If Carlsberg were to.....

[HUnter_zero 58]

Now and then it's still feasible to stumble across a product that does exactly what it's meant to do and even better than expected.

I love rifle shooting, I love reloading but I hate cleaning the rifles after I've been to the range. After many years of searching and testing I finally settled on Tetra gun copper solvent as my one and only bore cleaner. Tests showed that it out preformed all other solvents but recently I've had problems buying the solvent in bulk, so I started my search again for a replacement. I ordered Forrest bore foam (which I tried a few years back), nope still not much cop. Hoppe's Elite copper terminator which it's claimed will remove copper fouling up to four times faster than ammonia didn't actually do what was claimed on the bottle. I finally managed to get hold of a large bottle of Tetra solvent so my search ceased, but I forgot that I had placed an order for some Robla Solo MIL barrel cleaner.

I had made plans to be at the range for day break. 50 rounds down the .308 and 20 down the .243", an hour and a half later I was home and to my surprise this new bore cleaner had arrived. No better time than now to test it, so after breakfast I set about cleaning the barrels on my Parker-hale .308 and Pro-hunter .243".

Robla Solo MIL is the second generation of the manufactures solvent and is claimed to completely dissolve copper, tombac ( brass alloy with high copper content and 5-20% zinc content / no I didn't know that either) and lead. The German military have tested it and love the stuff. I can only say that after three passes with a patch and jag soaked in Robla both barrels were literally squeaky clean. I could find no copper residues at all. There is a warning that this stuff can remove the bluing but will not harm the steel, so I gave the bore a wipe through with Break free as I'll not be using the rifles until next weekend. I am honestly astounded with this produce, better than anything I have ever used to remove copper fouling and best of all it is the cheapest copper solvent I have ever purchased at £4.95 for 100 ml.

 

John

[SportingShooter 0]

Good Good

 

I've tried a few by now and they are never really what they claim to be. I find Hoppes useless, Forest aint too bad and Tetra I haven't used much of.

 

So I'll keep my eye out. Anywhere inparticular you ordered it from?

[HUnter_zero 58]

Good Good

 

I've tried a few by now and they are never really what they claim to be. I find Hoppes useless, Forest aint too bad and Tetra I haven't used much of.

 

So I'll keep my eye out. Anywhere inparticular you ordered it from?

 

As it happens I just ordered another two bottles to keep a stock. Postage is extremely reasonable at under £2! and as it's from the main supplier the bore solvent is a few pence cheaper.

 

http://www.ballistoluk.co.uk/acatalog/Gun_Care_Products.html

 

 

John

Edited September 26, 2009 by HUnter_zero

[bullmastiff 615]

Robla Solo MIL is the second generation of the manufactures solvent and is claimed to completely dissolve copper, tombac ( brass alloy with high copper content and 5-20% zinc content / no I didn't know that either) and lead.

 

Although I'm sure it works wonders on Copper and Zinc, if it's a solvent it won't touch Lead.

Lead is a non reactive metal, so if it's corrosive enough to dissolve lead it will definately be damaging your Barrels and anything else in comes in contact with. Just watch for your Brass Alloy cleaning rods going black and pitted.

So go careful with it. JMO.

 

All the best,

 

Luke.

[jamie g 17]

have you tryed the kg range hunterzero i use this on my 22/250 after a mate told me it was very good and it soon cleans the barrel.

butchers bore shine it pretty good but messy

[HUnter_zero 58]

have you tryed the kg range hunterzero i use this on my 22/250 after a mate told me it was very good and it soon cleans the barrel.

butchers bore shine it pretty good but messy

 

I've seen the KG-12 bore cleaner but never used it, IIRC it's expensive and ammonia free (like Hoppe's Elite copper terminator) I did try Butch's bore shine but found it to be no so good, Barnes CR-10 is better but again expensive and not as fast as Tetra. I hate using brushes in my rifle bores, so I have tried to find products that specifically omit "brush" in the instructions. I tried Robla Solo MIL in one of the shotgun barrels, not as good as tetra! but it's the rifles I'm more worried about.

 

John

[Deker 3,478]

... this all gets too much for me...I've tried the Bore Foam...and all I ever seem to do is pebbledash the kitchen...Tetra I've not used for a long while.

 

Hoppes Bench Rest Copper Solvent is now my preferred and I've just invested in another large bottle. I do not pretend it is the best in the world and I have to say this latest bottle does not seem quite as good as the last one

 

Are we getting a consensus out of this one, seems that several different views have been expressed and various results achieved!

 

I'm more than happy to try new stuff but I'm left a little confused after reading this lot..

[HUnter_zero 58]

latest bottle does not seem quite as good as the last one

 

I'm more than happy to try new stuff but I'm left a little confused after reading this lot..

 

Funny you should say that, I thought it was just me but I do find that Tetra (in my case) will vary from batch to batch. This Robla Solo MIL has a best before date, which I can not find on other bore solvents I have here so perhaps quality suffers on the long term and we have no traceability on manufacturing dates.

