Barrel fouling within 75ish shots

[greenbeans]

I recently bought a used barrel for cheap, previous owner wanted to get rid of it cause “it doesn’t shoot right”. It being a Ghost barrel (23 inch) and given how cheap it was I thought how bad can it be and got it. Gave it a deep clean and slapped it on the rifle, shot like a laser. One hole groups at 50y and 5/8 at 75y. For around 70 shots, then it turned bad, poi wandering around and 1.5-2 inch groups at 50y. Clean, repeat, same result. Looked into the barrel with a bore scope and felt like I was standing in Versaille’s mirror room. Someone polished the barrel with a mirror finish, not sure whether it was the guy I bought it from or the previous owner of the gun. Anyway, given how good the barrel is shooting before fouling I want to save it if possible, here’s my plan:

1. Scrub with brass brush and kroil
2. Aceton patches to get rid of whatever may be in there.
3. Patches with kroil to clean, let the kroil sit, dry patches
4. A few strokes with bore mop and 600 grit diamond paste, like 5 strokes max along the barrel, to rough it up a bit
5. More kroil patches, let it sit
6. Clean with ballistol, dry patches
7. Wax with renaissance wax

Interested in what people think whether this might help (or not). Never had to “save” a barrel other than a good cleaning… maybe the barrel gurus can chime in and keep me from making a mistake @Motorhead @nervoustrig @Firewalker (sorry for the unsolicited tags and thanks in advance!

 

[Gerry52]

Which projectiles are you shooting? Slugs or pellets? Slugs definitely foul the barrel more quickly but only 75 shots is quicker than in my LIMITED experience.

 

[rsfrid]

My HW44 barrels foul after about 40-50 shots. Accuracy goes down after that.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

I clean pretty regularly especially if things start to look off or poi changing .

 

[greenbeans]

Which projectiles are you shooting? Slugs or pellets? Slugs definitely foul the barrel more quickly but only 75 shots is quicker than in my LIMITED experience.

Thanks Gerry! Pellets, it’s the regular 1:30 twist ghost barrel.

 

[greenbeans]

I clean pretty regularly especially if things start to look off or poi changing .

Same here, but not after 75 ish shots. Normally I clean every 200-300 or so and BEFORE groups get wonky…

 

[greenbeans]

My HW44 barrels foul after about 40-50 shots. Accuracy goes down after that.

Oh wow… did you try to cure it?! If so, what did you try?

 

[Motorhead]

I recently bought a used barrel for cheap, previous owner wanted to get rid of it cause “it doesn’t shoot right”. It being a Ghost barrel (23 inch) and given how cheap it was I thought how bad can it be and got it. Gave it a deep clean and slapped it on the rifle, shot like a laser. One hole groups at 50y and 5/8 at 75y. For around 70 shots, then it turned bad, poi wandering around and 1.5-2 inch groups at 50y. Clean, repeat, same result. Looked into the barrel with a bore scope and felt like I was standing in Versaille’s mirror room. Someone polished the barrel with a mirror finish, not sure whether it was the guy I bought it from or the previous owner of the gun. Anyway, given how good the barrel is shooting before fouling I want to save it if possible, here’s my plan:

1. Scrub with brass brush and kroil
2. Aceton patches to get rid of whatever may be in there.
3. Patches with kroil to clean, let the kroil sit, dry patches
4. A few strokes with bore mop and 600 grit diamond paste, like 5 strokes max along the barrel, to rough it up a bit
5. More kroil patches, let it sit
6. Clean with ballistol, dry patches
7. Wax with renaissance wax

Interested in what people think whether this might help (or not). Never had to “save” a barrel other than a good cleaning… maybe the barrel gurus can chime in and keep me from making a mistake @Motorhead @nervoustrig @Firewalker (sorry for the unsolicited tags and thanks in advance!

Mirror finish is NOT what you want ... but more an @ 320 smooth but buff surface finish.
Scrub the bore with a brush BUT USE NO OIL, KROLL, BALISTOL, WD40 etc ..... Clean outside & safely with NAPTHA / White Gas ONLY and then a liberal application of a HARD WAX such as TREWAX on a warm barrel. Let barrel cool and wax fully harden.
NO NEED to dry patch post waxing ... Shoot It !!! letting projectile take out the wax as & where needed.

