SmallCaliberCentral

Cleaning my rifles yesterday and while cleaning the CZ for copper i am getting this outa the barrel. Using sweets 7.62. It's been a LONG time since i've cleaned a blued steel barrel, but last time i remember copper was leaving a blueish green on the patches.

That's copper as well.

yep that's copper, looks like you have a nice fouled barrel

This is from a cleaning after shooting some 34 grain dogtown foulers!

Yep, everyone is correct...copper to be sure. Don't use a bronze/brass brush with copper solvent on it, or you'll have patches that color coming out of your barrel forever. It will also disolve the brush in short order.

If you must us a brush with copper solvent, it has to be a nylon brush, and preferably with a steel or nylon core.

Didn't know the bronze brushs would leave blue on the patch. That is from my cz452 with 150 rounds thru it, the 10th run to be excat. I have nylon brushs from sinclair, so i'll try again and see what happens.

Thanks guys.

With 150 rounds that could (should) very well be the norm for naked bullets. The only time I use a brush in mine is for carbon removal, I do all copper removal with patches.

WrzWaldo,

I take it you've had bad luck with the Dogtown's? Could you elaborate please? I've had really good luck with my Sako shooting clean, and don't want to change that by running poor bullets...

Dogtown's are not poor bullets, they are made by Nosler, who makes their own jackets out of premimun gilding copper.

Any time you let a high velocity rifle go for up to 150 rounds, you've got some serious copper having been deposited in the bore. It would equate to changing the oil in a race car about every 40,000 miles. 'Nuff said?

When varmint shooting with my 204, Swift, 223 Ackley, et al, I clean after 20 rounds of naked bullets, and after 50 - 60 using WS2 (Danzac) coated bullets.

(For the record, most knowledgeable shooters who want to maintain peak accuracy in a high velocity rifle, clean after no more than 30 rounds using naked bullets. BR shooters clean after 10 to 20, depending on what match they're shooting in.)

Let me add, i didn't wait till 150 rounds to clean. This is actully my 17HMR. it was cleaned new, then after 1,4,5,10,10,20. then again after another box of 50, then again after another 50. This time it had allot of carbon, so i used a bronze brush and it came out blue, well it always comes out blue when using the bronze brush, basically i had a brain fart. The 17 will get a cleaning after every 50, the 204's will get cleaned after every 20-40.

TD-Max wrote:WrzWaldo,

I take it you've had bad luck with the Dogtown's? Could you elaborate please? I've had really good luck with my Sako shooting clean, and don't want to change that by running poor bullets...

I wouldn't call it bad luck, but the first box I shot did leave a little more copper behind then any of the other bullets I've loaded. They do shoot pretty good.

Still looking for the "blue patch" from my Sako. Not sure what I'm missing. I use Tipton Truly Remarkable bore cleanerand the only time I see a little baby blue/gray is the two times that I've had the bronze brush in the bore. I have about 300-400 rounds thru it so far and have patched it frequently. I've had 50 round range sessions between cleanings, patched with Titpons until patches come semi clean, foamed with Wipeout and Activator for an hour and still no blue?

TD/John: Sounds like your Sako is clean! If no blue/green when having been patched with copper solvent, no worries.....she's clean, go shooting!

What does one use after cleaning with Sweets? Hoppe's 9 followed by Mil-Tec?

After using either CR-10 or Sweets, I always neutralize my barrel with either Shooters Choice or Alcohol.....mostly Shooters Choice.