[DystruktoBoi1]

So I've been taking a look at the rifles I haven't shot in awhile with my slowly growing firearms knowledge thanks to this forum and my google-fu I have learned alot. Taking a recent look at my Enfield I noticed my bore looked dirty even though I know I had cleaned it. I used tons of gun cleaner and brushed the crap out of the bore, loosened up ALOT of gunk and I dry swabbed it out of there, over and over I did this, getting a bit more each time.

I am satisfied that it looks much better but to me my rifling looks almost like its been filled in flush at certain spots, could be the lighting, could be it has lots of lead in there.

So questions:

1. How can I tell if the barrel is full of lead? Before I did this I got 3 shots almost in the same hole at 100 yards, so it was accurate even before this was done.

2. Is there a better way to get into the rifle grooves other then going crazy with a brass brush? Only other thing I can think of it rapid firing to heat the barrel up and more brushing.

3. Can I **** up my barrel by over cleaning it? Its an original 1942, I don't wanna mess things up on it. I am being careful when I clean it.

 

[Degenret]

Gunslick foaming bore cleanser. If it comes out blue after it dissolves, that means you have lead in the barrel. Use it, brush, swab, repeat. Less blue.

 

[DystruktoBoi1]

Gunslick foaming bore cleanser. If it comes out blue after it dissolves, that means you have lead in the barrel. Use it, brush, swab, repeat. Less blue.

Thank you very much, I'm looking it up right now.

How well does it work?

 

[ChrisWNY]

I use Gunslick foaming bore cleaner in my .308 (as well as my pistols) after every trip to the range. Stuff works great. You can find it at stores that deal in firearms (Gander, Wally World, etc.), and all over the place online. I ended up ordering a couple 12 oz. cans on Amazon because I didn't have luck finding it in-stock anywhere locally. A 12 oz. can should last you dozens of cleanings, if not more. You spray the foam into the barrel, give it 30-60 minutes to start dissolving powder and copper/lead fouling, then use a brass brush followed by some dry patches soaked in your favorite solvent (Hoppes #9, etc.) to get all the crud out. I finish off with a bore snake spritzed with some Rem Oil (especially if I'm storing the rifle). Best part about the foaming bore cleaner is that it doesn't have an odor so you can use it indoors with no lingering stench.

 

[varmint]

trying to overheat the barrel to get the lead out?...omg no. do you mean lead or copper?..or both? I like to run an oily patch through them before I put them away. If your scrubbing the barrel dry your going to get rust and pitting.

 

[DystruktoBoi1]

trying to overheat the barrel to get the lead out?...omg no. do you mean lead or copper?..or both? I like to run an oily patch through them before I put them away. If your scrubbing the barrel dry your going to get rust and pitting.

No no its oiled when I clean it. And I didn't mean over heat, just warm it up, 30 quick shots isn't going to over do it I don't think, I have heard sometimes getting barrel warm can help loosen up some stuff, but I won't need to at this point all the foaming barrel cleaner is looking good.

Also I think its mostly just lead now, my first few tries with the brush and my cleaner resulted in some green chunky stuff (what I assume to be corroded copper bits) but that has all been cleaned out, all I need is something to cleaned deeply into my rifling grooves now and the foam suff seems like it will do it.

 

[groovy mike]

If your barrel is accurate, don't work hard to change anything.

 

[Phlyan Pan]

I would bet more barrels get F'd up by improper or excessive cleaning than by shooting them dirty. I don't have any data to back that up but I think it happens more than most people would guess.

 

[Evild]

Since it's an Enfield, I'll assume 303? if so, at some point it probably wasn't cleaned properly and the corrosive ammo did a bit of bore darkening or pitting, which is what you are probably seeing, I doubt you have leading unless your using lead instead of jacketed ammo.

 

[THE RAVEN]

A barrel is expected to carry a certain amount of lead/copper in the rifiling......It is just filling in the imperfections in the rifling itself.....Some rifles do tend to have low spots per-say in the rifling,no worries though just clean it well,and don't go overboard scrubbing or you might mess up your accuracy until those prone areas are filled in again with deposits....

 

[THE RAVEN]

This is a clip of an article from John Holliger,owner of White Oak Armament......They use Wilson barrels on thier rifles....

"Barrels are lapped not so that they will be smooth, but so that the finish and dimensions will be uniform over the entire barrel. When you use an abrasive cleaning compound you will change the finish on the inside of the barrel. Since some areas of the barrel are going to be protected by copper that you are trying to remove, and others areas are not, the surface finish is no longer going to be uniform."

 

[DystruktoBoi1]

Yup it's .303, after this cleaning the barrel brightened up quite a bit, I can't tell if it is chrome lined, I don't think Enfields are anyway, so for what it is I'd say its pretty bright now. The bore cleaner isn't abrasive I don't think so I may still go and use that on it just once.

It's still accurate so I won't worry too much about it, thanks for the article quotes, gave me some peace of mind about my rifle, now I just need to find some .303 at a decent price and test its accuracy again lol

 

[groovy mike]

FYI, no Enfields were chrome lined.

 

[DystruktoBoi1]

FYI, no Enfields were chrome lined.

I didn't think so because they are a 70 year old rifle, just didn't know for sure without looking it up and I couldn't cuz I was at work on break lol