Also note an air gun barrel shooting soft lead projectiles IS NO DIFFERENT than a powder burner barrel and leading will happen no matter what you do when velocities are 800 ish and above. You can get the barrel to not foul as quickly, but most instances it will at some point require lead removal cleaning again & again.

 

[greenbeans]

Mirror finish is NOT what you want ... but more an @ 320 smooth but buff surface finish.
Scrub the bore with a brush BUT USE NO OIL, KROLL, BALISTOL, WD40 etc ..... Clean outside & safely with NAPTHA / White Gas ONLY and then a liberal application of a HARD WAX such as TREWAX on a warm barrel. Let barrel cool and wax fully harden.
NO NEED to dry patch post waxing ... Shoot It !!! letting projectile take out the wax as & where needed.

Also note an air gun barrel shooting soft lead projectiles IS NO DIFFERENT than a powder burner barrel and leading will happen no matter what you do when velocities are 800 ish and above. You can get the barrel to not foul as quickly, but most instances it will at some point require lead removal cleaning again & again.

Thanks Scott!! Appreciate it! Just to make sure I understand you completely, you’re saying DON’T use 600 grit paste to roughen up the mirror finish already done to the barrel?

 

[dgeesaman]

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Have you washed your pellets? No point trying to keep a barrel spotless if the projectiles are depositing filth.

Also, what's wrong with pulling patches every 50 rounds? I know I'd trade off frequent cleanings for exceptional accuracy.

David

 

[greenbeans]

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Have you washed your pellets? No point trying to keep a barrel spotless if the projectiles are depositing filth.

Also, what's wrong with pulling patches every 50 rounds? I know I'd trade off frequent cleanings for exceptional accuracy.

David

Yeah pellets are washed. And i tried batches with or without lube.

 

[greenbeans]

Just went and shot a 95 shot string at 50y. Pics attached. Barrel needs exactly 1-2 shots to find poi. After that it’s great until around 60 shots when the first fliers occur. Fliers that are not on me that is (the ones marked with an x are on me - I pulled those). Finding itself after but frequency of fliers increasing up to the point where every other shot is half inch off and it’s getting worse and worse after that. Chrono missed one shot, hence only 94 shots (topped air off after shot 54, hence the slight increase in speed).

 

[Motorhead]

Thanks Scott!! Appreciate it! Just to make sure I understand you completely, you’re saying DON’T use 600 grit paste to roughen up the mirror finish already done to the barrel?

If finish is already at a mirrors finish ... it is what it is and roughening it back out will take removing material somewhat & not something I would do at this juncture.
Prep & wax only IMO.

Invest in a Hoppes Bore Snake w/o brushes or remove them if present.
Get in the habit of every 50 or so shots to Pull snake threw a couple of times ( Dry ) and you should get much better results.

 

[GeneT]

If finish is already at a mirrors finish ... it is what it is and roughening it back out will take removing material somewhat & not something I would do at this juncture.
Prep & wax only IMO.

Invest in a Hoppes Bore Snake w/o brushes or remove them if present.
Get in the habit of every 50 or so shots to Pull snake threw a couple of times ( Dry ) and you should get much better results.

+1, except a lot easier to do with a patch worm.

If you have a borescope, can you find where the lead is acreting? You may have a blemish or something that is throwing a wrench in the works. Pay particular attention to the crown. I (mildly) disagree about not wanting a mirror-polished barrel (that adjective being rather subjective). My best shooting barrels are finely polished, while not being what *I* would call mirror smooth, some might.

GsT

 

[subscriber]

Good advice to see where the lead is accumulating by means of a bore scope. Compare after 10 shots to once fliers are bad. If fouling is building up at the crown or choke, that area may need some help. Address that before changing the whole bore surface finish, other than by waxing.

 

[Motorhead]

+1, except a lot easier to do with a patch worm.

