Insight needed - Copper Fouling/Accuracy Issues?

[Process_engineer]

Forgive my lack of knowledge on this subject. This is my first bolt action and my first savage rifle, I bought the Cabelas 10T. The first 10 rounds through the gun shot relatively well, was able to get zeroed. After that it started stringing shots all over the place, first thing I checked was the rings which had come loose and the action screws which were fine. Still was all over the place. I shot both 147gr PMC and 168gr FGMM. This is all at 100yds for reference.

Now I am not an expert rifleman by any means, but I can shoot pretty well so this struck me as strange. When I got home to clean it I found what looks like heavy copper deposits in the barrel.

I've attached what I can clearly see at the muzzle.

Any thoughts?

[Txhillbilly]

Savage barrels are known for rough bores (tooling chatter marks). It's just a fact of life from a mass produced Button Rifled barrel.
The great thing is they shoot really good out of the box.The bad thing is they copper foul like you own a copper mine. They usually get better the longer you shoot them,as long as you clean them really good when accuracy starts falling off.
You can hand lap or fire lap the barrel,and solve a lot of the problem,or just stock up on a good copper fouling removing solvent.

[Process_engineer]

Thanks for the reply. I am going to clean it really well to get it all out. This was after 40 rounds. I'm going out again this coming Saturday to keep working it. May have my toolmakers take a look at the bore too.

[adammiddagh]

I had a barrel that would look like a copper mine after a few shots. Did not seem to affect accuracy(I believe it normally has to be pretty extreme to do that).

Would use Copper specific solvents to clean. Stainless steel brushes. Found parker hale style jags(you wrap the patch around them), more cleaning surface, no tight patches.


Used some brownells bore bright on it, but still collected lots of copper.


Found a product called smooth kote. You clean the barrel down to bare metal(no oils). Coat the barrel interior. Let it dry. Leaves a thin, graphite like coating, in the barrel. Then burninsh with powdered graphite.
This took care of the copper fowling almost completely. Cleaned out and recoated about every 100 rounds or so. Tried without coating after about 300 rounds. Noticed that I did not need it anymore, the barrel polished up.
Now I use that product right away on a new barrel. Really simplifies break in. Their directions say basically to coat the barrel, go shoot 20 rounds. Cannot get much simpler.


It is like shooting moly bullets without the build up in the throat / chamber area.

When I use it, I do put a dry cloth on a pistol rod and wipe down the chamber right away before it dries.

[Texas10]

Be sure to get a bore guide if you don't already have one. Saves a lot of gook getting into the action and magazine while cleaning.

My model 12 has about 200 rounds down it and still mining copper quite nicely. I run a Bore Snake down it every 10 rounds to maintain accuracy at the range. Clean well every 100 or so with copper remover, or sooner if the Bore Snake fails to do the job.

Another accuracy tip for Savages; are you familair with the action screw torque and sequence and tuning? http://www.accurateshooter.com/techn...torque-tuning/

[35Whelenshooter]

Sweets is about the best along with Kg12 they will clean out the copper very well. Make sure that after you clean with theses that you will have to run a oil patch or something to stop the chemicals. 15 min is the max that you want to leave it in your barrel. I use denatured alcohol on a couple of patches after the others stop coming out blue, your ammunition that you are using my not be liked by your barrel. You may have to try a couple of different boxes of ammunition through it, if you reload you will have to work up your loads, with different bullets to fine what it likes.

Respectfully

Mike

[Robinhood]

I agree with Adam on the jag and JB paste.

If you are using a fire, clean - fire/clean break in process, what type of cleaning tools are you using?

Many shooters have found Wipeout to be excellent at removing copper.

[Process_engineer]

Just an update. Cleaned the copper fouling out and followed some y'alls advice. Was able to get the groups to tighten up significantly to where I feel my abilities are the limiting factor. Have about 150 rounds through it and I am feeling more and more comfortable with the rifle, I also added a piece of foam to the butt stock to get my cheek weld to the correct height.

[tufrthnails]

Before I swapped to the boyds stock shooting off the magazine area with my front rest helped a ton. The plastic stock flexes a lot causing fliers for me at least. I have figured out my rifle wants to be decoppered between 180 and 200 rounds just about every time. It consistantly shoots .400" to .750" with my hand loads then somewhere between 180 and 200 opens to 1.5 to 2.5". Take it to the house decopper it and then out back for 10 fouling rounds run a wet patch then 2 dry patches and put it away till the next go round. This is just what works for me, but maybe it can help you a little.