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WWII Rifle Bore Cleaner


Michigan Joe

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I saw on some other websites that many people like the U.S. Army rifle bore cleaner from WWII. That is what I use. 

I looked on ebay and found that people are still selling these 70 year old cans of the stuff.  I use the white colored cleaner.  I think guys have said that it does not work on getting out copper.  However, I only use uncoated bullets. Works fine for me.  The bore is always shiny and bright after that stuff. Probably has chemicals they would not be allowed to put in stuff nowadays.

Here is the ebay place I got mine from:

http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-Rifle-Bore-Cleaner-RBC-NOS-2-Cans-M1-Garand-/130469790835?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e609b0473

Or just type in under ebay search,  ... rifle bore cleaner. Two cans for about $13.00 shipped. 

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There are two options regarding ammo....either jacketed or lead.

Jacketed ammo, leaves traces of copper in the barrel. Copper can be removed from the bore with a solvent....Copper can be dissolved by ammonia, , ferric chloride, ferric citrate, the ferric chelate of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, water soluble ferric salts, ammonium persulfate and ammonium borate among many others.

Lead ammo, leaves smears of molten lead in the bore. Lead cannot be removed from the bore with a solvent, as lead is insoluable. So the only way to get it out is to scrub it out with a brass brush or by using something like Kleen-Bore Lead Removing patches (which is a patch coated with something). Nobody really knows what Kleen-Bore has coated the patches with. My guess is that its some sort of oxidizer like a nitrate, but I dont know, all I know is that it works.

The kicker is lead rounds expand to fill the bore better than jacketed rounds, and because of their tendancy to grab the rifling better.....tend to be more accurate. You will find a few shooters that claim they never clean their barrels because the lead in the barrel makes it more accurate. This is a false thought however, its not the lead in the barrel that makes it more accurate, but the lead round itself.

A lot of the lead ammo, is coated in waxes and/or lubes that are "claimed" to reduce lead fouling of the bore. Most lead comes from friction in the bore, but some of it is layed down by the tail end of the round during the high temperture it sustains from the propellant.

Depending on what kind of ammo you use, should determine what cleaning method you choose.

If its copper rounds, clean the carbon out first....then dissolve the copper fouling., then protect it with lube.

If its lead rounds, clean the carbon out first, then scrub the lead out, then protect it with lube.

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I always use a brush, as if you simply use a solvent or bore cleaner and look down the barrel, it does not look completely clean. 

I have heard that some people think that you need some lead in the barrel so the gun will shoot accurately. Is the theory that the lead fills up the rifling or something like that? I imagine that if a clean bore shot better, then everyone would clean their bores after each shot. I always felt that the purpose of cleaning the bore was to enable you to get down to bare metal and then put a little oil on the surface so it would not rust. However, I never really researched what would happen if the bore was not cleaned.

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Ive never seen a clean rifle not shoot good because it was clean.

I have however seen dirty rifles not shoot good specifically because they were dirty.

:thumb:

Also....there are some competition long range shooters that will run a patch down the bore after every 5 shots or so. I never took it to that extreme, but i do clean them after every shooting session, or when performance starts to suffer from a long day of shooting.

Aside from all the lead in the barrel, many powder/primer residues are corrosive, and i sure dont want to leave that in my barrel.

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