Color change in rifling at muzzle??

UnlistMe
Inventry
Tennessee Deer Sporting & Deer Hunting Community Forum

Help Support TNDeer | Tennessee Deer:

UTGrad

UTGrad

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Messages
15,212
City & State/Province
Cookeville, TN
I clean my 30 30 from the breech with Hoppe's #9 and run a brush through after I have run two wet patches through, then I follow with several dry patches till clean, then a final patch lightly oiled if I plan on storing it a long time. I looked closely at the muzzle today with a little LED light and noticed a tan color to the steel lands at the muzzle. What causes this color change at the muzzle point? Could this tan look to the metal run all the way through the barrel?
My rifle shoots tight groups at 100 yards, so at least that is a good thing.
 
How do I remove it? I tried some Birchwood Casey Bore Scrubber and let it sit for about 15 minutes then run some dry patches through. I guess that didn't cut it. My rifle still shoots darn good, so should I be concerned about that copper right now?
 
there are some pretty good copper solvent cleaners out there...I have used Hoppe's Bench Rest 9, as well as Tetra with good results. I'm sure some experts will be along shortly to tell you their favorite :)

I wouldn't freak out over it....but accuracy will degrade over time if you don't take care of it
 
I just finished getting the tan out of the rifling of a 300 Winchester Magnum this morning. It was a factory barrel and was pretty cruddy. That tan in your's probably runs all the way through but you just can't see it except where you can get the light at an angle. It took quite a few patches, several sets of brushings, several spells of letting a good copper solvent set for 15 minutes at a time and mine finally looks like a new barrel. If you don't want to go to all that trouble you may want to just pass a wet patch over your bore with the Hoppe's #9, leave it wet, and then repeat it every few days. You'll probably notice if you look in your bore after letting it sit for a few days that your brown has turned to green. It won't damage the bore and just repeat it once a week for the next few weeks if you don't want to try anything harsher. I commonly use #9 in a bore that I'm going to store for a while instead of oil. Just wet and dry patch it before shooting.
 
Thanks for the input. I got some good copper solvent today and ran several patches through plus a brush a couple of times. I simply can't get all of that tan that is in the rifling, but it is mostly gone and my patches are coming out very clean. Took the rifle to the range and it is shooting fine. I spoke to a gentleman at the range who was a competitive shooter and he told me that people often go into overkill on cleaning their barrels. He said clean it after alot of shooting or if you start to see accuracy problems, otherwise leave it alone. The more you run rods through the barrel, the run a risk of damaging the rifling.
 
