Author Topic: polishing a barrel/rifling (Read 683 times)

Clovis Hailey · « **on:** August 28, 2004, 04:50:26 AM »

A friend of mine had his gun cleaned by his gunsmith. The gunsmith said that new barrels need to be polished or "seasoned" to remove manufacturers burrs when the rifling was cut. The gunsmith proceeded to wire brush the gun with a vengeance using a solvent that removes brass deposits, I'm talking thirty or forty times in a row and then he would dry swab it out. He said he usually wears out a single wire brush on one gun.

Doesn't this seem a bit extreme? My dad (god rest his soul) taught me to swab out the rifling of my rifles at the beginning of season, cap off two rounds to get out any leftover oil and sight the guns in. Then don't clean the inside of the guns again until after the season is over. I've always had good grouping on my targets with this method.

What do Y'all Think?

Mac11700 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 28, 2004, 06:00:47 AM »

Different folks,have different ways of seasoning their barrels,your gunsmith has his on way he preferes...some...use the kits that are available to shoot dead soft lead bullets impregnated with differnt grades of grit in them...to hand lapping with the differnt compounds...some like me...use a combination of shooting regular loads thru it in a combination of shooting and cleaning...and there are some who just clean it out and go shoot without worrying anything about it......the main benefit to having a smooth bore is the reduction of fouling you'll get...and this can lead to greater accuracy depending on your gun and load your using...Barnes rcommends you use their CR-10 to remove any copper fouling prior to using their X bullets...and from what I've read it does a good job...there are a-lot of custom barrel makers that hand lapp their barrels prior to them ever leaving their shops...I have always had good luck with accuracy using the method my Dad showed me..many..many..years ago...and have stuck to it...it seems that it will take a few hundred rounds for any of these Handi barrels to settle in and start shooting good-great groups...so any extra you do..will save you some ammo and time..towards that...

Mac

quickdtoo · « **Reply #2 on:** August 28, 2004, 06:43:12 AM »

I prefer Varmint Al's method without the moly bullet part. After 150-200 rounds, I use Moly-Fusion on the bore. I use Wipe-Out to clean the bore of any copper fouling before the Moly-Fusion.

http://www.varmintal.com/ashot.htm#Break

JimIowa · « **Reply #3 on:** August 28, 2004, 04:20:41 PM »

First I clean the barrel as best I can.
I use a copper solvent & Kroil or Marvel Mystery oil.
Then I wrap patch around worn brush with JB on it.
I will swab 100 strokes with brush & JB.
Then I will shoot 1 round and Clean.
I do this for 5 rounds.
Then shoot 5 rounds and clean,Till the barrel settles in, you will be able to tell when copper is not showing too quickly.
I clean with JB each time.
JB will not be needed everytime once the barrel polishes up, but I won`t hesitate to use it if needed.
Barrel will usually come into it`s own pretty quickly.

I recently did this with an old Mossberg 140 K and it`s shooting in the .4`s @50yds. So you can sometimes save an old gun this way too.

Now I won`t say this is the Right way, it`s just my way.

Clovis Hailey · « **Reply #4 on:** August 29, 2004, 11:45:20 AM »

Thanks everyone! Taught this old dog some new tricks. It's starting to look like I just thought I was getting good groups. Got new brushes and some "Shooter's Choice" solvent. I'm gonna put my Handi and Ruger barrels through a cleaning!

Thanks again!