Shotgun barrel wear

[young1982 1]

I'm hoping someone is going to help put my mind at rest

I was cleaning my MK 38 after shooting in a match this morning and whilst running a dry patch through before oiling I noticed several very small flakes of bright shiny metal on the patch. Is this normal? if not what could it be and is it bad?

I've had this gun since new and it's no more than 2 months old, and it's had no more than 250 shots down it.

When looking down the lower barrel you can see some small specks/shapes (for want of better words) on the barrel wall just after the chamber, it looks exactly like plastic and with a few more strokes of a brush it might go, but if it's some sort of damage I don't want to make it any worse.

 

Before anyone asks my usual cleaning routine for me would be:

2x dry patch

mop soaked in tetra copper solvent left 30mins

20 strokes with brush

squirt of tetra action blaster down barrel

2x dry patch

1x patch soaked in action blaster

dry patch till clean

mop soak in gun oil

 

Many thanks

young1982

[Geoff.C 0]

Where you are seeing marking or debris, is the highest pressure point. Just beyond the forcing cones into the barrel, is where lead gets deposited with fibre wad loads and later when the gun is much older light barrel pitting will start, even with regular cleaning. If you are using plaswad shells, you are probably just looking at a bit of plastic deposited on the barrel walls through heat and pressure. This will scrub off with the brush.Some people swear by putting boiling water down the barrel first.

[young1982 1]

Cheers for the reply Geoff

I'm thinking what I can see is plastic, the brush I'm using is a Payne Galway it's quite mild when it comes to removing dirt. Do you think the metal is just lead?

My MK 38 has removeable chokes which must be taken out when running the brush through, could it be catching the threads as it leaves the barrel.

[poacherkev 64]

Where you are seeing marking or debris, is the highest pressure point. Just beyond the forcing cones into the barrel, is where lead gets deposited with fibre wad loads and later when the gun is much older light barrel pitting will start, even with regular cleaning. If you are using plaswad shells, you are probably just looking at a bit of plastic deposited on the barrel walls through heat and pressure. This will scrub off with the brush.Some people swear by putting boiling water down the barrel first.

As geoff c says i put boiling water down my barrels every 3mts or so .i bung up one end and fill up the barrel with boiling water and leave it in no more then 30 seconds cause the barrels get very very hot to the point you cant hold them with bare hands once i let the water go i put a good strong brush though a few times and it removes all the crap that stick to the barrels.

hope this helps

kev

[SportingShooter 0]

The MK38 has chromed barrels, I have one, so seeing any type of wear to the barrels is very highly unlikely.

 

All sorts of things get stuck to the side of the barrel walls, as Geoff says most commonly by the forcing cones. It could be plastic, metal or unburnt powder.

 

Your cleaning routine sounds good enough but there's nothing wrong with giving it a few hours of your attention every couple of months to really get everything out of the bores.

 

I don't favour the boiling water method myself, but if it works, so be it.

[Deker 3,478]

Where you are seeing marking or debris, is the highest pressure point. Just beyond the forcing cones into the barrel, is where lead gets deposited with fibre wad loads and later when the gun is much older light barrel pitting will start, even with regular cleaning. If you are using plaswad shells, you are probably just looking at a bit of plastic deposited on the barrel walls through heat and pressure. This will scrub off with the brush.Some people swear by putting boiling water down the barrel first.

 

Flippen' ek....... I can see where you are coming from with the boiling water but that's the first time I have heard of that one......and not something I will be rushing to try!!

[Geoff.C 0]

Where you are seeing marking or debris, is the highest pressure point. Just beyond the forcing cones into the barrel, is where lead gets deposited with fibre wad loads and later when the gun is much older light barrel pitting will start, even with regular cleaning. If you are using plaswad shells, you are probably just looking at a bit of plastic deposited on the barrel walls through heat and pressure. This will scrub off with the brush.Some people swear by putting boiling water down the barrel first.

 

Flippen' ek....... I can see where you are coming from with the boiling water but that's the first time I have heard of that one......and not something I will be rushing to try!!

 

I did say "some people" deker, I don't do it myself, but if you cork the muzzles and fill the tubes without soaking the working bits, it must loosen any dirt I guess.I think it a very old method. Now, what I do do, if there is anything showing past the cones, is to put the cleaning rod in a drill and run the bronze brush up and down that end only. It does no harm as the barrel is much harder than the bristles, and when the fouling has gone, just clean the rest of the barrels as normal.

[jamie g 17]

there is enough cleaning stuff on the market with out having to put water down there imo. it isnt something i would like to do. to any of my rifles to

[Tiddler66 3]

Boiling water and a water soluble gun oil like "Rangoon" or "Youngs 303" was the way people used to clean out barrels in the days of Black Powder. That stuff was so corrosive, because acids would form in the deposits.....scrubbing the barrels out with a phosphor bronze brush and hot oily water, removed all the acid. I think I remember reading instructions on how to do it printed on an old oil can!

[will777 0]

See if your local gun shop has a GMK payne gallwey brush as here: http://www.avalon-guns.com/avalon/Avalon_Shop_Cleaning_BrushesclothsJagsMops_81.html (about a 3rd of the way down the page) there still phosphor bronze but make cleaning your barrells a much easier job than with the standard twisted brushes.

 

HTH!

[Daveo 61]

Sounds like you have worn the barrels away with your intense cleaning method

I favour the brush in a drill method if the bores are bad.

I used it on an old folding .410 where the bore looked well buggered and it brought it up a treat.

I would'nt risk the boiling water myself unless shooting B/P and you really need to.

[Deker 3,478]

Where you are seeing marking or debris, is the highest pressure point. Just beyond the forcing cones into the barrel, is where lead gets deposited with fibre wad loads and later when the gun is much older light barrel pitting will start, even with regular cleaning. If you are using plaswad shells, you are probably just looking at a bit of plastic deposited on the barrel walls through heat and pressure. This will scrub off with the brush.Some people swear by putting boiling water down the barrel first.

 

Flippen' ek....... I can see where you are coming from with the boiling water but that's the first time I have heard of that one......and not something I will be rushing to try!!

 

I did say "some people" deker, I don't do it myself, but if you cork the muzzles and fill the tubes without soaking the working bits, it must loosen any dirt I guess.I think it a very old method. Now, what I do do, if there is anything showing past the cones, is to put the cleaning rod in a drill and run the bronze brush up and down that end only. It does no harm as the barrel is much harder than the bristles, and when the fouling has gone, just clean the rest of the barrels as normal.

 

......that reminded me of a day years back when I was helping the father in law rebuild his car engine, we were fitting new valves and he had been diligently grinding and pasting for hours by hand to get the seating....he went in for a rest and I got the Black and Decker out...he never did know how I managed to do them so quick.....although one certainly did seat a bit deep!