SmallCaliberCentral

I have been cleaning my .243 Winchester and continually get a blue grey patch. I have patched it out with JB Bore Cleaning Compound-I have also done the barrel out with Sweets. I have brushed it with a bronze brissle brush-I have washed the brush after every time I scrub the barrel-I have patched it out after and still have blue/grey patches. I am perplexed as to why it continually shows a blue/grey patch. I am meticulous about my cleaning but this has me baffled.
Is it possible that the discolouration is coming from the bronze brush or could it be that the barrel continually has fouling in it.
Note- I am using Pro shot brushes.
Some advice would be much appreciated.

The blue is coming from the brush. Use copper solvent with nylon brushes or patches. I use two wet patches of Shooter's Choice (SC), then a nylon brush soaked in SC, and finally two dry patches. After taking RIO's advice, I now follow with a bronze brush soaked in SC, two more dry patches, then start with the copper solvent. Lather, rinse, repeat until clean like the shampoo bottles say.

I finish with a wet patch of Hoppes #9 Benchrest and let it sit overnight. If patch comes out with no blue then I lightly oil the barrel and consider it clean. Stock up on bronze brushes, then don't last as long as nylon but they really do get the barrel a LOT cleaner!

Thanks inKYfromSD, I thought that would be the case but wanted to check with someone else if I was on the right track.

I use both nylon and bronze brushes. For those solvents that require elbow grease to get clean, a bronze brush is the only way to go (Shooters Choice comes to mind). For those solvents that chemically remove the carbon & copper fouling, nylon brushes are quite effective (SLIP-2000 (carbon) (Sweets 7.62 (copper)).

If the barrel continues to foul quite easily try and get it bore scoped. You would be surprised that a barrel that shines like a new dime when looked through may actually look worse than the cobble-stone street in front of Paul Revere's house.

I tried Wipe Out brand Patch Out cleaner in my prairie dog rifles....wow, my 25-06 and 243 tooks days of dry patch, nylon brush, wet patch...wait...repeat each morning, when I got home from work and again before bed...days of this...the patches start as dark blue as new denium jeans...very surprising. After that I scrubed with JB bore paste or shine, whichever one I have. Will find out next thursday if they clean-up any easier now. One of my small bores also took awhile to clean out also, might have been a Rem 700 in 204 or Sako in 223, can't remember which one for sure. The company also makes an accellerator that doubles the speed it work, but I haven't found it locally, had to mail order the clearner also. Brad might sell the stuff.

Yep we sell the Wipe Out Patch Out as well as the Accelerator. I use the Wipe Out Patch Out in all my rifles and have had great success with it. As noted you will find once you get all the built up copper and powder fouling out it will be much easier to clean/maintain the rifles on subsequent cleanings. If you suffer from very stubborn carbon fouling it may also be necessary to use the Carb Out product. If you are in need we stock Montana Extreme nylon brushes and brass jags. We also have our very own top quality cotton flannel cleaning patches in 7/8" round and square that work perfectly in the 17 and 20 calibers.

Brad

A 60/40 mixture of Shooters Choice & Kroil works very well too.

I've tried the patchout products and they do work but...if the barrel is really gunked up (with copper, carbon, powder foulling) it may take several days of soaking/cleaning per "their" instructions to get it all out. In fact that is what I did with mine and it was well worth it the price and effort to do it. Depending on the required barrel condition for your loads you may have te reseason the barrel prior to use.

Also, just because one recipe comes out clean doesen't mean its all out either.

HTH,

What brand of cleaning rod do you guys use for the 20 cal.? I use a Gunslick carbon rod but it is so flexible that I have to cut my patches down in order to push them through. Been looking for a stiffer rod. Dan

My personal choice for 1 piece cleaning rods are the Dewey rods. Stainless steel, available in both coated and un-coated types. A few years ago, I decided to give a Tipton, carbon fiber rod a try. Big mistake for myself. Rod is too flexible, as you stated, and the balance, because of the longer and heavier handle, made this rod a major PITA! The Tipton cleaning station I am using, and have been using for many years, has a place to set your rod in, when not in use. Every time I placed the Tipton rod in the rod holding station, because of the heavier and longer handle, the rod wanted to "flip" out and smack me in the face and fall on the ground. At my age, I don't have the patience for such crap!

TrapperDan wrote:What brand of cleaning rod do you guys use for the 20 cal.? I use a Gunslick carbon rod but it is so flexible that I have to cut my patches down in order to push them through. Been looking for a stiffer rod. Dan

Dewey rods with a bore guide. Don't know who makes them but they are white DELRIN with a solvent port. Got mine from Russ Haydon but I believe Sinclair's sells them too. I also use those chamber swabs to clean in the bolt face area.

HTH,