Bronze brush. yes, or no way!! ????

skeetlee

Active member
I have been doing my one shot and clean on my new 6ppc. I am at 8 rounds one shot and clean. No signs of copper thus far. i am using a little KROIL in my hoppes to get the powder out and just a little copper solvent with a patch and jag. Like i said no signs of copper. Should i use a bronze brush to see if there is any copper hiding anywhere? How many one shots and clean do i need to do? Is a bronze brush a no no?? Thanks Lee
 
Chuck the Kroil "to get the powder out" idea.... and ditch the Hoppes and take all the brushes and use them for cleaning engine parts......







GET'cherself some Butch's Bore Shine and some sort of a chamber stop/bore guide apparatus (I make mine using a fired case and an o-ring) and clean with chemicals designed for it.

NO mixing

NO scrubbing

NO barrel wear

Just let the Butch's do the work and enjoy the fruits.

My first shot generally goes into the group after cleaning. Second shot is a keeper.

al
 
Lee,
No copper is good.Shoot some groups and get on a regular cleaning program. Butch's,wet patch's, wet bronze brush,wet patch's-- let soak(10 min or more)one wet patch( pay attention to how this one feels),one or two dry patch's,wipe nose,swab chamber dry,lube bolt lugs ,etc. Use a good bore guide (T.K.Nolan or Lucas).At some point (when that last wet patch feels kinda grabby as it travels the first 8" of the barrel)you may want to J.B. to clean that area up.Depends how the gun is shooting?
Joel
p.s. most guys use a .22 jag and 1-3/4" square patches
 
A bronze brush works to get caked powder fouling out mechanically, particularly from a rough bore. Really doesn't work so well on copper. On a new barrel break-in shoot and clean ritual you won't have any caked powder. Any good copper solvent will dissolve the coppering resulting from the initially rough throat. The throat smooths through firing to the extent that it no longer strips copper off the bullet to be deposited down the length of the barrel and especially near the muzzle where temperatures are the lowest and the metal vapor is most likely to condense. Just use patches with your solvent and you won't get false copper sign from a bronze brush. When you stop seeing blue on your patches (in 5-10 shots assuming a sharp reamer was used to cut your throat) you're done with break-in and have some nice fire-formed cases or at least know when you lose primer pockets.

Greg
 
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Thanks guys. I just ordered the butches Monday. I was told that KROIL help with copper fouling with new barrels, thats why i was using it. Looks like decent weather tomorrow so i may get a chance to shoot. I sure hope so!! Thanks again! Lee
 
Skeet

I have used nothing but Butches in my Benchrest Barrels ever since it came out. I do use bronze brushes.

My cleaning regiment is fairly typical. When I finish a group, I emmediatly run a couple of wet patches through, then I brush about 5-10 strokes with a bronze brush, then use enough wet patches to get the "brush blue" out, then let it soak untill I am ready to go back to the line. I then patch it out with clean patches untill it is reasonably dry.

The most important thing in cleaning a Rifle is to STOP that jag and brush the instant it clears the muzzle, not allowing that rod to rub on the bottom of the barrel while in motion. I have personally seen a great barrel's muzzle ruined by a shooter doing this. We chopped 1/2 inch off, and it came back to life..........jackie
 
Obsessive Compulsive Cleaning

As I may have mentioned, weather and my health permitting, I shoot twice a week, shooting 50-100 rounds of 22 LR, 50-100 rounds of 17hmr and 20 rounds of 220 Swift during each day's shoot. After each day's shoot, I clean each rifle completely.

1. I clean with coated one piece rods and Butch's Boreshine. If I use a brush, it is nylon and never metal.
2. I follow Butch's detailed directions in the Lyman Reloading Handbook 49th Edition.
3. I use a bore guide specifically fitted to each rifle.
4. Then the last thing I do for the bore is pass a CLEAN boresnake through it, followed by a lightly oiled patch. If the oiled patch comes out dirty, I repeat the whole process
4. I clean the action with Birchwood Casey Gunscrubber and a toothbrush, followed by Remington Rem-Dry Lube.

Is this obsessive? I don't know. Seems to work. Keeps me out of bars.
 
Lee,
To elaborate on what Jackie is sayin'. When you install a brush or jag on your rod,feel the intersection where they meet. If there is anything rough there, or a mis-alignment it needs to be corrected or it WILL hammer your crown.Also,most brushes are "crooked as hell" as they come from the package and need to be spinned and bent true.I usually spit on some 600 wet paper and spin the joint in my fingers( between rod and jag, or rod and brush) smooth before I start cleaning.
Joel
 
And

clean patches dont mean there aint no copper in her either:eek:
 
Lee: I push two sloppy wet patches (on a one-caliber undersized jag) through to get the powder stuff out, a dry one (on the correct jag), then a wet bronze brush for 10-15 strokes (re-applying solvent at the muzzle every 5 or so), pull the bore guide and run a dry patch through it to clean it out, a couple of dry ones down the barrel, followed by another sloppy wet one on the undersized jag. I work on reloading and then patch it out, dry the chamber and clean the lug area before going to the line.

Clean the bore guide often, especially after using a brush. No need to push all that crud that's in the guide back through your barrel when you're trying to clean it.

As you get a feel for the barrel, you can back off on how many passes you'll need to make with the brush to keep it in shape.

Butches works better than anything I've tried.
 
Has anyone tried storing their bronze brushes in water, oil or some other nuetralizer?

I find that butches eats them up pretty fast.
 
you guys are great! Thank you very much! I think i now have a plan. The butches should be here today. I just wanted to make sure i was doing everything correctly with this new ppc. I really like the thought of no copper thus far!! Today is supposed to be really nice, and as i sit here i am fighting the urge to go shooting today. I should go to work, but i really want to go to the range. I havent fired a shot in 2 months other than at coyotes. I dont know what to do!! LOL!!! Maybe i will work until 9:00 am and then go to the range. anyway thanks a ton! Lee
 
Nylon brushes are virtually useless.
Butch

What do you mean by this? A brush is a brush. One is made of metal one is made of nylon. Chemicals dissolve one and don't the other. I'd rather have the brush remove contaminants inside the barrel not give me false data. Please explain yourself.
 
Plastic may not rot off, but a bronze brush at .99 cents (when you buy a dozen) is a price I can handle and use a new one every match. I can shoot all year, always have clean, full, brushes and spend about 15 bucks.
 
Bronze versus nylon

Take a new bronze brush and a new nylon brush in copper solvent over night and see what you've got. A lot of false readings with a bronze brush? With a nylon brush what you see is what you got. No "false readings". That's what I mean. I would like an explaination about why I should throw away all my nylon brushes. I might.
 
Nylon brushes will not remove what bronze brushes will.....who cares about false readings, if a person has cleaned very long, you know what to look for.

Hovis
 
Onetimeflyer,
I usually use a bronze brush one day of a match and throw it away. I don't care what the solvent does to it as I don't try to make them last a season. A nylon brush will not remove material like a bronze brush. A bronze brush will not hurt a stainless or CM barrel.
I also think it is funny watching people waste spray cleaners cleaning their brushes, why?
Butch
 
Has anyone tried storing their bronze brushes in water, oil or some other nuetralizer?

I find that butches eats them up pretty fast.

After cleaning you lean the rod on your shoulder, brush downward, hannle up... now trickle Ronsonol on the rear (top) of the brush and let it spiral down off the tip taking all the color and crud with it. Don't do this over your pancakes. Cleaned this way I've got brushes ten years old. Ya' store 'em in AIR, stick 'em away in the range box.

al
 
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