Shotgun Cleaning?

[Calhoun]

I was talking to a fellow about a problem cleaning my barrell. I have to shoot slugs for Deer in the county that I live in. I can clean that barrell all day and the patches keep coming out Black.
I was told it is plastic fouling from the wads from the slugs I've been using. Does anyone have any ideas or solution to to this problem? The gun shoots slugs
very accurately. It drives me nuts!

 

[enysse]

There are cleaning solutions at the gun store that dissolve or loosens the plastic from the jackets. You have to look at the labels. A good plastic or brass brush is needed too!

 

[Mr. 16 gauge]

You can use just about any solvent, and it will help remove the plastic, but the best item I have found for shotgun cleaning, whether it be lead from foster type slugs or plastic fouling (my steel shot wads leave a lot of plastic in the barrels) is a brush called the "Tornado" brush.....I can't remember for sure if it is made by Outers or Hoppes, but I believe it is one of those two companies.
The 'brush' looks like a bunch of wire loops connected to a central spindle. I simply run a heavily soaked patch through the bore and let it soak overnight, then the next day dip the brush in the solvent and run it through....If you do have heavy plastic fouling, it will come out looking like black snot! (Yuck!). I usually do a dozen or two strokes through the bore, run some tight cloth patches through, then repeat the process. Any lead buildup from the slugs will come out as silver flakes.
Good luck....................

 

[zephyr]

About as good as it gets

https://www.shooters-choice.com/shotgun-and-choke-tube-cleaner

 

[rookhawk]

Incidentally, for rifled slug guns shooting plastic sabots many experts recommend not cleaning it often if at all. I'd run a mop through it and be done. The plastic fouling is doing no harm and may actually be helping. Often when rigorously cleaned they shoot poorly until built up again.

All this runs contrary to all we believe about fine guns but in this case it is true.

 

[James.Grage]

I was talking to a fellow about a problem cleaning my barrell. I have to shoot slugs for Deer in the county that I live in. I can clean that barrell all day and the patches keep coming out Black.
I was told it is plastic fouling from the wads from the slugs I've been using. Does anyone have any ideas or solution to to this problem? The gun shoots slugs
very accurately. It drives me nuts!

Hi Calhoun,

A good brass brush in 10 gauge for your 12 gauge is a good start.
Never use a Tornado brush as it is steel and when the loops break they will scratch your bore.

I have a cleaning rod that i can plug into by power drill and it is a good way to clean your shotgun barrel with a brass brush.
I have on old brush that i put a patch on with cleaning solvent and it works great. In Less than 5 minutes and your barrel clean an polished as can be.
Add a good oil after cleaning your barrel and your build up will be less.

Many solvents will remove the Plastic from your barrel.
Check to see that they will remove plastic, some will work better than others.

 

[Grumulkin]

Good advice to NEVER use a steel brush in ANY barrel.

I've been able to get every bit of gunk out of a slug barrel with solvent and brash brushes. When using patches, you'll have the best results putting a patch around a brush and running it through the bore.

 

[Jwg223]

I was talking to a fellow about a problem cleaning my barrell. I have to shoot slugs for Deer in the county that I live in. I can clean that barrell all day and the patches keep coming out Black.
I was told it is plastic fouling from the wads from the slugs I've been using. Does anyone have any ideas or solution to to this problem? The gun shoots slugs
very accurately. It drives me nuts!

Stout rod tipped with a "Tornado" cleaning brush. You have a TON of lead on the walls of that bore. I get piles of shavings out of Benelli's when I clean them this way, and that's a mirror-smooth chrome-lined hammer forged bore...

 

[Jwg223]

Hi Calhoun,

A good brass brush in 10 gauge for your 12 gauge is a good start.
Never use a Tornado brush as it is steel and when the loops break they will scratch your bore.

I have a cleaning rod that i can plug into by power drill and it is a good way to clean your shotgun barrel with a brass brush.
I have on old brush that i put a patch on with cleaning solvent and it works great. In Less than 5 minutes and your barrel clean an polished as can be.
Add a good oil after cleaning your barrel and your build up will be less.

Many solvents will remove the Plastic from your barrel.
Check to see that they will remove plastic, some will work better than others.

Don't use it until it breaks. I have NEVER broken one, and I've used the snot out of them. They are cheap...buy a new one before it gets to that point! I never noticed any scoring of the bore from the brush, and I'm pretty darn OCD about such. You gotta thing, this thing was made for mild steel pellets to squeeze through a tight section of it at 1.5x the speed of sound on the regular...

 

[Grumulkin]

The mild steel pellets are NOT supposed to touch the bore; that's what the wad is for.

 

[Jwg223]

The mild steel pellets are NOT supposed to touch the bore; that's what the wad is for.

Quite right they are not, but I bet they do sometimes. It's never caused a problem that I am aware of.

 

[Grumulkin]

Well, if they do touch the bore, they will cause a problem if you do it enough. That's why special care has to be taken if you handload steel shot.

 

[rookhawk]

I always read in match shooting books about having patches come out flawlessly clean and never could get there. I tried Shooters Choice, Sweet's 7.62 and other noxious carcinogens trying to clean rifles. I thought clean was what I was getting.

I recently found a Hoppe's foaming bore cleaner product and it is amazing. Foam it in, lead and copper foam rolls out. Brush a bit and you're done. A barrel thought to be poor came out excellent with this stuff. The final patch after a session came out 100% Snow White and appeared unused.

YMMV with plastic residue but give it a try.

 

[larry4831]

Get some of that chore boy it's for cleaning pots and pans. It's a copper scrubbing pad but you want to make sure that it's not copper covering steel. Take a magnet and if the magnet picks up you don't want to use it, you want the all copper scrubbing pads. Take a 20 gauge bore brush and wrap the chore boy around it with your solvent, that should get everything out.

 

[lcq]

for lead fouling I use hoppes elite (aqueous) and a bronze brush. takes it out way better than solvent based cleaners

 

[lockingblock]

Having shot slugs in quantity for years at work...here is what I found works-

Assuming you have a pump or semi auto where you can remove the barrel...don't get anything on the wood.

Start with something basic like hoppes # 9, soak the bore and brush with a Bronze (not steel) Tornado brush. Don't bother with the bristle brushes...they suck. Wet it and push back and forth 25 times or so. Use a coated rod to prevent scratching the bore. Watch on exit that you don't drag the edge of the rod against the muzzle or similar.

Patch dry...inspect.

Now, Slip 2000 Carbon Cutter is your friend. Soak the bore...and I mean soak. If you could plug it and fill it...it would be great, but it's not needed. I just keep a rod with a wet patch on the bench and run it through every 30 minutes for a day (Saturday). After 4-8 hours, brush, patch dry. This will get all carbon out.

Now...you likely have a bit of lead and plastic to get out. Nothing cuts lead chemically except some uber nasty stuff that will kill you as it makes the lead a solution that is absorbed transdermally. Wear 2X gloves if you try that and trash anything that gets wet. Better to go hard after the plastic and scrape at the lead with a Tornado Brush. For Plastic...GM Top Engine Cleaner, Carb Cleaner, Gun Scrubber...or similar. It evaporates...use a lot, use it every 3 seconds, and scrub. Wear eye pro.

For chokes...remove them, soak in a jar of carbon cutter for 48 hours, scrub, lube, install. Always grease the threads on choke tubes.

Finally, patch it with a light oil like Break Free CLP to prevent rust.

 

[brandondd24]

Excellent cleaning info!

 

[brandondd24]

@lockingblock