I just picked up a gun in a trade and as I always do I start to clean the gun. I cleaned it with powder cleaner and it was dirty as heck! I decided I would clean the copper out of the barrel. Well I run a wet nylon brush, let it sit for 15-20 min, run another wet patch then dry patch until it is dry... Well I have done this process 7 times and it is still blue! Am I doing something wrong? Should I try something else or keep going?

Thanks

Just keep cleaning just keep cleaning just keep cleaning

Skip the nylon brush as they don't deliver much solvent. Use wetted patches.

You can either keep scrubbing on it, use a foaming bore cleaner, plug the bore and fill with a good cleaner overnight, or Google "homemade foulout". I've used the foulout tool to clean horribly fouled military guns with pretty insane results. Sometimes you'll have to clean the rod several times, but the process removes a lot of fouling.

Here's my method from a previous post:

Every year I hear stories of hunters missing a deer, and they have no idea why they missed. After talking to them, they had their rifle cleaned spotless and all slicked up with oil on the inside of the barrel after shooting and zeroing their scope. Oil is a great barrel protector, but not on the inside when you are ready for making an accurate and precise shot.

So, how do you clean a rifle and keep the barrel fouled in and zero'd for deer season? Most rifles will shoot around 50 to 300 rounds (or more) before accuracy begins to fall off. Most hunters clean their rifles way before this time. I clean my rifles before I shoot them at the gun range. I run a patch on a jag (pointed metal tip) soaked in Butch's bore shine for about 2-4 patches. I'll run these through the barrel back and forth until I see I have the barrel almost clean. I stop there, and put 2-3 dry patches to get any remaining liquid out. (If you clean the barrel 100% clean, it will usually take 2-7 rounds to get the barreled "fouled" back in, and shooting accurately.) Now, the rifle is ready to shoot and get the barrel fouled in. During cleaning, the solvent's remove copper and powder fouling. "Fouled in" means the barrel has some copper build up from the bullets in the rifling, which will help make a consistent and repeatable shot. Since I didn't clean the barrel to bare metal, I usually only need 1-2 rounds to confirm my zero is dead on and shooting consistent. Once you confirm your zero, don't touch the inside of the barrel again! This is where most hunters make their mistakes. They will clean it again and oil it up inside and out. Outside oil is fine. It will help protect the outside of the rifle. But oil inside the barrel will cause the rounds to go anywhere they want to go, often not where you wanted. A little oil on the bolt and race way is also fine. I put some oil on a patch, and put the patch on the areas I want to oil. If you put drops of oil directly on the parts, it will seep into other areas you may not want oil.

What if the barrel gets wet? Run a dry patch though the barrel and call it good. If you have to clean it, do a light cleaning, like 1 wet patch followed up by a couple dry patch's, but NO oil on the inside.

If you drop it in the mud, push out any debris with a dry patch, then give it a light cleaning, but no oil. Some hunters carry a bore snake. This is good for removing any debris, but does not do much for actually "cleaning" the inside of the rifle.

If I am storing my rifles for a long period, I will put a coat of oil inside the barrel. But before I shoot it, I will clean it, and get any oil out of the inside of the barrel. This is why I clean my rifles at the range before I shoot them.

I hope this helps some of the hunters who over clean their rifles, thinking that's what's needed.

A brass patch holder on your cleaning rod can leave blue on cleaning patches after all copper is removed from the barrel.

I once saw an interview with Ed Shilen (Shilen Barrels) and he was talking about rifle barrels and cleaning; he said......

"Use a good quality solvent and a bronze brush; the plastic brushes are simply not abrasive enough and the bronze brush is MUCH softer than barrel steel. So if you clean like you should and dont change directions with the brush until it exits the barrel; you will not damage your barrel."

Ever since seeing that interview I have cleaned my barrels even REALLY dirty ones from used guns with good solvent and 3-4 front to back passes with a bronze brush and 2-3 solvent soaked patches in between.....and it works great for me!

If its a REALLY dirty and fouled up barrel; I'll get a bore mop (looks like a piece of shag carpet)soak it in solvent till dripping and push it down the bore chamber to muzzle and then when it comes out the muzzle; I'll use a drinking straw to soak the bore mop again with solvent and pull it back through.

This leaves a good amount of solvent in the barrel and I leave the rifle in the cleaning rest and rotate it 90 degrees every 5min or so for 30min to let the solvent work then I bronze brush for 3-4 passes, then 2-3 solvent soaked patches and repeat if needed.

As ChadTRG42 said oil in the barrel is only good for storage and I always run a solvent soaked patch and a couple of dry ones before firing.

We use Bore Tech Eliminator plus I use a foam bore scrubber first. Really dirty rifles usually take about 2-3 hours and about 70 patches. Sometimes I get them to little blue marks from the grooves soak and let set overnight. We usually charge $100 min to clean a rifle that bad

CR-10 and patches. Be done with it. I don't even own bore brushes anymore as they are useless.

The Wipe Out cleaners also work very well but take a little longer. CR-10 works REAL well but you have to have your game face on to use it!

Generally only clean when I first get one or right before heading back out overseas.