Polishing your barrel

[Cooper4141]

Pollishing your barrel

I am a member at Piney Hills and shoot there in some "Squirrel Gun Matches" that they hold there. I go over to practice pretty regular and lately my gun's accuracy has fell off some. I don't know if it is ammo, me, or both!!! While over at the chicken house I have talked to some of the other shooters and they talked about pollishing the the inside of their barrels with a buffing compound of some sort. They say that it helps your guns accuracy. My question is does it help and can it hurt your barrel?

 

[Bill B]

They are probably using Iosso. It is a very slightly abrasive compound that does a great job of removing the carbon ring in front of the chamber, that can rob accuracy. It will not harm your barrel. If you ever saw anyone lap a barrel, one would not worry about using a little Iosso or a bore brush. You probably don't need to Iosso the whole barrel. Short stroke the chamber area with it. Clean it out with your regular solvent. If that doesn't restore your accuracy, repeat with the Iosso and also use a bore brush with solvent on your barrel in case that has leaded up. That should do it.

 

[Cooper4141]

How often should this be done and where can I get it at?

 

[jGEE]

MY METHOD:
I take a well used bronze brush and wrap a rimfire patch around the center of the brush. Liberally coat the patch with Iosso. I do use my same coated patch for several different cleaning sessions but I clean often.

I use a short 17" cleaning rod and short stroke the chamber leade area to remove the carbon ring and lead ring that forms with as little as 25 rounds. Patch out the Iosso after the 20 or so Iosso "short strokes".

Most bench rest shooters clean after ever 25 round card. I clean with Iosso about every 100 rounds but also clean when my rifle lets me know. (When my groups open up a bit).

Iosso is the best carbon/lead remover I have ever seen!

Looking with a bore scope Iosso not only cleans but also polishes the barrel leade area to a high luster. My barrels rarely need a full length brushing/cleaning (checked with a bore scope)- just the chamber leade area.

You can get Iosso paste from Brownells HERE. joe

 

[chuck51840]

Does anyone have an opinion on whether using flitz will hurt your bore any more than iosso or jb?

 

[Bill B]

How often should this be done and where can I get it at?

jGEE has pretty much given you the info on that. The only thing I do different is I don't use a worn bore brush with the IOSSO. I just use a tight patch, do 10-15 strokes then remove it from the chamber, turn the patch 1/4 turn and repeat.

To answer Chuck51840, I've never used Flitz or JB for this task (even though I have some JB). The IOSSO does a great job and is less abrasive than JB and I'm guessing Flitz as well. IOSSO is what my gunsmith recommended and so it's what I use.

 

[Cooper4141]

So this can't hurt your rifleing or chamber?

 

[frey]

The Iosso itself won't hurt the chamber or rifling.
I've been using it for a couple years without any problems.

I like these pellets for application.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=13839/Product/WEAPONS-CARE-SYSTEM-PELLETS
The regular felt is more than enough when used with the Iosso.
I have some of the super-intensive, but don't seem to need them.

on this jag/adapter.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=25903/Product/VFG-ADAPTER

and the #607 8-32 adapter so it will fit onto my dedicated 12" pro-shot cleaning rod.
The 8-32 adapter is at the bottom of the list in the first link above.

I also use a proper fitting bore guide to keep the 12" rod nice and centered in the bore.

 

[tim]

The IOSSO works quite well with stiff nylon brushes with or without a wrapped patch, they provide good resistance in the bores interior to get the job done it short order.

 

[Wilbur]

I'm sure that the Iosso won't hurt and nearly sure that Flitz won't harm your barrel given the number of lifetime strokes likely to happen. We used to polish the aluminum on our Hondas with Flitz but it took forever and only the most persistent won out over the dullness. I would tell the story about Jay Johnson and his "million stroke" abrasive test again but in all these years of telling it I never got a comment. I should get out and gather some new stuff to write about.

BTW - when you use these compounds, it seems that you have to give up before you get a snow white patch back out. Don't know how it works but if you run a patch of Sweets through and wait a minute it will clear that black/grey patch right up - makes you feel better immediately.