Cleaning the factory crud out of a new gun

[SuperstitionCoues]

Hi.

I have a new Ruger Hawkeye coming in sometime this week.  I always run into the problem of trying to get the factory preservative/crud out of the barrel.  My typical use of Butch's / Shooter's Choice / Hoppes takes a lot of elbow grease and successive days to get the crud fully out before I shoot the weapon. 

Does anyone have a really good recommend for getting that factory preservative out of the bore?

[Will_C]

i have used JB bore compound on the last two or three new barrels I have worked with. Several hundred passes with a patch wrapper around a worn out brush does a great job. Follow up with solvent and you are ready to go shoot.
Will

[jhm]

I generally use bore cleaners of different brands, then a light oiling with rem. oil or similar products, HOWEVER I would be willing to bet that their are a large majority of new handguns/rifles/and shotguns that are taken out of the box loaded and fired until they are traded off, think about that the next time you trade for a used firearm.   JIM

[SDS-GEN]

Hey superstition, I got a Ruger Hawkeye a few months ago in 338 fed.  There was a lot of crud in the barrel, I bet they put a few boxes of ammo through it at the factory, lots of powder/copper fouling.  I used some kind of foaming bore cleaner, it worked great, I don't think I'll ever go back to liquid copper remover.  Let me know what you think of the rifle, I'm having problems with the bolt binding up on mine.  Also looking for a new spring to take a couple of pounds off the trigger.

[Ahab]

The last Ruger I purchased, 7mm08, (November 06) had a very smooth bore. About 6 passes with a Butches soaked patch cleaned it right up. Unlike the Savage I purchased a month ago, felt like there was sand in the barrel. By the way, first group sighting in was about 4" with 4 of 5 keyholed. All of them with heavily cratered primers. (factory ammo) Yes it went back to the factory. So much for out of the box accuracy. Smith at the gun shop said this wasn't the first one he's seen.

[bluebayou]

Not the healthiest stuff but I use CRC Brakleen.  It is the same as Birchwood Casey Gunscrubber.  I checked the MSDS and it is 1/2 the price.  Brakleen removes all petroleum based stuff, but it hard on plastic and wood finishes.  I take the rifle down and then hose it with Brakleen.  The non-chlorinated brake cleaners work okay, Brakleen and other chlorinated cleaners aren't legal everywhere.

It also takes cosmoline off car parts without any scrubbing (that's its real use, you know)

[Keith L]

To put a real fine point on it brake parts cleaners are to remove lubrication and crud from brake parts.  Lube is bad on friction surfaces in a brake system.  Lube is good in many places on guns for lubrication and rust prevention, so if you clean with such a solvent remember to apply the appropriate lube befire use/storage.

[bluebayou]

That is a good point.  I didn't think to mention that.  Brake cleaners get all protectants off, so some time needs to be spent reprotecting surfaces. 

I use a light coat of RemOil or CLP in the barrel at all times.  The other surfaces I wipe down (probably too thick). 

[TNrifleman]

Kroil works quite well for cleaning up a firearm. It is a great penetrant and crud cutter.

[SuperstitionCoues]

A slight change in plans for the firearm... I cancelled my order for a 7mm-08 (the small mom and pop store wanted me to buy a scratched and dented firearm - no way!!!).  While I was at Bass Pro Shops, I was seduced by a brand new Browning Citori 525 Field 12 Ga..  I had to buy it.  It is the shotgun that I have wanted for 26 years, since I was 14.

O.K., to the point.  I have been trying to remove the factory preservative since Sunday evening.  So far, I have used Pyroil Brake Cleaner (no effect), Hoppes (no effect), Break Free and Shooters Choice (better results), and now the bores have been soaking overnight with Kroil inside of it.  We'll see what happens.

A call to Browning Product Service gave the recommendation of "...cloth, scrubber brush, and bore cleaner..." My, aren't they helpful?  I'll add elbow grease to that one also.  One of these days I'll get it to trap range, as soon as I am done pulling brown goo out of both bores! 

If the Kroil doesn't work tonight, I am going back to the Breakfree and Shooters Choice.  It has given the best results so far.
If anyone else has any more ideas within reason, I am willing to listen to them.

[bluebayou]

The SKS got a bath in mineral spirits for a couple of hours.  All of the cosmoline just wiped/sprayed right off after that.  Just a thought.  The worst that I got was a 2000 production Winchester M70 Black Shadow.  It was a deal at $200, but it was filthy.  It had grease, loctite in the chamber from where they screwed the barrel in, rust on the bolt body, and oil gooed on the outside surfaces.  It shoots pretty well, but wasn't very easy to clean.