Cleaning the stubborn bore

[Hollis Wood]

I have a pair of Mosin M91s that have the most hard to clean bores I have ever run across.

I have tried Hoppes, Sweets and some other stuff that I can't recall right now. Put a boatload of patches, worn out a bore brush, took one to the range and shot some surplus through it and cleaned it again. Still look like there is loose particles of debris in the bore.

Any other suggestions? make me up some Ed's Red? Foaming bore cleaner?
Or just say screw it and make 'em wall hangers.

[John Crusher]

Lacquer thinner and 8mm bore brushes.
When you get through the 20th layer let us know how much better it shoots.

[Pluribus]

I've had good luck cleaning that sort of problem bore before using a penetrating oil like Knock-er-loose or good old Liquid Wrench. Being made to penetrate rusty bolt threads, it does a pretty good job of doing that to crud in a rifle bore. I'll plug the muzzle with a tapered dowel, lean the rifle muzzle down and fill with solvent and let sit over night. Repeat if needed and, like John Crusher said, use a 8mm or even a .45 caliber brush. Instead a patch tip on the cleaning rod, use a jag and push a tight patch though.

YMMV and, HTH

[LAFAL]

2 dollar electric bore cleaner and 50/50 ammonia and water. Run for 5 minutes, clean bore electrode, run again until the gunk stops plating on the rod and the bubbly foam isnt grey with copper flecks. Do an internet search for the homemade electronic bore cleaner. It brought back an 1894 krag and a 1903A3 to good accuracy and cleaned out the grooves.

[C-ya]

Originally Posted by LAFAL

2 dollar electric bore cleaner and 50/50 ammonia and water. Run for 5 minutes, clean bore electrode, run again until the gunk stops plating on the rod and the bubbly foam isnt grey with copper flecks. Do an internet search for the homemade electronic bore cleaner. It brought back an 1894 krag and a 1903A3 to good accuracy and cleaned out the grooves.

Glad I saw this! I just picked up an old Enfield that has seen better days, so I'm hoping this will help the bore to be at least shootable. I'm not looking for a tack driver - unless this rifle was one in a former life - just something to plink with.

[JasonB]

Alternate between specific copper(ammonia) and carbon removing bore cleaners. Hoppe's #9 will work a bit on both, but not nearly as well(especially when it comes to removing copper on something that fouled) as 2 separate cleaners. The layer effect of carbon over copper over carbon and repeat is why it seems like you almost have it licked until you run a brush down it or shoot it.

You also might try heating it(microwave a cup of water and pour it down the barrel) before using the ammonia based solvent. That usually seems to speed/increase the reaction some.

More importantly, how do they shoot? If ok, I seem to recall articles on some not shooting as well after all the crap has been removed.

[MasterChief]

Endless apologies to OP if you already knew this: The type of cleaning rod you use has a great effect on the ease and efficiency of bore cleaning, over and above the other cleaning equipment and cleaners you may use. A sturdy one-piece rod of sufficient length will give the best results. I use a .270 X 36" rod and with the rifle in a gun vise bore cleaning has never been a problem. YMMV. Best wishes. Dave

[bonnie]

SharpShoot-R Brushless Wipeout foaming bore cleaner works great on very cruddy bores! Spray it into the bore, let it set overnight, then push the crud out with a patch. I repeat overnight as necessary till clean. Don't get the foam on the wood stock though as it will remove the finish.

Also have been using the liquid Brushless Wipeout. Soaking wet patch through the bore and let it sit for awhile. Great to clean a normal dirty bore and using a wet patch to wipe down other parts. I don't think it works as well as the foam for soaking overnight. However it doesn't harm the wood finish or so the instructions say.

Used Ed's Red for several years to soak parts. Works okay but takes more elbow grease.

All the other bore cleaners I have are unused and taking up shelf space since I started using the SharpShooter-Rs.

[Ironhandjohn]

I have found that patches cut from Lead-Clean gun cloths did a very good job of removing the most stubborn fouling. It removes bluing just as well as crud, so don't use it on anything blued.

[alphadog58]

I've had good luck with Outers foaming bore cleaner. I fouled the crap outta my Remington '03 with a bunch of cast bullet reloads I bought from one of the 'old men' at my GC. Had to do four applications, letting it work overnight each time.
Larry

[John Crusher]

I've got several MNs and the big issue is the carbon layers stuck between the copper layers. I cleaned a '29 Izhevsk Dragoon for 2 years and got god knows how many layers out of it and the accuracy got better and better. Good luck with yours and by all means be patient. It will clean up .

