JB Bore Paste . . . .

[mehavey]

I'm about to try saving that Winchester M-70/30-06 factory barrel whose troubles I wrote of two month back. If not salvagable (it shoots unpredictably well/bad between loads/days/sometimes the same load. (3/4" one time, 4" the next.) Bedding is tight and Winchester used that latest "hot-glue" technique which I can't see fault in. This will be the last ditch effort before rebarreling with a Krieger.

Before the start of firelapping (and between grits) you've got to get the barrel squeaky clean. NECO recommends either Rem Clean (which I haven't used or seen locally), and/or JB Bore Paste (which I have used/can get locally). Of the two, ligtly/properly used, what is the experience here on the Forum?

As a note, I've been using KG-12 to great effect to get copper out during routine cleaning after a day's shooting. where Butch's Bore Shine will still turn blue after even 6-9 wet patches on this barrel, KG-12 will clean it in one. (A Butch's-saturated patch used after KG-12 will come out essentially white.)

So the second question would be, if KG-12 gets the copper out, is there any reason to go to any fine abrasive like Rem Clean or JB's during firelapping?

[Doyle]

Here's my take, for what its worth. The reason some barrels tend to foul up with copper more than others has to do with minute "roughness" left behind from the rifling process. I.E, the rougher the barrel, the more copper it is going to scrape off of a bullet as it is fired. By using a polishing compound, you are smoothing off those rough places and thereby reducing the potential of the barrel to scrape off copper.

On the other hand, I have frequently been wrong about a great many things.

[hagar]

I'd say go for it, the factory barrel is probably pretty rough and you can only make it better. Most rifles stop shooting not because the barrel is worn, but because the throat is worn.

Another thing with Winchester rifles, I have yet to find one that shot well with the original stock. I had a 30/06 that went from almost 2 inches at 100 yards to 3/4 inch just by replacing the wood stock with a cheap Ramline stock. My 22/250 Sporter Varmint did not shoot well either, I have it in a Coyote stock now, which is a much larger and more robust stock.

[Unclenick]

Mehavey,

If you got the Neco kit, you will most likely be using lead bullets, not copper, and KG-12 won't help with that. The only lead solvent I know that works in Wipeoout No-Lead, and it has to sit an hour. Better just to remove it mechanically so you can finish at the range in one session.

JB or another abrasive cleaner will be quick. I usually use Iosso bore cleaner instead, which is another such product, just because I'm used to it. Use short back and forth strokes that inch forward starting at the breech end over about 20-25 such stroke cycles. That works with the freshest and sharpest abrasive at the breech end, where fouling is worst, and, unlike full length strokes which polish harder when the patch direction reverses, this doesn't tend to polish the muzzle more than the middle of the bore.

The Rem Oil has Teflon in it, and I avoid getting that in bores. Ed's Red is a substitute that works just fine for carbon removal and you can make it yourself (formula in PDF format attached).

I've tried jacketed bullets for firelapping both with and without success. The successful ones were light and had a prior factory crimp, so only the thinnest band of copper touched the bore at the ends of the bearing surface. I also tried long bullets like David Tubbs firepolishing system uses at normal starting load pressures, but they don't upset enough to get down into the corners of the rifling at the much lower firelapping pressures. Tubb is surfacing the whole bore and not trying to remove constrictions, as firelapping does, so all that bump-up doesn't hurt what he's trying to do.

Lead bullets work fine as they are if they are in the right hardness range (BHN 10-12), and you are using them with very light loads.