Weber Hickory Wood Chunks Outdoor Cooking Fuel, 4 lb – Premium BBQ Smoking & Grilling Chips for Rich, Subtly Sweet Flavor – Ideal for Beef, Lamb, Poultry & Pork – Long Lasting
See price on Amazon
Weber Hickory Wood Chunks Outdoor Cooking Fuel, 4 lb – Premium BBQ Smoking & Grilling Chips for Rich, Subtly Sweet Flavor – Ideal for Beef, Lamb, Poultry & Pork – Long Lasting
Old Potters Smoker Wood Chunks 13-16 lbs for Grilling, Smoking, and Wood Fire Cooking ~ 2 x 3 Inches, (Hickory, 790 Cu in.)
See price on Amazon
Old Potters Smoker Wood Chunks 13-16 lbs for Grilling, Smoking, and Wood Fire Cooking ~ 2 x 3 Inches, (Hickory, 790 Cu in.)
Hickory Pizza Oven Wood 6 Inch, 15 lbs Box – Kiln Dried & Bark-Free Firewood for Pizza Ovens, BBQ Smoking & Grilling – Premium Hickory Wood Logs for Ooni, Gozney, Solo Stove, Bertello
See price on Amazon
Hickory Pizza Oven Wood 6 Inch, 15 lbs Box – Kiln Dried & Bark-Free Firewood for Pizza Ovens, BBQ Smoking & Grilling – Premium Hickory Wood Logs for Ooni, Gozney, Solo Stove, Bertello
Firewood Central Kiln-Dried PA Hickory – 8” Splits (Approx 39.5 lb) – Bold Smoking Wood for Pizza Ovens, BBQ & Fire Pits – Easy Light, Low Smoke, USA Sourced
See price on Amazon
Firewood Central Kiln-Dried PA Hickory – 8” Splits (Approx 39.5 lb) – Bold Smoking Wood for Pizza Ovens, BBQ & Fire Pits – Easy Light, Low Smoke, USA Sourced
Firewood Central Kiln-Dried PA Hickory – 6” Splits (Approx. 42 lb) – Bold Smoking Wood for Pizza Ovens, BBQ & Fire Pits – Easy Light, Low Smoke, USA Sourced
See price on Amazon
Firewood Central Kiln-Dried PA Hickory – 6” Splits (Approx. 42 lb) – Bold Smoking Wood for Pizza Ovens, BBQ & Fire Pits – Easy Light, Low Smoke, USA Sourced
Greenworks 24V 6in BL Pruning Saw w/Auto Oiler, Tool Only
See price on Amazon
Greenworks 24V 6in BL Pruning Saw w/Auto Oiler, Tool Only
Old Potters Kiln Dried Firewood - Cherry, 1100 Cu. in, 16-18 Logs ~ 8" x 2.5" Logs. Solo Stove and Cooking Wood for Grilling, Smoking, and Firepits, Cherry.
See price on Amazon
Old Potters Kiln Dried Firewood - Cherry, 1100 Cu. in, 16-18 Logs ~ 8" x 2.5" Logs. Solo Stove and Cooking Wood for Grilling, Smoking, and Firepits, Cherry.
Heritage Smoke Wood Hickory Pizza Oven Wood with Fire Starter - Kiln Dried Firewood 6" Hardwood Logs for Brick Fire Pizza Ovens & Grills, 6 lb, Low Smoke, High Heat, Competition-Grade Clean Burn
See price on Amazon
Heritage Smoke Wood Hickory Pizza Oven Wood with Fire Starter - Kiln Dried Firewood 6" Hardwood Logs for Brick Fire Pizza Ovens & Grills, 6 lb, Low Smoke, High Heat, Competition-Grade Clean Burn
39" Fire Pits with Wood Storage for Outside, Large Wood Burning Outdoor Fireplace with Chimney, Mesh Spark Screen & Fire Poker, Idea for Backyard, Patio, Party, Camping, Picnic
See price on Amazon
39" Fire Pits with Wood Storage for Outside, Large Wood Burning Outdoor Fireplace with Chimney, Mesh Spark Screen & Fire Poker, Idea for Backyard, Patio, Party, Camping, Picnic
Smoak Firewood Cooking Wood Mini Splits - USDA Certified Kiln Dried Pizza Oven Wood, Grilling Wood, Smoking Wood, BBQing Wood (8inch Pieces, 25-30lbs 1728 Cubic in - Hickory)
See price on Amazon
Smoak Firewood Cooking Wood Mini Splits - USDA Certified Kiln Dried Pizza Oven Wood, Grilling Wood, Smoking Wood, BBQing Wood (8inch Pieces, 25-30lbs 1728 Cubic in - Hickory)
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change.
Many competitive benchrest shooters clean between each relay which depending on the match could be 10 rounds or less. I like to clean after 20 or so rounds. Some barrels shoot better fouled and others shoot best clean. It's an individual thing. Never clean from the muzzle and always use a good quality bore guide and good judgement. More crowns are probably worn out by improper cleaning than by shooting. Also some factory bores are pretty rough and lay down copper quickly and because of the roughness it's also much harder to clean than a lapped match barrel.
 
It's actually much harder to remove copper from the muzzle than the rest of the bore (for me) since you can't run the patch on a jag back and forth out the muzzle and back in. I don't worry at all about a little copper at the muzzle as long as my copper solvent patches are coming out clean.

Whelen Man is right on... more rifles (muzzles) are damaged from cleaning improperly than from fouled bores.
 
megalomaniac, I agree about the muzzle being a difficult part to clean. My patches kept coming out very clean, but the copper is still present in small amounts at the muzzle. My gun is shooting fine, so I will leave it alone.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top