How to remove extreme copper galling from a brand new barrel?

[Iowa Fox]

Wipe out is the easiest thing I have found to remove copper fouling. You might have to do 3 cleaning and I like to let it sit over night but it will cone right out for you, Actually your pictures don't look that bad to me. Hard vitrified carbon will really challenge your cleaning skills. And products.

[wbm]

Hard vitrified carbon will really challenge your cleaning skills. And products.

For sure! Copper is easy compared to carbon. Wipe Out is the best I have ever used for copper. All I have used for several years.

[tomme boy]

I would not be wasting my time with that barrel. If it was a Select Match it is supposed to be lapped. Those chatter marks show it was not. Send it back

[JeepsAndGuns]

I would not be wasting my time with that barrel. If it was a Select Match it is supposed to be lapped. Those chatter marks show it was not. Send it back

Not as easy as that. This is not a savage, and not a pre-fit I can just take off and send back. It is a custom one off build. The barrel was purchased as a blank, by the gunsmith that built the rifle. It was then cut/contoured, threaded, chambered and installed by the gunsmith. Removal would require tools I do not have.
I can not remember if it was a select match or not. I know it is chrome molly and not stainless. I was a little disappointed when I found that out, as I thought/assumed all shilen barrels were SS, turns out they are not, and because I did not specify, while outlining the build, CM is what I got.
I too was surprised at the tool marks in the barrel, as I thought the hand lapping would have removed those, but I guess not. It does not look much different than a douglas barrel I have on another rifle.

[sharpshooter]

Judging a barrel by the way it looks on the inside is no indicator of how it's gonna shoot in reality.

[wbm]

lol. true. if it were Savage would have been in trouble accuracy wise a long time ago.

[JeepsAndGuns]

Judging a barrel by the way it looks on the inside is no indicator of how it's gonna shoot in reality.

Exactly. The douglas barrel I mentioned looks pretty crappy on the inside, but it shoots great. I have a DMPS G2 and the inside of it looks crappy, but it also shoots great.
That's why I wanted to remove the copper buildup and continue to shoot it and keep it cleaned out until it smooths out. It might end up being a great shooter.
I ordered some PPU "match". Going to give it a try this weekend if time permits. While not a round I would expect to win a actual match with, it should do better than the cheaper S&B I did use, as well as the steel jacket I shot last weekend. There are very limited choices for high quality match ammo for this caliber. I plan on reloading for it after this.

[JeepsAndGuns]

I was able to run a box of the PPU match through it yesterday afternoon.
Got home, cleaned and inspected it with the bore scope. No galling or excessive copper. There was just a slight hint of some near the muzzle, but it is what I would call normal.
So hopefully the barrel has smoothed out and I hope to not have any more issues.

[celltech]

Such great timing for this post...My father gave me a 40+ year old BSA .243 he picked up cheap at auction. With my cheap new Teslong borescope I could tell that it might not have been cleaned in all those 40 years. I tried several times to clean it with Bore Tech C4 and Eliminator and kept making baby steps with it. Yesterday I plugged up the barrel and filled it with C4. This morning I dumped it and the liquid was a nasty brown color. 6 patches in a row came out black. I would say 80+% of the carbon is gone only to expose a *lot* of copper streaking. I may try filling it with the Eliminator or Sweets next...

[JeepsAndGuns]

Such great timing for this post...My father gave me a 40+ year old BSA .243 he picked up cheap at auction. With my cheap new Teslong borescope I could tell that it might not have been cleaned in all those 40 years. I tried several times to clean it with Bore Tech C4 and Eliminator and kept making baby steps with it. Yesterday I plugged up the barrel and filled it with C4. This morning I dumped it and the liquid was a nasty brown color. 6 patches in a row came out black. I would say 80+% of the carbon is gone only to expose a *lot* of copper streaking. I may try filling it with the Eliminator or Sweets next...

I would try a bottle of that KG-12. I was really impressed with it. If the copper fouling is bad, plug the bore and fill it with it.

