore.

I've used lots of stuff, and most any of the commercial cleaners are good, but this is what I've settled on, I don't think any two of us do it quite the same way.

Gear

Ballistol - the more I use it the more I like it. Non-toxic so no gloves necessary and good for every part of a gun, metal, wood, plastic, leather, whatever.

Is anyone else using KG2?

My gunsmith recommended it and it seems to be the fastest way of getting a bore clean that i have tried yet. My biggest concern was getting rid of copper and when i asked the gunsmith about it he simply said "it will get it out" his only caution was to use alcohol patches to remove the product from the bore and chamber.

my method last time was:
1 KG2 patch - short stroke the length of the bore
2 dry patch - same
1 KG2 patch - same
4 dry patch - same

As a check i used butch's bore shine to check for copper and the patch was spotless.
followed up with 2 alcohol patches and i was done.

just wondering if anyone else is using this or not.
Ive spent much more time with butches to get all the copper out.

mike.

Ancester have you ever heard of a pest erradication hunter from New Zealand named Euan. He shoots a 22 Hornet A I?