barrel cleaning

[Dino]

After cleaning my R9s yesterday I noticed the lands in my barrel have dark shadows in them.  The rest of the barrel is nice and shinny but not the groves.
I am a finatic on barrel cleanning and all of my other guns do not look this way after a good cleaning.  Any advice?  Is this normal?

[MurrayNevada]

What bore cleaner do you use?  I have good luck with Outers Nitro Solvent.  If I use other cleaners and find the barrel less than perfect I find a little Outers Nitro finishes the job for me.

[Dino]

I used break-free, the foam type. I will try nitro.  So I take it the lands should be as shinny as the rest of the barrel?

[sslater]

Dino;
I've noticed the same thing re:the R9 grooves retaining shooting residue.  It does take a bit of extra work to get them clean.  They seem to have machining marks left over from the rifling process.

I've been using WIPE-OUT foam bore cleaner on all my firearms for a couple of years now with good results.  My R9s gets a couple of passes with a brush before patching out the residue.  Works pretty good for me.

Steve

[Dino]

Thanks Steve, do you use a brass brush?  I used a plastic brush to no avail.  Now I understand that with my rifles I have to take them thorugh a cleaning break in process and maybe it is just going to take more than 60 rounds to "smooth" the barrel out??
At least now I know it is normal.  

[sslater]

Dino,
Use a brass brush.  Afterward, be sure to flush it with spray cleaner because foam bore cleaners dissolve copper (and brass).
I don't think the brush will last thru too many cleanings, but it's a  relatively cheap price to pay.
Steve

[Dino]

Thanks Steve, I was afraid of brass on that barrel but I have used it on others with out any problems.  I just have to have a extra clean barrel or I'm not happy.  I will try it tonight.  I have ordered some of the above mention bore cleaners but they have not arrived yet.

[Richard S]

Dino:

Everyone has their own preferred cleaning materials, and there are many excellent products out there. For my purposes, I've settled on Ballistol for just about every aspect of the gun cleaning process. It's even good on leather and wood. I once heard it referred to as "the ultimate survival juice," and that's pretty much the way I feel about the stuff myself.

http://www.ballistol.com/

[tracker]

I bought some Ballistol months ago on Richard's recommendation
and it is, indeed, a quality product. Also, while lurking around the
gun dept. yesterday at Bass Pro Shop, I picked up a small rifle
cleaning kit for $9.95. It had a 2 oz. bottle of Outer's Nitro Solvent
in the kit which beats waiting for it in the mail.

[CaptBW]

+1 Ballistol

[Dino]

Thanks men, the UPS and mail man are going to like me as I do most of my shoping from my computer.  Ballistol is on the way.  

[mefly2]

My barrel rifling seems to still have machining marks which retain residue ... is that a normal situation on these pistols?
Unfortuantely, I did not closely exxamine the bbl prior to shooting for a comparison point  But now, it is readily apparent even after cleaning with solvent / oversized brass brush / patches.  I have used Hoppe's and Prolix to no avail ... would  you suggest that I go next to JB's ?

[horseman]

I have a friend who has a HUGE gun collection.  He keeps a 20 gallon auto parts washer full of Ballistol.  He field strips the firearm, lets the parts sit in the washer for a few minutes, shoots the ballistol through the barrel, and scrubs it with a brush, may lightly brush around the areas as needed and then dries the excess off with an air compressor.  It takes him minutes to clean a gun, and while they may not be immacuately clean, they all look and function great.  If I had the room, I would do the same thing, although I don't have anywhere close to that number of guns.

[Richard S]

I have a friend who has a HUGE gun collection.  He keeps a 20 gallon auto parts washer full of Ballistol.  He field strips the firearm, lets the parts sit in the washer for a few minutes, shoots the ballistol through the barrel, and scrubs it with a brush, may lightly brush around the areas as needed and then dries the excess off with an air compressor.  It takes him minutes to clean a gun, and while they may not be immacuately clean, they all look and function great.  If I had the room, I would do the same thing, although I don't have anywhere close to that number of guns.

I do admire your friend's style! At $55.00 +/- per gallon of Ballistol, he's got about $1,000.00 invested in that product alone.

[horseman]

Richard,

He only keeps the washer about half full.  When you consider how much his collection is worth, it's really not that significant.  I only wish I had had his foresight and the means to purchase many of the firearms he did years ago.