Dirty new barrel

[MTGlass]

Got down to cleaning the bore of a NIB 7mm-08 youth model yesterday.  Was I ever surprised!

Friday I slipped home at lunch and filled the bore with Wipe-Out foaming bore cleaner.  Let it sit 'till about 21:00 before patching it out with dry patches until they came out squeaky clean.  I then ran a Kroil soaked patch through and left the bore wet overnight.

About 13:00 Saturday I ran dry patches through 'till they came out clean.  The first patch came out with no discoloration other than Kroil.  All others were clean.

Then I headed to the kitchen to try the boiling water method described here: http://www.centerfirecentral.com/barrel_break.htm

Dry patches after about a quart of boiling water came out black & brown, then some Ajax dish detergent & more hot water.  More black & brown.  Finally after three pots of boiling water & more detergent, patches started coming out mostly clean.

Back to the garage for some J-B.  Wrapped a patch around a .22 brush and applied copius amounts of J-B.  Per instructions, ten strokes, in & out, then a Hoppes patch & a few clean patches.  Repeated this five times.  I deviated from Shults' method by using a brush instead of a jag and I used a bore guide in the muzzle.

Back in the kitchen I let the bore soak with some more Ajax while the tea pot heated up.  At the end of two more pots of water patches were coming out mostly clean.

Once the barrel cooled to where I could handle it again I gave the bore a liberal dose of Ballistol and ran an LBT 7mm push thru slug through it.  Apparently whoever turned this barrel hasn't learned that the bore diameter is supposed to taper from the breech to the muzzel, not the other way around.  Once I got the slug started past the throat there was no resistance.  It just sailed through the bore.  It was so loose there was no way I could get a feel of the bore surface.

Now that the bore is fairly clean, I'm pondering what to do next; try an egg shaped sinker for a tighter slug or just fire lap it to even out the bore contour.

I expect to polish this chamber but that can wait until I have some cases fired in this chamber.

Rant mode off.

[Mac11700]

First of...Don't fire lap it...If your bore is over sized in places...it will only make it worse...You need to find out if & where it is...and then notify NEF about it..and send it back to them for a replacement...You'll need to slug it to find this out...

By using the boiling water method of bore scrubbing...you effectively removed most of the oil that remains in the minute pores of the barrel...This can be good or bad depending on your personal view point...Green Mountain barrels aren't the same as some of the high dollar barrels produced...and will show rust easily if all the oil is removed..Smoothing them down..as good as we can by removing the rough spots where patches can snag is usually sufficient..

If you find your bore isn't over sized and is very clean now.....try some of the Combined technologies  bullets or ammo with them thru it...You'll probably find they work exceptionally well...http://www.nosler.com/index.php?p=11&b=5&s=12...and should fill in those small pores quite well..

Mac

[quickdtoo]

As Mac said, Fire lapping may do more harm than good in the shallow rifling, I would do a slug at the muzzle and another near the throat to see what the actuall difference is. There have been reports of bores being loose at the muzzle, so it's not the first, still very discouraging. I would shoot it and see how it does, if you can't get it to shoot good after a reasonable attempt, contact H&R, they may need to replace the barrel.

Tim

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm