New Super Redhawk Alaskan fouling

[JMG]

Hello,

My first post. I just picked up my SRH Alaskan 44 mag 2.5" barrel. The barrel is extremely copper fouled. It came this way from the factory. Has anybody had the same issue?

Having a hard time removing it with Hoppe's 9. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

John G

 

[pisgah]

Get any solvent primarily advertized as a copper-remover, follow the directions.

 

[Tommy Kelly]

Hoppes#9 is not a copper cleaner it's made for powder fouling and lead. The copper takes a special cleaner like sweets 762 it's a ammonia based cleaner that removes copper. I have used sweets for years with great results. Get an nylon brush instead of using a brass one the sweets will eat them very quickly.

I get my best results using a nylon brush wet with sweets and run it through barrel and set it aside for about 30 minutes. Then take a peice of paper towel and wadd it up and push it through the barrel. It will come out blue. Then repeat with the nylon brush wet with sweets and the wait then the next paper towel. continue this till the paper towel comes out clean. Then oil the barrel. It usually will take several times to get out the copper also it's very important to oil the barrel when finished

 

[Donaldjr1969]

Hoppes#9 is not a copper cleaner it's made for powder fouling and lead. The copper takes a special cleaner like sweets 762 it's a ammonia based cleaner that removes copper. I have used sweets for years with great results. Get an nylon brush instead of using a brass one the sweets will eat them very quickly.

Good advice. I do not use Sweets but I do use Butch's Bore Shine in addition to Hoppes #9. Butch's is high ammoniated so it removes copper fouling as well as powder fouling. And it will wear out bronze brushes too.

So my advice is if one is still using bronze brushes with ammoniated cleaners, rinse them in hot soapy water immediately afterwards.

 

[Donaldjr1969]

Hello,

My first post. I just picked up my SRH Alaskan 44 mag 2.5" barrel. The barrel is extremely copper fouled. It came this way from the factory. Has anybody had the same issue?

John G

John, I think that it truly may need to break in. The rifling could still be slightly "rough" in the microscopic sense. I remember how my Super Redhawk would get copper fouling when it was new. Now, after over 2,000 rounds down the tube, I hardly get any fouling even with 180g bullets pushed to nearly 1,900fps.

My S&W 500, which I bought used, exhibited a lot of copper fouling at first. It had a low round count as there hardly was even a turn ring on the cylinder. Now after close to 400 rounds by my estimate, the fouling is becoming less.

I suspect a bore has to break in much like a new engine (or a fresh rebuild) has to break in.

 

[David Bradshaw]

JMG.... Tommy Kelly and Donaldjr are correct about the glacial slowness of Hoppe's in desolving copper, and the aggressiveness of strong ammonia dopes, like "Sweet's 7.62." Another rapid copper juice is "Eliminator."

I do not leave those super dopes in the bore more than five minutes. Sweet's weakens with age. Eliminator, not sure. Eliminator is said to be safe to leave in bore, but I specifically would not. In my own little "test," I found Eliminator----which I consider one of the best copper dopes----offers zero protection against rust; may even promote it.

Hoppe's is the ONLY solvent I trust to protect a bore. Hoppe's may be left in indefinitely in a dry temperate or cold climate. Nothing short of real rust inhibitor or coating protects against rust in warm humidity.

Back to copper fowling... Ruger released the Super Blackhawk with 10-1/2" barrel in 1979, specifically to conform to the IHMSA Production Gun rule. (Production barrel length limit to include the XP-100 .221 Remington Fireball, with barrel just over 10-1/2-inches. Note: that is the only bolt action allowed in Production.) Ruger sent me two, one of which I scoped with a Leupold 4x, the other one I put to work in silhouette.

The iron sight SBH, which I soon dubbed the "Silhouette Super," had the standard Ruger .44 barrel made by George Wilson (Connecticut), with broached 1:20" rifling. Thsese barrels could vary, but this one was tight----.428" groove diameter. And a bit rough. It copper fouled badly.

I cleaned the bore with J-B Bore Paste rubbed on cotton flannel (my all-time favorite patch material), pushed & pulled on a 3/8-inch birch dowel. I carved a jag on the dowel with a pen knife. Careful stroking, with renewed applications of "J-B Paste" smoothed the rifling until very little in thew way of copper streaking took place. That gun went on to win the International Revolver Championship, and Hornady, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, and Federal championship trophies, among many.

This was the revolver that made the single shots realize in no uncertain terms,THE REVOLVER CAN DO IT.

As your Alaskan is a .44, the 3/8-inch dowel with carved jag, in conjunction with J-B Paste on cotton flannel patch, should reduce fowling to a trace, and make your barrel happier with cast and jacketed bullets.

For a .45, a 1/2-inch dowel, sanded down, might work better to keep the patch firm. J-B Paste is soft and breaks down quickly. It has none of the destructive aggressiveness of lapping compounds. Please let us know how it turns out, should you try it.

As a final note, I am careful to not pull the patch out the muzzle except to replenish J-B or replace patch.
David Bradshaw

 

[RKBA4CA]

Concentrated 27-30% janitor grade ammonia removes copper.
Use tight patches. Instead of cutting fabric patches I use 1 1/2" strips of paper towel wrapped around the jug.
As PT compresses, I wrap around more.

You need to re-apply ammonia soaked PT patches as long as they come out blue. 3-4 strokes, add more PT, another 3-4 strokes, discard PT and wrap a new strip, repeat...
Takes a while, but does remove copper fouling.

BTW, concentrated hydrogen peroxide with a bit of citric or acetic acid removes lead.
I apply H2O2 by soaking a degreased barrel in a container. 15% or so H2O2 can be bought as organic stain remover or at the pet shops.