Ideas on cleaning fouling

[bones92]

I have been thinking of a few designs that allow for pulling the powder residue fouling out of the bore without necessarily pushing a lot of it down to the breech face in the process.   I know... a proper sized jag won't pull push fouling down, but will pull a lot out. 

I ordered some 12mm copper tubing, which slides down a .50 bore with ample clearance.  A nylon bore brush can be inserted in the tubing, compressing it and keeping the bristles from pushing fouling down.   By pulling on the wire, the tubing slides off and allows the bristles to expand at the breech and pull the fouling as the rod is extracted.

I originally wanted to cut the tubing so that to narrow prongs would meet the breech face and the brush could be slid out of the tubing to expand simply by pushing the rod down, but the copper is fairly soft and the prongs would have to be fairly big to keep from buckling.  In the end, I decided the fine wire works.  Another option is a piece of tubing almost as long as the range rod, so just pulling up on it would expose the brush, but I would have to find a section of 12mm tubing around 48" long.

[bones92]

Have to use my old nylon .50 brush, which is a bit bent...  ordered new ones from Midway USA but haven't got them yet.

The wire is attached to the top end of the tubing.   A bit hard to see in the photos...





free tiny images

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

You're working on a problem that I don't follow or understand.  Why do you want to remove the fouling ... and what fouling?  I have never experienced the need to remove fouling while I'm shooting...there is no build up of fouling, all day long.

[smylee grouch]

I can envision that brush scrubbing the bore but how much fouling is it going to actually pull out of the bore? When shooting I dont think it would be needed if a good tight load combo is used and when done shooting your jag would do a good job with water to clean up for storage.

[bones92]

DTS, I meant powder fouling.

Smylee, I figure its something I could use at the end of a relay to pull powder residue out of the bore.

I admit that there are other ways to deal with powder residue.  The other thread about "wiping between shots" sort of covers this.   I discovered since that using a much wetter patch alleviates much of the issue of powder residue hardening up.    And in fact, I am going to try reducing the diameter on my .50 jag a bit to see if I can push a patch down without pushing powder residue down, yet still grab the patch and pull residue out.

So, bottom line... This was just a bit of experimenting and fun.    I won't really know how useful it could be unless I take it to the range with me next time.

[Daryl]

I'm with Taylor on this one.  Powder fouling never builds up & there is never more than one shot's fouling in the bore
all day.
Appears to be a fix for a non-existent problem.

[bones92]

Yeah, probably.  It's fun to tinker a bit, though.

[Daryl]

Good solution, though, for getting a brush to the breech. Wouldn't work with a patch though, as the patch being loose enough to fit into the tube, would just pull off
the jag, however a patch round a plastic bristle brush might work.

[bones92]

Daryl, agreed.  And I've tried a couple combinations thereof.   It seems to work great, though I haven't actually tested this on a bore that has been fired.    I ordered a few more nylon brushes from Midway, so I'll see how they work.

I like the nylon brushes because I have found that bronze/copper brushes sometimes get jammed at the bottom if the bristles are oriented slightly upward.

In fact, I've considered grinding two subtle flats opposite each other at the very top of  my Rice range rods, just below the knob, so I can use a small crescent wrench to twist the rod in times when it gets stuck (sometimes the only way to relieve the pressure of the bristles holding the brush tight).

This is one of the reasons I'm only investing in nylon brushes.  They don't get stuck like metallic bristles.  And they don't corrode like some bronze/copper brushes do over time.

[bob in the woods]

I admire your ingenuity , but have no need of such stuff. 

[WadePatton]

Making the last shot a squib is my favorite way to reduce what's left in the bore when it comes time to clean. Credit to Daryl for that one.

[EC121]

Be careful you don't pull the brush out of the holder.  Use the brushes that have the twisted wire looped through the threaded part.

[smallpatch]

Ok, very ingenious BUT,  why do we always seem to turn something so simple, into something sooooooo complicated.

[Clark Badgett]

Ok, very ingenious BUT,  why do we always seem to turn something so simple, into something sooooooo complicated.

I've often wondered the same thing. I guess it's human nature to try and over think things. I know I'm guilty of that often enough.

[P.W.Berkuta]

I guess it's the "tinkerer" in us -- it's a neat idea and something to play with if needed. I put this in the same category as patch lubes and bore cleaners