dirty (fouled?) shotgun bore

Midget

Midget

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Jun 1, 2002
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so to follow up on a previous post i'd made -- i bought a used police remington 870 shotgun for a very reasonable price. it turned out nice, reliable, not overly used, and the finish was acceptable for a used police gun.


i've put just a few rounds through it, mostly birdshot and some slugs.


upon a few cleanings, i noticed the internals of the bore is very fouled. it looks like streaks that go in-line with the length of the barrel. squirted some hoppes 9 in there, and scrubbed away with a copper brush.

this took quite some time. and not all of it came out.

most of the fouling that's left is closer to the chamber side of the barrel, like 3 to 6 inches from the breech.




my question is, should i just keep scrubbing and scrubbing until it's pristine again? is this futile, as will shooting more buckshot/slugs just foul it up again?




this is atypical of the type of fouling that i've seen. i always clean my weapons (this is my first shotgun i've owned) after every session, so fouling is a rare occurrence for me.


does fouling occur more frequently with shotguns firing buckshot/slugs?

can i clean it *really* well once, and keep my bore shiny and nice as long as i maintain it appropriately after every shooting session?

does it even matter? maybe some fouling doesn't affect the trajectory of buckshot or slugs?


thanks!
 
By nature of the beast led foster type slugs will foul up the bore, they basically grab the sides fo the bbl and use the friction to create spin. Simply scrub the heck out of it and the problem will be solved. In the future use a conditioning bore solvent like Hoppe's Elite and it will make cleaning easier each time. Buck and Birdshot will do the same thing but its plastic wad fouling, and easier to remove. Dont worry though, it will take ton of fouling for it to start effecting the gun in any way
 
Not really an issue as to functioning however if you want to polish, put a bore mop on a shotgun rod and chuck in your variable speed 1/4" drill, add some mild metal polish such as Simi-Chrome and go to it..slowly moving in and out the length of the bore.

I used to polish my Cowboy Action Shooting shotguns chambers using this method and a 3M Scotch-Brite pad in a coat hanger folder...purpose there is to facilitate ejection [extractors but NOT ejectors were allowed when I last shot]...open the action, move shotgun smartly to the rear and hulls fly out.

I doubt that a polished shotgun bore achieves very much but won't hurt, IMHO.
 
After shooting slugs, I just chuck the cleaning rod in a drill and run it up and down the bore on low speed. I keep it dry on the first pass; lead literally pours out (best done outside or over the trash.)

Congrats on the shotgun! Check out Federal's law enforcement ammunition. Flite Control buckshot and the Tru Ball slugs. For me, the buck puts all 9 pellets inside a paper plate at 25 yards. The slugs shrank my groups by half! Really good stuff.
 
Have you tried the Breakfree foaming bore cleaner - it's amazing for copper fouling, I assume it would do well for lead fouling as well. No matter how well I clean my [rifle] barrels, when I spray the foam in, it comes out bright blue from the copper.
 
proud2deviate said:
After shooting slugs, I just chuck the cleaning rod in a drill and run it up and down the bore on low speed. I keep it dry on the first pass; lead literally pours out (best done outside or over the trash.)

Congrats on the shotgun! Check out Federal's law enforcement ammunition. Flite Control buckshot and the Tru Ball slugs. For me, the buck puts all 9 pellets inside a paper plate at 25 yards. The slugs shrank my groups by half! Really good stuff.
Click to expand...



thanks for the input everyone!


what do you chuck into your drill / cleaning rod? a copper bore brush, i'm assuming?
 
Check with a local hardware and find out if they sell brass cloth, a fine meshed screen made from brass.

Cut a piece about 3" in diameter or square, and put it over the end of a 12ga swab brush (the white cotton style).

Shove thru from the breech end. It will be tight.

The brass will pick up/scrape off the lead from the bore walls, and is still soft enough that it will not damage the bore walls.

It might take a couple/few passes, but the bore will be as good as new.
 
I've been shooting a lot of slugs lately, and I do tend to find they foul the hell out of my barrel.

I just hose the thing down with CLP, run a patch through, then run a bore-snake through it once or twice. The bore ends up shiny clean.

Bore-snakes are awesome.
 
Midget said:
...most of the fouling that's left is closer to the chamber side of the barrel, like 3 to 6 inches from the breech...
Click to expand...


I'm thinking thats the nature of the beast. My 11-87 gets absolutely pampered. Thoroughly cleaned and lubed after even a modest shoot- longest it'll go would be a weekend hunting trip. Anyhow, I have the same issue with mine. No matter how much I go at it with a bore brush or wet patch there is a ring of fouling/roughness a couple inches in from the breech of the barrel...
 
If you want another idea, mix some "shooters choice" with Kroil or even soak the bore with Kroil by itself let it sit a little then scrub.

Kroil gets under whatever is in the bore and it wipes out quite well. Shooters choice will lift copper fouling well enough but cleans powder well. After it is clean, a light polishing and the use of Gun Juice or Bishops Original and a hot hair dryer will make future cleanings a piece of cake.
 
Midget said:
so to follow up on a previous post i'd made -- i bought a used police remington 870 shotgun for a very reasonable price. it turned out nice, reliable, not overly used, and the finish was acceptable for a used police gun.


i've put just a few rounds through it, mostly birdshot and some slugs.


upon a few cleanings, i noticed the internals of the bore is very fouled. it looks like streaks that go in-line with the length of the barrel. squirted some hoppes 9 in there, and scrubbed away with a copper brush.

this took quite some time. and not all of it came out.

most of the fouling that's left is closer to the chamber side of the barrel, like 3 to 6 inches from the breech.




my question is, should i just keep scrubbing and scrubbing until it's pristine again? is this futile, as will shooting more buckshot/slugs just foul it up again?




this is atypical of the type of fouling that i've seen. i always clean my weapons (this is my first shotgun i've owned) after every session, so fouling is a rare occurrence for me.


does fouling occur more frequently with shotguns firing buckshot/slugs?

can i clean it *really* well once, and keep my bore shiny and nice as long as i maintain it appropriately after every shooting session?

does it even matter? maybe some fouling doesn't affect the trajectory of buckshot or slugs?


thanks!
Click to expand...

You pick it up from Buds?

I had pretty much the same issue with a nasty chunk that wouldn't go away. We had a little talking and the chunk decided it would be best to extract itself from the barrel before I went and got the foul out kit.
 
try.... Frontier Big 45....looks like a scouring pad.... works well for removing lead deposits... don't try to pull it apart with your hands
 
MutedRaccoon said:
You pick it up from Buds?
Click to expand...



yes! i am pretty happy with my purchase, both in quality of the product and the price.


glad to hear you got your bore cleaned out.

i haven't really bothered to brush the fouling out of my 870 b/c the consensus from this thread said the leading is "normal" with buckshot and slugs. so i could clean it all i want-- the next time i shoot a slug all the leading will be back again?!? boo.


but i DID use the electric drill + brass brush method to clean the leading out of my revolver cylinders, and that method was fantastic.
 
The brass cloth will take care of exactly what you describe man.

I had the same with a RemChoked slug barrel, but a couple passes and it shined like new.

After that, sabot slugs with the extended rifled tube.
 
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