I'm having trouble totally removing the copper fouling in my 686. I got the majority out by soaking hoppes copper remover and brushing/patching it out and got the blue color on the patch but there is still some light copper in the rifling . is it normal/ok to have light fouling in the barrel ? I appreciate any input from experienced gun owners...thank you

I don't see any harm in it and it might in fact provide a small bit of protection against corrosion. I shoot plated bullets in all of my handguns and if I were to try and remove all traces of copper from my barrels I wouldn't have any time to shoot, eat, or work.

There's an old adage that says more firearms are ruined by over cleaning than shooting. It's the truth.

Give it a decent cleaning after shooting and don't look back.

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Steve
NJ State Trooper (rtd)

Your brushes may be leaving residue in the barrel that would show as green when combined with a copper remover.

Although it's not necessary, you can remove all traces of copper with J-B Compound. It's a non-embedding abrasive available from Brownell's.

When I shot HP rifle a lot, I used Hoppes CS. I'd finish cleaning with a wet patch followed by several dry. If I felt it needed more work, I'd run one wet, plug the muzzle with a jag and oversize patch and store muzzle-down (to keep the solvent out of the action) a couple days, then run a wet CS patch followed by dry. Repeat the storage if not satisfied.
I don't know if I ever got it out completely, but I thought it best to prevent too much buildup. I could never see any impact on accuracy.

IMO, removing buildup is best done with a hot barrel. After storing with the solvent, go to the range, run dry patches till they come out dry, shoot till the barrel heats up, then quickly dry brush / dry patch to get residue out, run a wet CS patch, wait a few minutes, and run tight, dry patches. Repeat every few strings. It will take a lot longer to heat up a revo barrel than an HP rifle.

If you think that's extreme, ask a bench rest competitor!

Then there's the "nuclear option" where plug the muzzle and fill the bore with CS and leave it a couple days.

Likely there are better electrolysis-based products available today than when I used to do this.

Oh yeah and the JB compound works well, will also smooth the bore.

My suggestion is using Mpro7 copper cleaner with a nylon brush. Run a patch with the copper cleaner on it and if it appears to have blue on it, it is copper. Run the nylon brush three times, all the way through the barrel and back out. Wait about 5 to 10 minutes and run a dry patch to see what color is on the patch. If the blue still appears, repeat the process. If it is that bad, I would soak it over night with the copper cleaner. When the patch appears a gray, run a patch with Mpro7 bore gel and then follow with a clean patch. The patch should be clean. I recently purchased a S&W 1905 32/20 and I completely disassembled it and found the springs and barrel dirty. I had to soak the barrel overnight and began the process of cleaning the barrel. The outcome was a clean, shinny barrel. I have been cleaning my guns for years and my EDC Springfield XD is 8 years old and it shoots and looks as if it is new. I guess I am a stickler when it comes to gun cleaning.

Nick

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NRA Instructor\GCA Gunsmith

You have to think on the microscopic scale. The bore is not smooth. It is a machined surface with open pores. Those pores fill with copper. This creates a smoother bore. When you clean all the copper out by chemically etching it out of the pores, you return the bore back to the rough surface. The trick is to close those pores, which is a major pain, or leave them filled with copper.

I don't worry about copper build up in hangun barrels, lead build up yes, but not copper.

Copper fouling in barrels needs to be "kept to a mild level". I use copper cleaner once a month in whatever range gun I am using so it never gets bad.

HOWEVER, if you shoot lead bullets, it is best to get ALL the copper out of the barrel before shooting lead, and vice versa. Some of the worst lead fouling I have seen was produced by shooting lead into a copper fouled barrel.
Copper cleaner works best if given some time. See hobby-gunsmith's post above.

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Science plus Art

With a bore cleaner deemed safe you could plug bore , fill it & let soak overnight . If badly fouled get Sweet's 762 . It's ammonia based & DO NOT leave it in bore for more than 10 - 15 mins or it'll attack barrel steel . Use a stainless or coated cleaning rod & nylon brush , you can also wrap a patch around the brush . I agree with OKFC05 that before switching from copper to lead ( & vice versa ) barrel must be cleaned to bare steel . You could also plug bore fill with Kroil , let soak overnight . The Kroil will creep under fouling . Follow with JB Bore Paste ( which will also micro polish bore ) until fouling is gone .

Thanks to all who replied...I greatly appreciate the advice !