Cleqning copper fouling from a barrel

Muir

Well-Known Member
I picked up another 'loaner' rifle a couple of weeks ago; a Savage 110E in 30-06. It's a decent rifle. Lots of gun case wear, but not a lot of internal wear. Thinking I would shoot cast bullets from this gun** I cleaned used my electric bore cleaner to remove any copper fouling. I was really surprised to find that the milli-amp meter barely registered @ 40 Ma of current -meaning that either is was cleaned religiously, or it was shot very little. Coming off the Reservation, I'm guessing the latter. The copper was gone in about 10 minutes. A nice surprise from a 20 year old, $150 rifle.~Muir


(**Savage 110's held the Cast Bullet Association "sporter class" BR records for most of the eighties)
 
They can be made for about $30 and some time...it's reverse electroplating. I think the milli-amp panel meter is the most expensive component.
 
Outers used to make them as well - called the "Foul out" and "Foul out II". Dont know if you can still get them.
 
The guy who came up with the design of mine was threatened by a law suit from RCBS when he published the instructions how to make it in the Cast Bullet Association Journal. I told him to ignore them because electroplating was not proprietary to RCBS. HE said he couldn't afford to defend it on any level so he printed a retraction the next issue. This unit works in 30 minutes when Foul Out takes considerably longer. There was an assertion from the editor of the Journal -an ex RCBS employee- that this process "stripped metal from the bore" but I ran extensive laboratory tests on several barrel sections using the unit for as long as 200 continuous hours with no stripping of metal from the bore. Household (non sudsing, non citrus) ammonia is used to put the copper into solution which is much less powerful than that found in Hoppes or Sweets 7.62. I have used my unit probably 500 times. It's a real joy to see a polished steel rod come out plated with copper that once resided in your bore! I don't do it for every cleaning but most of my 2nd hand rifles get the 'treatment' before I start load development.~Muir
 
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blimey page 8 on that site there is a great close up of how much crap comes out and a nice way to set the funnel up, atb wayne
 
irritating thing is I had a box of about 10 phone chargers until i recently chucked them!!

see my weekend project coming up.
Am thinking a stainless TIG welding rod is perfect for the job
 
I use mine to thoroughly clean all the copper out of the barrel before using cast bullets, another thing I have to thank Muir for, bless him :D
 
The main problem with most of these internet posts is that they use too much voltage. It only takes 1.3V DC (what we get from a standard "D" cell battery) Even at that voltage, the ammonia in the bore will foam slightly and need a few drops to keep filled half way into the cleaning process. The importance of an accurate mill-amp meter can't be overlooked. It lets you know with certainty when the cleaning is complete.~Muir
 
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