Years ago, an article appeared in Precision Shooting magazine, which examined basically every solvent on the market. Written by 2 avid prairie dog shooters, they
used a Hawkeye bore scope to check progress as they tested products on heavily fouled barrels. (They'd shoot a number of rifles on a trip, then wait till they got home
to clean them, to maximize their fun on vacation.) They came up with a combo of 2 solvents which work fantastically well, and very quickly and efficiently. I'll summarize briefly: 1. Carbon does not dissolve chemically. It needs a surfactant (basically, a soap) to detach it from the barrel by reducing its adhesion. Slip 2000 Carbon Killer was formulated
specifically as a super-surfactant to remove carbon buildup on shotgun chokes, etc. and works great for rifle barrels. Wet patch and wet scrub the barrel with Slip 2000 and
you will remove a ton of carbon, quickly. It's non-hazardous, but it does remove oil from everything it touches, so when finished cleaning, oil surfaces as appropriate. There is no need to "soak" fouling with this.
2. Copper fouling does dissolve. Bore Tech Eliminator is a non-toxic solvent (NO ammonia!) that they found to work extremely fast and well. After having scrubbed off the first
ton of carbon, wet patch and wet brush with Bore Tech Eliminator Copper Solvent. It requires very little time to soak and dissolve copper. They recommend using a nylon brush.
My guess is that's in part due to people's not wanting to pay for rapidly-eaten copper/bronze brushes. I just use regular, high quality bronze brushes with brass or bronze cores -- not steel -- to avoid bore damage. (These are best purchased in bulk rather than as highly over-priced singles. Benchrest shooting suppliers have historically been an economical place to buy them, but with the merger of Sinclair's and Brownells... you might want to scout around find better prices on quality brushes.) I just swish the copper brush in a bottle of clean water to remove the solvent, and this preserves the brushes. These can be recycled as they wear. A worn .30 cal brush makes a great 7mm brush, which makes a great 6.5mm brush... within limits. I have quit buying any sizes except .30 and .22, myself.
Remember that as you fire, you are alternately coating the bore with successive layers of copper and carbon. I find it works best to clean with 2 regimens of the 2 solvents,
followed by a bore scope inspection, unless the rifle is only lightly fouled. For short sessions with non-corrosive priming and modern powder (much less filthy than ancient surplus powder), I may well just use a modern solvent such as Shooter's Choice (still 2 courses), and save the Slip/Boretech for heavier tasks. Integrate the corrosive priming
part of your routine as you desire. Remember, the Slip 2000 is water-based, so that may be helpful. I protect the bore with a light gun oil such as Breakfree (old habits hard to break), and will check on rifles fired with corrosive priming a couple of times after cleaning to see if any salts/fouling have emerged since it was cleaned.
In the US Army during the days of corrosive priming, IIRC the routine was to clean thoroughly for 3 days after firing, to ensure all corrosive salts, etc. were removed/neutralized.
This will be helpful to you with modern ammo and especially with heavily fouled bores. The first time I used it was on an Krag barrel that had probably never been cleaned
properly in its life. (Gun oil rather than solvent was used in the early days...) It was filthy black from end to end, and in 45 minutes with Slip/Boretech, I got it to bright/white,
shiny clean metal, after rivers of black/green sludge poured out in the process. For comparison, a couple of similar Krag/other old, badly fouled barrels I'd cleaned using alternating Hoppes 9 and Shooter's Choice in years past had taken 6-8 HOURS, over multiple sessions, to achieve similar results.
I first discovered this method about 15 years ago, and have found nothing as good as, or better, since.
Hope this helps,
John
