Cleaning a stainless steel barrel

[chuckhunter]

I just purchased a new Savage 12VLP. It is my first stainless steel barrel. Is there anything special that I should know about cleaning or breaking it in?? Thanks in advance

p.s. A friend of mine suggested that I use sweets 7.62 for cleaning out the copper. Would this be ok?

[glenn asher]

Use your normal cleaning process, but do not ever, EVER, use a stainless steel brush in the barrel. Bronze or nylon brushes will work okay, but the stainless is rough on 'em, according to most gunsmiths, anyway.
Other than that, treat it like any other barrel.

[chuckhunter]

Thanks glenn......What about sweets for copper?

[Rick in Oregon]

Sweets and Barnes CR-10 are both excellent for copper removal. Just don't let either of them sit in your barrel longer than 15 minutes, and apply with patches or nylon brush....never use a bronze brush with copper removers. After using either solvent mentioned, neutralize the chemical effects of the amonia with regular Shooters Choice or similar solvent, alcohol also works well for this purpose.

[chuckhunter]

Thanks Rick. Will do .

[Captqc]

I'm not sure how your Stainless Steel barrel will clean up but mine sure cleans easier than my blued steel barrel. Gary

[maverick]

Here's a pretty good read on barrel cleaning and break-in. I tend to agree with this much more so than any other school of thought I've read on barrel cleaning and break-in (and there are a bunch out there). Had quite a bit of useful info for me.
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthr ... er=1584470

[FireBallGuy]

I agree with what everyone says here, use your normal cleaning routine and go easy with the agressive copper solvents. I use sharpshooter's product now and I really like it. You can kinda just put in in there and let it do it's thing! My remington 204 hardly fouls. Was kind of testing it for the last few months by not cleaning it. Got around 160 down it and now it is time to clean it....was having a hard time hitting stuff on the weekend. The gun was so bang on this winter did not want to have to foul it before I went hunting so I left it dirty....makes sense? Not likely.

[Griff]

Hey,

I have the same rifle and use the Boretech Eliminator (as per it's instructions) with patches and a nylon brush. So far it has been really great. Do a google on the product and you will see the great feedback it produces. All I can say is that I have been thoroughly impressed with it. The only slight problem is that it does give a false "copper" reading from brass jags. I have a "proof positive" jag on order from the manufacturer. This however is still not a great problem as the 'false' reading and fouling are different colours.

Hope that helps.

[giterdone]

I have been using the Proof-Positive jags since they first came out and they do eliminate the false reading that brass jags cause with Bore-Tech Eliminator. I also use their C4 carbon remover product prior to using the Eliminator copper/fouling remover. Works great. The Proof-Positive jags appear to be made from a hard grade of aluminum with a brass like anodized finish. They are definite time savers and prevent over cleaning the bore.

[chuckhunter]

Thanks for all the input guys. All good advice.