New cleaning method gets rifles really clean

Gordon Hutchinson

December 03, 2010 at 11:13 am  | Mobile Reader | Print 

Shooters have been using Kroil penetrating oil for years to break in new barrel bores, and JB Bore Paste is an excellent abrasive used to get metal and carbon residue out of heavily fouled barrels.

Just like the scientific breakthroughs that resulted from the U.S. space program, and all the advances that come about in automotive engineering due to the racing industry, the competitive field often produces cutting-edge developments in the firearms world.

In this case, a new method of cleaning your barrels has come out of the benchrest competitions — and it’s a doozy.

Many people use Kroil penetrating oil to break in new barrels. A barrel has to be shot enough to smooth out the imperfections from the cutting of the rifling, and to fill the microscopic pores of the metal with copper from the bullet jackets. Kroil has been a popular cleaner in this practice for years.

Another old, popular product is JB Bore Paste, an abrasive paste used by shooters to scrub out their bores when they are heavily coated with metal particles, dirt, etc.

Some enterprising benchrest shooters started combining the two, and the result is a happy marriage that works better than the separate items.

Kroil is one of the best penetrating oils on the market. The benchrest shooters scrub their dirty barrels with Kroil and let them sit, giving the oil time to work its way under the fouling.

Once sufficient time has passed, they clean their barrel with JB Bore Paste, and the Kroil has done its work to the point the paste easily lifts the gunk out of the bore and polishes the surface of the bore.

I have two varmint rifles — a Remington bolt-action Varmint Tactical Rifle in .22-250 and a Remington R-15 Modern Sporting Rifle in .223 Remington.

Both of these rifles are highly accurate pieces of precision equipment, and like all .22 centerfire rifles, their accuracy goes to hell quickly when the barrels get dirty.

Since I am an accuracy nut, I keep both these barrels squeaky clean. I pulled both rifles out and peered down their respective barrels to check out the bores, and both were shining without a speck of dust or fouling in them.

I wet a cloth with Kroil, and swabbed both barrels really well. After a couple of hours, I smeared JB Bore Paste on bronze brushes, and started scrubbing the barrels with it.

I was amazed at the gunk I got out of both of those “clean” barrels using this new technique. Had I not seen the dark stains on the patches once I got down to clean patches, I would not have believed so much fouling could have been cleaned from them.

Apparently the combination loosened fouling that was on the sides of the lands I did not get with regular cleaning, and it did not show when viewing the barrel with a borelight.

The pairing of the two cleaners has become so popular, it is being written up in Brownell’s recent catalog, and that company is starting to offer packaged kits with both products in them.