If you have a borescope, can you find where the lead is acreting? You may have a blemish or something that is throwing a wrench in the works. Pay particular attention to the crown. I (mildly) disagree about not wanting a mirror-polished barrel (that adjective being rather subjective). My best shooting barrels are finely polished, while not being what *I* would call mirror smooth, some might.

GsT

If wanting to pull the lead out ? .... you WANT the SNUG & SQUEAKY pull threw of a bore snake !!!!
Wiping the bore with a patchworm is near useless for the task your trying to do.

 

[greenbeans]

If finish is already at a mirrors finish ... it is what it is and roughening it back out will take removing material somewhat & not something I would do at this juncture.
Prep & wax only IMO.

Invest in a Hoppes Bore Snake w/o brushes or remove them if present.
Get in the habit of every 50 or so shots to Pull snake threw a couple of times ( Dry ) and you should get much better results.

Yeah the finish was already done - I bought it like that (for $150 though, so no complaints). Thanks for your help, will proceed accordingly!

 

[greenbeans]

+1, except a lot easier to do with a patch worm.

If you have a borescope, can you find where the lead is acreting? You may have a blemish or something that is throwing a wrench in the works. Pay particular attention to the crown. I (mildly) disagree about not wanting a mirror-polished barrel (that adjective being rather subjective). My best shooting barrels are finely polished, while not being what *I* would call mirror smooth, some might.

GsT

Yeah I have a bore scope, that’s how I figured that it has a real mirror finish… I already cleaned it after shooting today for the pic, but shouldn’t be a problem to get it bad again and check

 

[Jaxjax]

I recently bought a used barrel for cheap, previous owner wanted to get rid of it cause “it doesn’t shoot right”. It being a Ghost barrel (23 inch) and given how cheap it was I thought how bad can it be and got it. Gave it a deep clean and slapped it on the rifle, shot like a laser. One hole groups at 50y and 5/8 at 75y. For around 70 shots, then it turned bad, poi wandering around and 1.5-2 inch groups at 50y. Clean, repeat, same result. Looked into the barrel with a bore scope and felt like I was standing in Versaille’s mirror room. Someone polished the barrel with a mirror finish, not sure whether it was the guy I bought it from or the previous owner of the gun. Anyway, given how good the barrel is shooting before fouling I want to save it if possible, here’s my plan:

1. Scrub with brass brush and kroil
2. Aceton patches to get rid of whatever may be in there.
3. Patches with kroil to clean, let the kroil sit, dry patches
4. A few strokes with bore mop and 600 grit diamond paste, like 5 strokes max along the barrel, to rough it up a bit
5. More kroil patches, let it sit
6. Clean with ballistol, dry patches
7. Wax with renaissance wax

Interested in what people think whether this might help (or not). Never had to “save” a barrel other than a good cleaning… maybe the barrel gurus can chime in and keep me from making a mistake @Motorhead @nervoustrig @Firewalker (sorry for the unsolicited tags and thanks in advance!

I would study the subject to all heck & back before I would hit that with anymore abrasive. I get barrels that come as a mirror & some not. Scotts suggestion would work fine for limited fouling if thats your priority but I would just shoot that thing as is slightly wet. The Benchrest crowd would think a person crazy for going to 70 anyway, unless your looking not to clean that often a 1 holer at 50 is what we all want. Everone says they have one but I believe only 10% or less do.

 

[greenbeans]

I would study the subject to all heck & back before I would hit that with anymore abrasive. I get barrels that come as a mirror & some not. Scotts suggestion would work fine for limited fouling if thats your priority but I would just shoot that thing as is slightly wet. The Benchrest crowd would think a person crazy for going to 70 anyway, unless your looking not to clean that often a 1 holer at 50 is what we all want. Everone says they have one but I believe only 10% or less do.

Thank you!! I really love how it shoots for 50-70 shots after cleaning. Way better than I shoot but keeping track and cleaning before it turns bad, remembering whether we’re good right now or not when a squirrel decides to cross the neutral zone towards the house… on the other hand i have a bunch of barrel for my ghost, so maybe I’ll make this one a “special occasion” barrel and just keep it clean (and waxed since I’ve never seen a barrel get worse from wax).