UPDATE: Copper Fouling

[outrider58]

Well worth the price of admission Ed.

 

[JasonD67]

Great post E.shell, thanks.

I only use nylon brushes so that green must be from jackets.

 

[BFMIN]

While we are waiting for E.Shell to reply... I worked for a major rifle manufacturer, and I can tell you this. The number one reason for rifles returned to service with accuracy issues was copper fouling. In the OP's case he did right, once the accuracy falls off it's time to get the copper out. Could the issue be something else? Yes, but you always start with the easiest and most likely cause first. I clean the copper out at least once a year or if I am changing bullet brands as I have seen differences in the jacket gilding cause some loss of accuracy when you are doing comparisons / load workup and looking for the best performance.
^^^THIS
I've personally "rescued" several "shot out all to hell" Milsurps by a thorough bore cleaning, sometimes spaced over a couple of weeks using the techniques & supplies mentioned.
They weren't shot out they were simply filthy. Rifled sewer pipes.

"I have had a good bore scope for 15 years and I will tell you that while it can be a very useful tool, it will make mountains out of mole hills.
You can see things that have no effect on precision. Scary things. Gigantic-looking things. A light sheen of copper-colored fouling is nothing to be concerned with and a little carbon in the edges of the grooves won't hurt anything. Fire-cracking is easily seen long before it affects precision.
True issues that can be seen are erosion/retreating of the lands and crooked throats."

Oh I couldn't agree more.
My first suggestion would to locate a pristine bore, preferably unfired. Now run the bore-scope through it examining the results. now you have a baseline for what you do, or don't find in yours!
As a new bore-scope owner you need to be aware that you're not only seeing things that you never knew about before, but you're also seeing them at high magnifications too! That Ginormous flaw is probably as small as a human hair, its not the Grand Canyon!

From the OP's post he seemed unsure of the level of fouling. My suggestion was to check with a bore scope. If its heavily fouled you'll see it. At least that way you don't go deep cleaning a bore that's not in need of it. You can also tell when you've reached the level of cleanliness you're comfortable with, which might not be spotless!

As for false readings with copper solvents I agree that the rods jags tips & so on need to be non brass.
I like the Hoppes "elite" carbon fiber rods & don't use bronze brushes, or brass tips.
I have a supply (now dwindling) of the old Midway "Frankford Arsenal" synthetic bore brushes. Unlike most those, with the much stiffer blue colored bristles work very well.

 

[JasonD67]

Got some ammo in finally that I know the Ruger has liked in the past (Nosler Match 77 grain HPBT) and am happy to report that’s it’s back to an 1 MOA rifle again. I can put 5 rounds into a 1 inch square at 100 yards again. Not too bad for an old shotguner with a $400 rifle.

I’m convinced it was the copper fouled barrel that was the issue. I think I’ll retire my bottle of Hoppes.

 

[Growler215]

You can buy a bore-scope for peanuts nowadays that runs via a USB from a computer or laptop.

I use mine from my cell phone.

Besides finding excessive copper fouling, I've also found a carbon ring on one of my rifles, and some weird shiny black hard-to-remove fouling that I think came from some black colored powder coated bullets that I bought, in a sbr barrel.

The borescope is also useful in determining when the cleaning is complete. Also use it on my black powder rifle for this reason.

One of these days I probably need to scope my .22lr rifle barrels to see how much lead fouling they have, and address that. . .

 

[Sam Salvati]

Don’t get shooting much with having kids and all (almost old enough). Got a can of wipe out and patches came out blue like crazy out of all my rifles. Interested to see in the next range trip any results.