Copper Fouling in new Sendero

T

thekubiaks

New member
I don't know what to do. I bought a new 7mmRM Sendero a couple of weeks ago. I only have 40 or so rounds thru it and cleaned it after ~each 10 rounds. The gun is shooting great but it has such bad copper fouling that I can start minting pennies. You can see dark copper streaks thru my Hawkeye borescope, no doubt about it. Maybe my benchrest rifles are spoiling me but the fouling in the Sendero is incredible. I have wire brushed it many times, used Sweets, JB, Wipeout, Copper Cutter and Hoppes. It still has very fine fire cracks on top of the copper. I even ran a patch of JB's paste thru it and it came out black. I really don't want to start running lapping bullets thru it.

Should I call Remington and ask for a new barrel or just keep scrubbing it and break out the top engine cleaner too????? Thanks for the replies
 
Is it a hammer forged barrel? What material carbon steel or stainless steel?
 
if it shoots great, who cares if it coppers, it's a hunting iron not a BR gun,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

the wind is my friend,,,,,,,,,,

DD
 
Factory barrel

lefty o said:
its a factory barrel, if it shoots okay, thats life. you are not dealing with a hand lapped custom.
Click to expand...

That's exactly right; this is one of the characteristics of a factory bore. If it shoots fine, don't worry about it and just clean to stay ahead of the copper. You don't have to have a squeaky clean bore, just get most of the fouling out.

When your bore is shot out, get a custom barrel.

Chino69
 
Hows this for copper...

here is a look down the bbl of a Remington 700 ADL (Tupperware)....it looks terrible to me(and you)....butttt...it shoots terrific....
I was gonna cry to Remington untill I shot it enuff to realize that it is one of the best factory guns I have ever had....shoots 3's and 4's with almost every bullet from 66 Fowler to 80 Berger to 100 SBT's....I now have aprox 2000 rds thru it and have won lots of matches with it....shure wish I had another one just like it....
Moral of the story.....how does it shoot,,,,Roger

PS...notice chatter marks and dips and low spots in the bore...and this is as clean as "I" can get it...using every known paste,cream,home brew,etc....
I just shoot it at special events..weddings,bar-mitsva (sp),prom,etc,,,,,It sits in the corner with a 36xLeu and a Jewell 2oz. trigger ...just in case .!!!!
I bought two newer ones in the last 5yrs,,they are all throated longer rite out-0-the box than this ole timer with 2000 rds thru it....ooo yea a .243 is a bbl burner...hahaha...NOT....this ole gun has had every popular powder burned in it also.....it still likes Rx-15 with lil bullets and 550 with big un's.
 

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I find hammer forged barrels to be more rough with their interior finish. I think most of remingtons barrels are hammer forged. If it persists after a few hundred rounds, I'd consider Tubb final finish lapping bullets. You don't have to use the aggessive grits if you dont want to, and the medium to fine ones probably won't hurt much. I've lapped barrels with his bullets and find very little metal removed but the finish is improved.
 
I agree....

...with those who say "if it shoots ...who cares"
Borescopes can be an invaluable tool, but sometimes (as in factory tubes) the "out of sight-out of mind" credo applies....It's usually downright ugly in there.
 
I have seen borescopes...

...disagree with paper on both br & factory tubes.

I'm not sue how gator skin bores can stack them on top of one another, but it happens??

Pay attenton to the targets....especially for a hunting rig.

pf
<><
 
I had a similar problem with one of my rifles and it quit after break in, I did start using
wipe out cleaner after a friend told me about it. It is the easiest cleaner I have ever used to get out copper fouling.

Duce
 
I second the recommendation on Wipe Out. I just got the accelerator but haven't tried it yet. If you use Wipe Out let it sit overnite. Then keep applying one nite after the other until perfectly clean. Usually two times.
 
I am only going to share my experience, so please don't interpret this as criticism.

If a person reads the literature on high-accuracy rifles, and include this forum in that category, it is possible to get paranoid about copper fouling.

I got so anxious about the fouling after buying a new rifle this summer, I was spending more time cleaning the gun than shooting it. I would worry, and even toss and turn at night, convinced I had a terrible problem.

Funny, over a lifetime of shooting sporting rifles, I can never recall a single time I "went ape" over cleaning for copper, and some of those sporters shot fine.

I finally had hard evidence that a lot of this anxiety about copper was in my head, not in the bore. A few days ago I shot a group with this rifle at 100 that measured 0.331 in.

Cool down. Drink a cold one. Slow down.

Good luck to you.
 
Update

Rifle still shooting great (1/2 MOA) but I am going to open up a penny mint. The amount of copper in the barrel after 30 - 40 rounds is truly impressive.
 
Copper

When we as shooters see things like this we first: blame the barrel(maker), this, that, etc. No one ever blames the bullets except that they won't shoot. Try changing bullets. Copper has impurities just as steel does. See if a different bullet fouls less. V/R Greg
 
Greg Fowl said:
When we as shooters see things like this we first: blame the barrel(maker), this, that, etc. No one ever blames the bullets except that they won't shoot. Try changing bullets. Copper has impurities just as steel does. See if a different bullet fouls less. V/R Greg
Click to expand...

I'm not really blaming the barrel maker. I'm not even really sure who Remington uses for the Sendero barrels. Perhaps I am spoiled by shooting Match Grade barrels that don't copper foul so extensively. I'll get over it (especially since I am getting 1/2 MOA) 71.0gr H1000, GM215M, JLK168 .010" off the lands, .002" neck tension. Lands were "trimmed" .060" with PTG Unithroater to allow VLD bullets to be seated into the neck without having the top of the bullet boattail below the shoulder/neck junction. (Sorry for not using the correct terminology for the bullet parts I am referring to, I forgot what you call it) Cheers :D
 
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