SmallCaliberCentral

Hi guys, I have a question. I have a Savage Preditor in 204 and the other day I was cleaning it and decided to give it a good scrubbing this time. I normally clean it every 10-15 rounds with Gunslick foaming bore cleaner and then some Hopps Bench Rest copper solvant to keep it shooting good when hunting. I got some CR-10 copper remover to see if I was getting all the copper out. The first 3 patches out of the barrel useing the CR-10 came out real blue. So I thought maybe I was'nt doing a very good job of getting the copper fouling out of the barrel with the stuff I was useing. After the patches came out clean, I cleaned the Cr-10 out with a few patches of Hopps #9 and then dry patches and put a little gun oil in the bore before I put it away. But I noticed when I was useing the Hopps #9 and oil patch that there seemed to be about a 3-4 inch rough place in the barrel right ahead of the chamber. Not too bad, but you can tell it when you run a patch down the bore now. I only have 400 rounds down the barrel. I've never got the barrel hot that I can remember. I can't see anything there. She still shoots an inch group @ 20yrds. What is that roughness and is it anything to worry about ?

Oh, ah ......thats an inch group at 200 yrds. My bad.

based on what you are saying i would be inclined to think that its either copper or carbon fouling built up. Do you have any Mpro 7? if so run some of that down the barrel and it will clean out the carbon build up if there is any. If its copper build up you may want to try some JB's bore paste. That has worked wonders for me in the past. Good luck and i hope you are able to get it figured out.

In addition to JB Bore Paste, I've also found that "LEAD AWAY" helps when cleaning those stubborn barrels. If that still doesn't seem to help you check around and see if you can find a M1 Garand bore reflector. Basically it's a "L" shapped device with a mirror that inserts at the breech end allowing one to look up thru the barrel. The best thing would be a bore scope if you can find someone with one.

HTH

If it is a carbon ring, Slick 2000 is an excellent carbon cleaner using a good stiff nylon or bronze bore brush. If copper build up, Montana Extreme 50 BMG will usually remove the copper with the high percentage of ammonia it has. Break Free also has a bore paste that works well to remove both carbon and copper but will wear out a bronze brush in short order. 50 BMG will destroy a bronze brush so nylon is the way to go with it. One of the electronic bore cleaners also does a great job of getting out copper.

Tom