Blaser R8 chamber rust

[paulbshooting]

Hello, took a shot the other evening with the 308 R8 and struggled to extract the case. Got home and stripped rifle to find lots of rust in the chamber. Did the usual cleaning routine and using a 30 cal mop with some cleaning fluid, cleaned up the chamber. The R8 is my main rifle and gets lots of use. I clean it every 25 ish shots and always dry and lightly oil the external of the barrel if out in the rain like this morning. I also cleaned the chamber with a clean and dry 30 cal mop, which came out dirty black orange again. Not keen to introduce any oil into chamber and potentially the lands. Is this a common thing on the R8? No issues with rust anywhere else. Would assume the chamber has the same coating as the rest of the barrel. Thanks

 

[Dickie]

This has been talked about on here before, some silica gel or similar in your cabinet might help if you don’t have anything already.

 

[Sinistral]

. I clean it every 25 ish shots

Therein lies your problem ... clean it every time, and it won't happen.
It's simple neglect, particularly with expensive rifles.

 

[Penyard]

In my experience Blasers are more prone to corrosion that others although most of my others are stainless steel so that is an obvious explanation for at least some of my experience. I have also had the shock of discovering rust in my virtually new .30-06 semi-weight fluted Blaser R8 barrel. It seems my cabinet in my dry but cool cellar has a need for de-humidifying so now have 2 heaters and a de-humidifier in it. I also now clean even more frequently and oil the interior of any barrels that are not in regular use. I recall seeing a Blaser advert some years ago of a German hunter washing his rifle in a stream and can only imagine the state of his chamber and barrel if that didn't get some serious attention immediately afterwards!

 

[Sharpie]

Is this a common thing on the R8? No issues with rust anywhere else. Would assume the chamber has the same coating as the rest of the barrel. Thanks

You surely can't be serious ?

The inside of a Blazer barrel is exactly the same as any other steel barrel.No, of course it is not internally coated.

All chambers need separate attention to keep them slick and span. No, fannying about with a .30 mop will achieve nothing, for a .308 chamber you need either a correct size chamber brush, or something like a 45 cal. Bore brush. In phosphor bronze, not nylon. And some fluid designed to attack carbon deposits. Copper is not an issue here, but a decent solvent that's good on both is needed

Your are not keen to allow any preservative oil inside the barrel or chamber ? Seriously ? Well if so it's a dead certainty that it will corrode, unless you are shooting it every day. You don't have to clean it every time, but certainly you need to apply something designed for the job.

Powder residue (call it soot, carbon, whatever) is highly corrosive, when it absorbs humidity from the air the nitro compounds in it turn into a cocktail of nitric and nitrous acids Just remember to clean it out before use, a meths soaked patch, then a dry one is the traditional way.

A proper gun oil (not 3in1 or WD40) will be formulated to be alkaline, or to buffer the acidity.

To reiterate, Blazer barrels are no different inside than any other. There is no protective finish inside. Such a thing does not exist, except maybe rare ones that are chromium plated inside, but that's done for quite different reasons.

But they are so easy to clean properly if you take them off. If this has been going on for a while I'm sorry to say that it won't just be the chamber that has rusted,but the rest of it too. No matter how pristine the outside looks with your external oily rag treatment.

Please learn how to clean it properly, and let's hope it's not too late to recover the situation.

 

[8x57]

Your thinking and mine on this matter are virtually identical however I fear that we will be in the minority and almost certainly there will now be an avalanche of responses from those opposed to any form of bore maintenance. So tin hats on boys - INCOMING.

 

[paulbshooting]

Thanks for the replies, having owned tikka, sako and RPA rifles i was just surprised with the chamber on the R8. I stalk every other day and never needed to adopt a special chamber cleaning regime before. I have bore guides, cleaning rods, brushes, chemicals etc for the bore and my routine worked. Obviously the blaser needs special attention then and is more sensitive than other brands in that area. Sort of assumed it would be the same. Thanks

 

[muddy42]

I find 410 or 28 bore brushes and mops quite good for cleaning or oiling the chamber. You can use the phosphorous brush then pad it out with rags to apply light oil

 

[takbok]

Thanks for the replies, having owned tikka, sako and RPA rifles i was just surprised with the chamber on the R8. I stalk every other day and never needed to adopt a special chamber cleaning regime before. I have bore guides, cleaning rods, brushes, chemicals etc for the bore and my routine worked. Obviously the blaser needs special attention then and is more sensitive than other brands in that area. Sort of assumed it would be the same. Thanks

I think it's just cro-moly steel barrels combined with a cold and maybe slightly damp gun cabinet environment - mine rust in my house as well.