[charlie b]

Yep, KG12 gets my vote. I tried 4 or 5 different solvents for getting copper out of my 12BVSS. None worked very well. Even soaking the thing overnight with Sweets and then again with ammonia cleaner. Best of them next to KG12 was Tactical Advantage, but, it still did not do as well or fast as KG12. And KG12 works fast. Swab, wait a couple minutes, wipe. Repeat until clear. Less than an hour. Never needed to soak it.

As for the custom barrel I would suspect it was the initial smoothing of the chamber reamer marks. Krieger contends that the throat machining marks cause the copper jacket to be turned into a kinda plasma that is blown down the barrel where it hits cooler steel and adheres to the bore. Which is about where yours was fouled.

PS some people think KG12 doesn't work cause it doesn't turn the patches blue. Since it is not ammonia it never will but it does eat copper. I could put a drop in the muzzle area and watch it dissolve the copper.

[Texas10]

Not as easy as that. This is not a savage, and not a pre-fit I can just take off and send back. It is a custom one off build. The barrel was purchased as a blank, by the gunsmith that built the rifle. It was then cut/contoured, threaded, chambered and installed by the gunsmith. Removal would require tools I do not have.
I can not remember if it was a select match or not. I know it is chrome molly and not stainless. I was a little disappointed when I found that out, as I thought/assumed all shilen barrels were SS, turns out they are not, and because I did not specify, while outlining the build, CM is what I got.
I too was surprised at the tool marks in the barrel, as I thought the hand lapping would have removed those, but I guess not. It does not look much different than a douglas barrel I have on another rifle.

Given the more detail you've provided, I have another suggestion. Get some VFG pellets in the intensive grade, along with a mandrel. I use that with some bore polish to lap the barrel clean of copper and carbon. Works great and will help keep the buildup clear.

[JeepsAndGuns]

Given the more detail you've provided, I have another suggestion. Get some VFG pellets in the intensive grade, along with a mandrel. I use that with some bore polish to lap the barrel clean of copper and carbon. Works great and will help keep the buildup clear.

I have the standard VFG pellets and mandrels for 30, 22, and 6.5. I use them with the JB bore paste. While they work perfectly for regular copper fouling, they did not do anything for the stuff that was in there in the first post. (trust me, I tried till my arm was tired).
It seems to have straightened itself out and I have not had this issue since.

[PBR DRIVER]

Sweets states it should remain in the bore no longer than 15 minutes at a time or yu run the risk of pitting the bore.
In my shop that is all I will go.
Is there something you know that I do not?
I am a Gunsmith but always open to others ideas.
I wonder if a bore full of KROIL soaking would not possibly creep under the fouling may help?
I use Shelin and have not had any issues to date, hope they make it right with you.

[Orr89rocz]

Kg12 is all i will ever use. I cleaned a bad fouled 22-250 factory gun and a 257 rob er shaw during break in. Wipes clean and easy.

[flutedchamber]

I know someone with a HiPoint 9mm carbine. Shoots nice tight groups with a variety of handloaded ammo. I looked down the barrel one day after he cleaned it. The barrel looks like someone rifled it with a brick.

[bsekf]

If ammonia is what removes the copper and will not damage the barrel, why not use straight ammonia, regular household cleaning ammonia?

Bill

[Syoungs]

I really hope someone that knows about metals and chemicals can answer that, cause that's what I was thinking too
.

[wbm]

why not use straight ammonia

Perhaps the same reason you don't use pure hydrochloric acid the same way you use the diluted form muriatic acid?

[Fuj']

I'm a Sweets user if need be. Several years back I found a small
jug of 30 percent ammonia industrial floor stripper. I think most
ammonia cleaners you buy in the store are at 10 to 15 percent
max. I did a test with shelf brand Ajax ammonia wax stripper.
first patching I got a light greenish color. Followed up with Sweets
gave a much deeper bluish green. That just tells me the need for
higher concentrations of ammonia (a gas) to get the job done
quicker.