Electric Bore Cleaner/Home Brew Type Photo Heavy

OldTurtle

Moderator - Deceased
A few years ago I got interested in the Electric Bore Cleaner process and being somewhat bored for the last few days, decided to do some digging and try one out...There are several articles on the 'net, each a little different, but all reporting good results without damage to the firearm....

After a little scouting at hardware, auto parts, electronics supply, and my local pharmacy, I wound up with the following...
1) 4' mild steel 1/8" rod ($3.20)
2) 2 battery 'C' size holder with leads ($2)
3) 1 roll of teflon plumber's tape ($0.80)
4) 1 medicine bottle rubber stopper ($0.25)
5) 1 pr alligator clip test leads + & - ($3)
6) 6" length of small shrink tubing ($0.30)
7) 1/2 gal. of lemon scented Ammonia ($1.25)
8) 1 pad of 0000 steel wool (already had)
9) plastic shopping bag (Free)
10) 1 old tube sock (Free)
11) 2 plastic syringes 5ml & 2.5ml (Free from pharmacy)
12) 4 'C' size batteries ($5)
Total Cost = 13.80



I proceeded to drill a 1/8" hole in the rubber stopper to press fit it on the steel rod and since I was unable to find 'O' rings that would fit the rod and still go into the .223 barrel of my Rem 700, I wrapped the rod in two places with plumber's tape and covered the wraps with shrink tubing, heated in place..A third piece of shrink tube was place at the muzzle to prevent contact with that part of the barrel...

To keep the rubber stopper end in place in the chamber, I closed the bolt on the stopper and tied it in place with some scrap cord and covered the front of the scope with a plastic bag to prevent any possible over flow from hitting the lens.



I filled the barrel with a solution of 2 parts water, 1 part white vinegar, and one part ammonia and hooked up the batteries with the negative lead to the barrel at the receiver and the positive at the top of the rod...I had built a 'dam' around the muzzle with an old tube sock that had a hole in the toe to catch any overflow..



The solution started foaming almost immediately with a very white foam...At least I knew the contraption was working as it should...



After 45 minutes the foam had turned a yucky brown and I kept refilling the barrel with solution...With the rod in place, there is very little room in the barrel and the initial fill was only 10ml of solution...During the 45 minutes I added a total of another 15-20ml,, with some if it overrunning into the 'dam' around the muzzle..



When the foam started returning to white, I shut the process off and ran a patch through the barrel with the muzzle over the kitchen sink and this is what came out with the first patch. Not something you want on your clothing or anything of value..The rod was also covered with the slime..




The first five patches are shown below and after the fifth one things were looking much better, the barrel was re patched with a lubricant and will be heading to the range tomorrow..



In case any members are inclined to build one of these, this will give you a little idea of what to expect...
 
Just curious and not discrediting your results, do you believe that there is a possibility some of what came out of your barrel is a reaction to the materials being used combined and heated?
 
No it does not heat the solution it is simply electro plating in reverse. It takes everything that is not steel barrel and draws it to the negative electrode.
 
Cool. thanks Turtle. I looked at the process long ago, never tried. Looks like it sure did the job.

1/16" or so steel piano wire (hobby shops)should leave you more room for solution.
 
Turtle, FWIW I bought one of the original Outer's Foul Out systems. At that time, I was shooting a lot of cast pistol bullets and the Foul Out would remove all traces of lead from my pistol barrels. It would amaze me the amount of lead that it would remove after you had cleaned the barrels with conventional methods. I ran out of solution and quit using it. The solution came in 2 different varieties. One was for lead and the other was for copper.

If anyone has a source for chamber plugs, let me know as I misplaced mine.

Turtle, is your solution for copper or lead or both? With the ammonia, I am assuming that it is for copper, but assumptions are dangerous. I would love to get the old Foul Out back and running as it worked GREAT.

Thanks,
rth1959rth
 
As to a chamber plug, I took an empty casing to the local Ace Hardware store and matched up one of their rubber test tube stoppers...I got one that was just slightly larger in diameter on the large end than the casing and used the bolt face to hold it in place by tying the bolt up against the plug...Kind of Rube Goldberg, but it worked well, no leaks..I had to drill a hole in the small end of the plug for the rod to slip in..

I've never fired lead bullets through my .223, so I was only concerned with pulling out the Copper..While others reported black gunk coming out, mine was brown, rust colored and I can only assume that the Lemon Scented was the cause of the color difference..I took the rifle to the range yesterday and after the first five shots, it was 'one holing' at 50 yards with several bullet weights so I doubt if it hurt it much..

There may be specific solution recipes on the net specifically for Lead removal, I just didn't notice them..
 
Onebad06vtx,,,After a few more patches, all that showed up was a very light and faint gray stain before I took it to the range...As I said, I think the color difference was due to the Lemon scented Ammonia since using it in our kitchen was much more palatable for the wife..I had the same color out of my AR and .204...
 
It was another rainy and cold day last week and I got bored again, so I pulled the upper off of my competition AR and used the bore cleaner on it..After figuring out how to plug the gas tube and still hold the chamber plug in place, it cleaned up in a matter of 15 minutes (foam went from bright white to brown to white again) and almost nothing came out on the patches..The only thing I can credit that with was the barrel, aside from having been Cryo'd when new, has been really polished by high round counts at high speed, and has always cleaned up easily...

Next, I used the rod on my .204 CZ and it took about 45 minutes to finish the process..The rod came out filthy and the following photo is a series of draining and patches that came out...I should note that I had a smith inspect the bore last year with a bore scope and he reported approximately 8" of powder residue?copper from the chamber forward..

The first ten patches and paper towel are from barrel draining and the first series of patches through the barrel...Then I applied some military grade CLP to a patch and continued for the rest...



Another application of CLP was applied and the barrel was left to soak with it and will be patched out before going to the range in a couple of days...
 
There was a gentlemen on Yesterday Tractor who used same method to clean old tractor parts. It work amazing. I found this tread very interesting, thanks.
 
I've been using one of these for many years now with the same results. I use non sudsing ammonia and a stainless steel rod. I also use a Sinclair chamber plug. It's great when you have to clean multiple guns.


Kevin
 
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