[Hollis Wood]

Thanks for the replies, lots of good and different ideas.

I can see where patience will come in handy on these.

[GaryH]

Picked up a hex mosin a few weeks ago. Slowly working the bore over :-)

Anyone here tried never dull? I have some so I may try it and see how it does.

[W.E.G.]

One vote here for the "Who cares?"

Squirt some oil down the bore, a few strokes with a rod and a brush, wipe it out, and shoot it.

That's all is required for an old war-horse rifle barrel.
The idea is to get oil on it to prevent rust, and possibly loosen existing rust.
What else did you think you were supposed to accomplish?

Polish your brass lamp.
Don't polish the insides of your C&R rifle barrels.

[Sgt_Gold]

Butch's Bore Shine will take everything out of the bore except the rifling. If you leave it in too long it takes that out as well.

Seriously, I've used Butch's on sopme pretty bad C&R barrels and has always restored the bore condition and accuracy.

[tywest]

Anyone never knock a long wood dowel slightly larger than the bore through?

[W.E.G.]

Originally Posted by tywest

Anyone never knock a long wood dowel slightly larger than the bore through?

...and other than likely becoming STUCK in the bore, what would knocking a piece of wood through the bore accomplish that could not be accomplished by one copper-coated "mandrel" at high heat and 50,000 PSI?

[GaryH]

LOL.. it's an 84 year old rifle, it deserves a good cleaning. SO much cosmoline..

[rigormootis]

Originally Posted by Ironhandjohn

I have found that patches cut from Lead-Clean gun cloths did a very good job of removing the most stubborn fouling. It removes bluing just as well as crud, so don't use it on anything blued.

+1

[randy762ak]

I cleaned 3 Argentine 1891 7.65 mausers
The bores were so fouled that you could just make out rifling.
I turned them muzzle down and squirted HOPPIES BENCHREST copper solv. down the bore,let set over night and the rag below turned green,scrub the bore with a stainless brush and repeat for 5 nights finally it was clean and looked like a sewer pipe as the crap filled the pits. Inaccurate as hell until It had enough ammo down the pipe to kinda fill the pits up and then they shot 6-8 in groups Before that 20 in groups.. BENCHREST will not hurt the bore ...

[0302]

I used m-pro 7 to clean some m44 nagants, works well. It has no smell and feels like water.

[JohnnyMac]

I have a French MAS 36 that I got from Century back in the day. The stock was in ugly shape, but the metal was all-matching with very clean grey-green parkerizing. The bore looked like a Calcutta sewer-pipe, though. I tried the Ed's Red because I thought it might be cosmoline, but no luck. I tried a couple of copper solvents, with a little bit of green coming out, but still a dark bore. I tried the aforementioned "$2.00 electric bore cleaner" and... HOLY CRAP! After a couple of hours, all kinds of little black flakes started floating out on the foam. On close examination, the flakes appeared to be lacquer. The French used brass-washed, and lacquer-coated steel-jacketed bullets in the past. After the electro-soak, I followed up with some lacquer-thinner and Hoppe's Benchrest. The bore was actually completely un-pitted and bright.

JMc

[homelandprotector]

I've found that the wire bristle bore brushes are best for cleaning up the OLD SURPLUS rifles....any good gun solvent and some penetrating oil to finish it up.

Agressive brush is key here.

[mosbysmen]

there was a video on youtube a guy takes his mosins and puts the barrel in a pvc pipe with the bottom capped and fills the whole pvc pipe with mineral spirits comes back the next day and swears
the barrel cleans right up with no problem .

[garyd1961]

Originally Posted by W.E.G.

One vote here for the "Who cares?"

Squirt some oil down the bore, a few strokes with a rod and a brush, wipe it out, and shoot it.

That's all is required for an old war-horse rifle barrel.
The idea is to get oil on it to prevent rust, and possibly loosen existing rust.
What else did you think you were supposed to accomplish?

Polish your brass lamp.
Don't polish the insides of your C&R rifle barrels.

This is what I do. Just shoot it , clean it ,shoot it, clean it... It'll get better each time. Once I get it clean after a few shootings and cleanings I then just wipe it out with a oiled patch followed by a dry patch after each time I shoot it.