11-30-2022, 01:44 PM
TedBrewer5 Wrote:This is a new thread I decided has a place here on the forum. After being a forum member for a couple of years as a Grendel owner and most of a year prior to that reading posts here I have learned a lot from many spirited discussions by forum members. So why not have a spot to to keep spirited discussion alive specifically pertaining to gun cleaning practices.
I will go first. Copper in or copper out?
I generally like a clean barrel which includes copper. I find it a tedious task to say the least but I like as few variables as possible for accuracy. And yes I should have spent higher than PSA but my 20 SS barrel will get me .75 shooting 120 gr Sierra pro hunters over 28 gr 8208.
TB5:
What process do you use to clean your barrels and with what gear?
Copper in or out? When Sweets came out, guys used it and their patches were dark blue. The color of the patches was enough for guys to use copper remover. The question of it doing anything was never asked. Finally, after a couple of decades, a school of thought came about saying the copper fills microscopic voids in the barrel, making the barrel more consistent. I am surprised Sweets is still on the market but I like it if I get into old surplus ammo with corrosive primers. Otherwise, I never noticed a difference and saved my time and money. Like moly coated bullets -- when they first came out people swore by them. Then people started questioning their value in terms of the money spent and found out they did not score any better than bullets that were not moly coated.
I also think with the Grendel that rod guides and other esoteric pieces of cleaning gear are probably not worth the money. An AR needs the chamber cleaned but otherwise some solvent and a bore snake cleans the barrels just fine. I will spend time getting the bolt and bolt carrier cleaned though. Inside of the lower also. PITA but they can really get dirty.
I look at it like this. If you want to spend your time and money removing copper then go for it. I just think it a waste of time under the vast majority of shooting conditions so don't.
Remember that after you remove the copper and shoot the rifle, it takes time for all those pores in the barrel to fill with copper again and thus you have inconsistencies -- although I doubt anyone can measure them. Just sounds good.
LR-55