If I had the choice I'd choose stainless every time. My stainless Tikka just shrugs it off and could get by with a yearly clean.

 

[NP435]

I think all the rusted chamber and bore rifles world wide are in the UK. With the climate you have why would you not preserve the chamber and bore with some light oil after cleaning?

 

[gixer1]

Therein lies your problem ... clean it every time, and it won't happen.
It's simple neglect, particularly with expensive rifles.

Sorry, but I wouldn’t think so, I’d be a bit disappointed if I had to be that fussy with a quality rifle. Blaser themselves use promotional videos of rifles being washed down in a trough!

 

[Freeforester]

Acidic rain. Popular over the water!

 

[8x57]

Condensation combined with combustion residue which happily retains the moisture.
Perhaps a metallurgist could tell us if the particular steel that Blaser use in their barrels is slightly more prone to oxidisation than that used in most other rifle barrels?

 

[Ronin]

All rifles rust

Particularly where you can’t see

Clean them and look after them

A few minutes with a dry patch and then oiled patch would prevent such things happening

Also worthwhile bringing the weapon up to ambient temp before putting away to prevent condensation (patch through afterwards )

 

[gixer1]

Condensation combined with combustion residue which happily retains the moisture.
Perhaps a metallurgist could tell us if the particular steel that Blaser use in their barrels is slightly more prone to oxidisation than that used in most other rifle barrels?

What material is a Blaser barrel vs say a tikka?

I believe Blaser and Sauer make barrels in the same place, I assume the same material and I haven’t seen or heard any complaints about sauers....seems odd.

regards,
Gixer

 

[Ronin]

All rifles rust if neglected

Just as prevalent in Scandi built rifles as German as US as GB as anywhere

 

[SJC]

I started a thread on this some time ago after I had a day in the rain with Solway Stalker. After spending all day out in heavy rain I returned to the car popped the rifle in the slip and drove of the estate before pulling in to clean the rifle, about 20mins layer, before the 6-7hr journey home. When took the rifle apart and looked down the barrel before pushing the rod through I could see it was near closed up with a white crystal like matter, I assume a kind of corrosion now. I cleaned this out but by the time I got back it was there again and again a few days later. I then got it bore scopes and it had pitted the barrel, throat and chamber.

Anyway, I called Blaser UK and was informed that they had sent 10 odd rifle up to Scotland and 7 had returned in a similar state, i forget exact numbers now. Although getting them to repeat this later when I was after a new barrel wasn’t going to happen. They blamed the fact I wasn’t using a Blaser mod, then it was acid rain, then the fact I used Hornady ammo and all sort of other things. I suggested I couldn’t see why it had only affected the area around the throat and never really got an answer. I don’t know if anyone that would leave oil in the throat or barrel before taken a shot/going out for a stalk, I may stand corrected.

Since posting the initial thread I’ve had a few PM’s regards the matter and seen a few other thread on the subject. I concluded that Blaser let a batch of barrels go that where of a lesser quality steel. I’ve no proof and I’ve a new barrel, had it a few years now, so I’ve no need to push the matter

Fortunately my issue is resolved, for now, but I post in defence of the original OP for cleaning is a funny thing amongst those that own rifle. Id admit it not let mine go 25 rounds without a clean but then I don’t shoot mine as much as others. I believe I clean mine well and suffered and yet I know others with Blaser that openly admit to not and have had no such issues. Equally, is it possible for several rifles to suffer the same fate when they are subject to different cleaning methods, weather etc. I fear there must be a common denominator somewhere.

I’ll leave it at that but I am sorry regards your barrel for if the pitting is bad you’ll experience ongoing issues with extraction and penultimate have to purchase a new barrel prematurely.

 

[Triggermortis]

At least with a blaser you know your getting a better class of rust, or at least you should be at that price

 

[Leupsak]

Whether I shoot or not the barrel gets a patch on return just to remove condensation, if I shoot it, I clean it.
The rifle is stored cleaned with the mod removed in a heated cabinet, Ive never had an issue and am out 8 to 9 times a week in all weather.

 

[Grandhubert]

Store a rifle with a rust prone chamber or bore with the bolt out.

seems to help.