# cleaning



## SLIDER (Jan 8, 2009)

Last year I acquired a 50 cal from a buddy, however he never cleaned it very good so now the barrel looks dirty all the time. Used several defferent things, have any suggestions on what I could use to help get cleaner?

Josh


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## darkgael (Feb 10, 2006)

Well, if he didn't do a good job cleaning, then it could be that that dirt is rust. 
I had a similar experience with a Lyman GPR that I got from a friend. 
What I did was 1) Gave it a good traditional cleaning. 2) Got some bore brushes and a few grades of steel wool. 3) Got some bore paste (USP Bore Paste). 4) Wrapped the brushes with a bit of the heavier grade of steel wool and added some oil. 5) Ran that a dozen times. 6) Ran some clean patches - came out really dirty. 7) Repeat steps 4 to 6, changing to finer grades of steel wool and eventually to a cleaning patch coated with bore paste.
The barrel - not terribly pitted at the start - cleaned up pretty well. A bore light shows it shiny, though I can see a pit here and there. It is very accurate at this point. But.....I never get a 100% clean patch when I am done cleaning it after a session at the range.
Pete


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## Buck Hunter (Apr 10, 2009)

be real carefil on paste, andything that could ruin the twist. Keep working the copper brushes , using windex/isopropyl alcohol down that siucker until it cleans out.


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

All my experience with heavy-duty bore cleaning is from old military rifles, not muzzleloaders, but I suspect that a lot of it would still apply. With old military guns a lot of the problems come from "corrosive" primers that deposit salts in the bore, which then attract moisture, and rust them up in a hurry. It's pretty similar when it comes to muzzleloaders.

I've read articles that say that one of those copper "chore boy" scrubbers for pots and pans does a good job. The copper is softer than the steel, so the risk of damage is minimal. Guys basically pull little pieces of it apart and wrap it around a bore jag. Just scrub like crazy, replace your piece of scrubber, lather-rinse-repeat.

There's also the electronic bore cleaner. You can buy them, but there are articles on how to make one yourself with a piece of steel rod, some wire, some o-rings and stoppers, and a crappy flashlight. The article I saw was on how to do it for a centerfire, but it's got to be even easier to keep the rod from contacting the sides with a bigger bore (just put quite a few o-rings on the rod).

As a caveat: I have never had to do either of these things (when I was buying milsurps, I had really good luck), but there were plenty of guys on a board I used to visit who did, with pretty positive results.


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## darkgael (Feb 10, 2006)

One of the difficulties in removing rust - if that is what you have in the barrel - is that rust (iron oxide) is HARD. I'm not 100% sure about iron oxide but in many cases the oxide of a metal is harder than the metal itself. 
That's an issue - you want to remove the rust but not damage the barrel itself. 
The scrubee pads are a good idea. USP bore paste is non-embedding.
Pete


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

House hold cleanerfs like comet and bar keepers friend work also for lightly rusted bores.
For the heavy rusted and pitted bores just use the bore paste thebarrel can't get any worse thats for sure.
If it is a T/C send it in to the factory. It has a life time warrenty no questions asked.

 Al


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