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[Nhoro]

My thinking is as follows : Fouling falls into two main divisions 1/Powder and powder residue. This has a varied chemical makeup that can react with your bore. It will also absorb water and encourage rust. It will contain mostly carbon as well and can get hard and form a varnish which will impact velocity and accuracy. Remove it primarily with carbon solvents which are very bad for your health (you are a carbon based life form so the solvents will dissolve your carbon too). Big bores generally come clean enough for acceptable accuracy and velocity because they are not fired much between cleanings. I use Ed's Red. So far I havent needed any solvents, my bore came from the CZ factory with a gold colour in the bore but the rifling and barrel are crisp and clean, just gold coloured. Basically you shoot 5 shots with a big bore or so and clean because you are done shooting. A .22 might shoot 50-100 rounds in 1 range session. This repeated firing burns the carbon residue into a varnish. So clean the carbon fouling off often but generally it comes off easily if you havent left it too long or fired too many rounds.To me the carbon is more of a worry because of rust or chemical reactions but it is easier to remove.
The second type of fouling is the metal being rubbed or smeared in your bore. There will not be any chemical reaction but it could let moisture build up behind it if it was bad. But I am not really concerned about a little gold leaf in my barrels. Getting that little bit out will probably damage your barrel and your health more than a little copper/brass plating. Those solvents are not pleasant and can be corrosive to your barrel. Ammonia is acidic so will attack the barrel while it reacts with copper. Carbon tetrachloride and other carbon solvents are carcinogenic. To me, the less chemical I pour down my barrel and over my hands the better