When your in the market for some more bore cleaner give Robla Solo MIL ago, for less than £6 to your door, I don't think you can go wrong.

Bore foam was not very effective in my M77 and I've not tried it since, there used to be a company called Adrian trading (?) who were the first importers of Forrest foam he used to sell it much cheaper than the shops are selling it. The auctions are on next month so I think I might pick up and old dog of a rifle and fill the barrel with Robla Solo MIL and leave it stand for three months just to see what effect it has on bare metal, I've already started testing it with FMJ bullets to establish how much copper is dissolved compared to Tetra over a three day period. This is a great little test to establish how effective your copper solvent is: Take a jacketed bullet, weigh it accurately and record. Fill a test tube with bore cleaner and place the bullet in, leave for 24 to 72 hours, recording the bullet weight at ever 24 hour period.

There was one specific well known copper solvent that had no effect at all on the copper, so I managed to blag some pure copper fillings from one of my calls, three months latter only 10% by weight had dissolved and this being a well known and respected copper solvent.

 

John

Edited September 27, 2009 by HUnter_zero

[jamie g 17]

have you tryed the kg range hunterzero i use this on my 22/250 after a mate told me it was very good and it soon cleans the barrel.

butchers bore shine it pretty good but messy

 

I've seen the KG-12 bore cleaner but never used it, IIRC it's expensive and ammonia free (like Hoppe's Elite copper terminator) I did try Butch's bore shine but found it to be no so good, Barnes CR-10 is better but again expensive and not as fast as Tetra. I hate using brushes in my rifle bores, so I have tried to find products that specifically omit "brush" in the instructions. I tried Robla Solo MIL in one of the shotgun barrels, not as good as tetra! but it's the rifles I'm more worried about.

 

John

 

get the kg12 off ebay thats where i got mine. its free post to so that saves money. its very good i wouldnt use anything else now. i got carbon remover and kg12 but they do one now which i have also got that only removes the top layer of copper so it keeps the barrel clean. but doesnt strip it complete of copper.

 

this in turn means when you next go out your 1st shot will still be bang on. i no on some rifles after a deep clean it takes some rounds to settle again

 

also the kg12 must be pretty good as i only use a nylon brush in my barrel not a bronze brush

Edited September 27, 2009 by jamie g

[crumblyned 0]

Thanks for the heads up Zero

I have got five rifles to clean, I love the shooting but oh the cleaning. So going to give the Robla Solo Mil a go

[HUnter_zero 58]

Thanks for the heads up Zero

I have got five rifles to clean, I love the shooting but oh the cleaning. So going to give the Robla Solo Mil a go

 

 

Well I am truly astonished! I'm half way through some basic tests ( I do them so you don't have too ) and the results so far are unbelievable, far better than I had ever thought possible. When done, I'll publish the results with photos.

 

John

[HUnter_zero 58]

The follow are tests were carried out on three bore cleaners, Tetra Gun copper solvent, Hoppe's Elite and Robla Solo MIL, the forth being an equal mixture of each bore cleaner.

I placed a 6mm Sierra 90 grain FMJ (#1535) in to a vial of each bore cleaner and monitored each one to establish which cleaner would remove the most copper by weight.

Each bullet was selected at 90.2 grains on my scales. The results are fairly conclusive but I have to point out that I had no favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

AFTER 4 HOURS

 

 

1,2 & 4 have no discernable discolouration. 3 has already turned a deep green colour.

 

 

AFTER 12 HOURS

 

 

All vials have now changed colour.

 

 

 

AFTER 24 HOURS

 

All bullets were removed from the bore cleaner vials, dried and weighed. A sample of used bore cleaner and new bore cleaner was plced on tissue paper for comparison of colour change.

 

 

1 : Tetra gun copper solvent resulted in a .1 grain loss in weight. The bullet showed damage.

 

 

2: Hoppe's Elite resulted in an amazing .1 grain loss of copper, the bullet showed little or no damage.

 

 

3: Robla Solo MIL resulted in a .3 grain loss in copper, three times as much as the other bore cleaners, the bullet was knackered big time!

 

 

4: 1/3 mix of bore cleaners was not better than 1 & 2 and was less effective as 3!

 

Well thats my tests done, make of it what you will.

 

John

[HUnter_zero 58]

Just to let anyone who is thinking or has ordered some Bore cleaner. I placed an order on Sunday night, got my full order today. Well happy.

 

John

[weejohn 3]

john,

how do you find the robla at removing the carbon in the barrel?

[crumblyned 0]

Got my Robla Bore cleaner today (less than 48hrs after order ) tried it on what I thought was a clean barrel, It wasn’t, not buy a long way.

Ashamed to say that I have been banging on for years about consistent accurate shooting starts with a clean barrel when mine obviously wasn’t. Ned