Fouling in barrel - how can you tell?

[Glennster]

I read where guys are having problems with their barrels fouling, one guy said it was only fouling at the end of the barrel. A respond to that post suggested that all the powder in his load may have burned prior to the bullet reaching the end of the barrel.
How can you tell that a barrel is fouled????

[Smokey Joe]

Glennster--Finding out about fouling: The easiest and most obvious way is to look down the bore while holding the rifle up to a source of light--make sure gun is empty, including the magazine, before attempting!! The fouling can be seen as bits or patches of black along the bore.

The other way to tell a bore is fouled is on the target range: When the accuracy falls off (for no other reason) the rifle is telling you it needs cleaning.

[Glennster]

Can this be seen with the naked eye?

[LHB1]

"Can this be seen with the naked eye?"

Yes.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

[gandog56]

Yes....provided you do look through it at a light.

[Scorch]

Without knowing what you're looking for, it's hard to see fouling in the barrel of a rifle. One easy way to know if you have a fouling problem is to take a solvent-soaked patch and run it through the barrel, followed by a dry patch about 1/2 hour later. Since the solvent will start to lift the fouling, it will look a lot worse when you look through the barrel after you do this.

[rwilson452]

I'm a liitle late into this but are you talking powder fouling or copper fouling? My 22-250 was rathr picky after about 20 rounds the groups would start to open up. If I got the absolutely clean it would take about 4 fouling shots for it to settle in. it was the copper that would do it. I got it real clean of powder and left the copper in and the groups would not close back up. Granted the groups would only go from .25 MOA to .7 MOA, but you could see it. Sadly that barrel finally gave up. I have a new rifle but haven't had a chance to work up a load due to medical problems. So I guess next summer I will have three new rifles to work with. that should keep me entertained. I just hope I'm in shape for Bambi season this year.

[castnblast]

Rwilson, I had the same problem w/ my 22-250...I remedied the problem by running a DRY boresnake through the bore. 1 run will do it. keeps it clean but does not need to be refouled. Give that shot...no pun intended... One other item...what kind of powder are you using? I switched over to Benchmark and it burns quicker, cleaner, and leaves less residue. It also pours like a charm, meters well, and is very consistant from lot to lot. It also has a excellent tollerances to change in temperature...According to tests, it only varried 8-10fps over a 125f temperature range. That's incredible.

[T/C Hunter]

I use Sweets 7.62 . Wet patch ,wipe with a loose off center fitted patch,carefull not to squeeze out solvent on your stoke, Let sit for no longer than 15 min. Dont leave the area, stressing no more than 15 min. Max. Wipe out bore and re =-apply again same way. This time scrub with a nylon brush, {Not Bronze}full strokes. Around five will do. Next remove whats left with clean patches, Many. Wipe till spotless. If there is any left you can do a test. = re-aply one more time and see if you pach has any green color to it, If so you still have some work to do . Repeat steps one more time, This wil remove all and return you barel to Factory new, resulting in better Groups, Keep it clean . P.S I wipe with Denatured Alcohol patch and then one more dry one ,or two- When I'm done cleaning. {And if storing}.> a drop or two of a good gun oil. Hope this helps Good shooting............. Note: To do a regular clean between 5 to 20 rounds at range, I use Butches bore Shine or Shooters Choice, Using a Bronze brush with these solvents are fine. Clean brushes with water or Alcohal when done , make you brushes last.

[rwilson452]

I sold the 22-250 that I had or rather I traded it in rahter than buy a new barrel. I will need to start with the powders I have on had. a selection of Hodgdons mostly no benchmark. I guess it's one to try. my last rifle likes 38 the best.
I also have a new .243. It would be nice if they would work with the same powder but I don't hold out much hope for that.

[Wild Bill Bucks]

I found some stuff called "Gun Slick Foaming bore cleaner" and have used it several times. You just fill the bore up with the foam, and let it sit for about 30 minutes. It goes in white, and as it eats the fouling it turns blue. It seems to deep clean the riflings in my barrels better than all the scrubbing required otherwise. I don't think the stuff will hurt your barrel but,
I always patch a little Rem-Oil down the barrel followed by a dry patch afterwards, just as a precaution for pitting.

[amamnn]

If you are not seeing a degradation of accuracy before 10 rounds and are not seeing lots of blue (copper fouling) grey (lead) or black (carbon) when you clean, you don't need to worry about fouling. "Lots of guys" load at or near max loads and strip off metal in the barrel and /or coat it with partly burned powder. If you've had trouble removing fouling you might back off the powder charge a bit. I've recently discovered Hoppe's ELite Bore GEL, which when used as Hoppe's directs, cleaned out barrels I would have sworn were squeaky clean. I lent it to some other BR shooters at my club and they all were agog, simply agog!!!!

[Lavid2002]

if you have oil in the barrel it dissapears! Make shure the barrel is dry! A dirty barrel may look clean....always check with a dry patch : D