[safari]

Electrochemical bore cleaner

I use the Outers Foul Out 2 to get the copper out. It costs more than your ammonia solution, but it does not foam out, and it does not damage the wood finish. I use duct tape to plug the gas port, and their chamber plug fits just fine.

All my rifles shoot much better when the copper is removed.

 

[gunguy98]

I also use the Outers Foul-Out II to clean my rifles. Works very well, and the best part....no scrubbing!

 

[Jne77]

Phil Mcgrath,
I have cleaned so bores have no fouling left and all 4 of my M1's require a few "fouling shots" to shoot good. They are not match rifles so I don't know if a new or match barreled rifle would make a difference.

 

[USSR]

Hands down, the best copper remover on the market is Montana Extreme's 50BMG.

Don

 

[Jack Stanley]

Does anyones rifle shoot any better groups after this treatment and is your barrel easier too clean??

Phil , I worked for about eight hours with an electro-type cleaner on a High Standard barrel that was horribly fould with nickel . It began with groups over eight inches and is down to two and three inch groups now . accuracy lasts much longer now too . At first it would hold the group for about ten shots , now I've run over a hundred through it and it seems to work normal for a barrel fould with copper .

Jack

 

[Phil McGrath]

Thanks guys for the info I may give this a try.

 

[cadillo]

They work great, but you better be REALLY sure that you've got the polarity right, or you can quickly ruin a barrel as did my neighbor. Took him about ten minutes and it cost him a new barrel.

I've had really good luck with the one I made!

 

[citori3]

What is the correct polarity?

 

[TripletDad]

What is the correct polarity?

The rifle barrel hooked to the positive (+) side of the battery and the negative (-) hooked up to the steel rod you put in the barrel.

What exactly did the reverse polarity do cadillo?

 

[citori3]

Some questions tregarding the electrode method:

Is ammonia the best solution to use?

Someone mentioned vinegar. Does that work?

Will a galvanized rod work? Brass? Home Depot's selection was pretty picked over.

 

[FishInABarrel]

Brass contains copper, so it would not be a good material to use as any copper dissolving solution will attack it as well. At the very least this will diminish the effectiveness.

Not knowing what galvanizing is composed of I won't guess on that. You might be able to just steel-wool the galvanized coating off to get a pure steel rod.

Ammonia is highly affective at removing copper. I haven't tried much else, and it does have that nasty wood finish removing problem so I won't say it's the "best." I've tried vinegar and it seemed to work just as well on powder fouling. I don't know about copper since that barrel was pretty much clear of that.

 

[TripletDad]

My *GUESS* is the ammonia removes the copper - it's very good at that, but it's also an alkali (NH4OH) due to the OH. Vinegar is actually acetic acid, so maybe it neutralizes the Ph.

 

[Burgie]

Some tips for the homemade cleaner I found

Should you use vinegar

The vinegar is for all intents a 5% solution of acetic acid, which is a dilute solution of a relatively weak acid. The acetic acid has an affinity for lead and will form a lead acetate, which is also a polar compound, that would migrate to the cathode also. Only problem I see is the two compounds, ammonia and acetic acid, are a alkali base and weak acid respectively and the combination of the two greatly diminishes the reaction of either with the fouling. I would suggest the use of the ammonia in a weapon that uses copper clad bullets and the acetic acid for weapons using lead bullets. Neither compound will adversely affect the steel barrel if used infrequently and with low voltage.