What is this stuff coming out of my barrel?

[Arcola]

This is from my Howa Alpine Mtn Rifle in 7mm-08. Barrel was admittedly filthy. Can't remember the last time I cleaned it. Been in the "don't clean it if it shoots camp" for quite a while.

Well, finally got a day on the range and it's shooting 5" low at 200yds. Was shooting lights out at 400yds last fall. Didn't drop it or bump the scope. Been in the safe for 8 months.

So... I figured I should at least clean it. 30 patches in, it's getting pretty clean. But I keep getting these little flakes coming out. Bore looks nice and shiny to the naked eye. The stuff is hard to photograph because it's so small. Best resemblance I can come up with is when the colored coating starts to flake off of a stainless coffee cup. It's really thin and has a reflective looking surface? I'll definitely be grabbing my borescope from work tomorrow, but can anyone identify this?

P.S. This gun has seen nothing but accubonds since I bought it new.

 

[Arcola]

So, I just figured it out. Guess I needed to walk away for a few minutes. It's the coating coming out of my Tipton bore guide. Guess I'll be tossing that thing. Explains why it looks like the coating I described.

 

[kiwi hunter]

time to relax again

 

[LuketheDog]

This is from my Howa Alpine Mtn Rifle in 7mm-08. Barrel was admittedly filthy. Can't remember the last time I cleaned it. Been in the "don't clean it if it shoots camp" for quite a while.

You should clean your rifle more...

 

[Dakota79]

You should clean your rifle more...

If it is still shooting good why? Genuine question here.

 

[EKYHunter]

Glad you figured that part out. Let us know if your accuracy returns after the cleaning.

 

[Trap]

If it is still shooting good why? Genuine question here.

Some long range shooters I really respect told me to never clean my gun till it quits shooting good. I’m lazy so I have rolled with that advice for decades with good results.

 

[JLS]

A dirty bore sure as hell won’t shift the POI 5” low at 200 yards.

 

[Arcola]

You should clean your rifle more...

You may have a point here. If it shoots well after this cleaning, I'm going to count rounds until it is off again. Then I can get on a cleaning schedule. I used to clean the hell out of my guns after every range session. Gave that up years ago and haven't had issues to this point. Guess we'll see how it shoots now.

 

[Arcola]

A dirty bore sure as hell won’t shift the POI 5” low at 200 yards.

Yeah, that's what my logical brain says but I'm scratching my head on this one. Stressful Sunday.

 

[ImBillT]

Glad you figured that out.

Being perfectly will usually result in your best accuracy WHILE ITS CLEAN, but that also results in a bit of an unstable condition. As the barrel fouls, things change. Usually you’ll reach a realm in which things sort of even out, and while your 5-shot groups may not be the smallest possible, your POI isn’t shifting, so for most circumstances, it’s worth the trade off, get your rifle fouled, then leave it alone. Eventually, yes, you need to clean it. Things will get progressively worse, however slowly, as you shoot more.

I clean my hunting guns thoroughly before the season, shoot a little, sight in, and stop “cleaning” till the season is over. Between every hunt I run a couple dry patches, and sometimes a wet patch followed by dry patches, then shoot 3-5 shots at 200yds and 500yds just to confirm that nothing has changed.

Should you clean more often? On a hunting gun, I doubt you’re shooting enough shots to get into the range that it’s obviously needed. On the other hand, a year in a closet is a lot of time for copper fouling to oxidize snd powder fouling to pick up moister, and that MIGHT be a problem. I can’t say that I’ve ever tested such a thing. Personally, if a rifle has sat for a year or more, or if a rifle has had 200-500 rounds through it, I’m gonna clean it. I might even shorten that to 40-50 if it’s a factory barrel that seems to foul really bad, but if it could that bad, I’d probably rather just get rid of it.

 

[LuketheDog]

If it is still shooting good why? Genuine question here.

It's a tool, tools work better when they're clean, especially ones with moving parts. If you're not cleaning the bore then you're probably not cleaning anything else either. I had a client lose a bull last fall because his cleaning routine sucked and his rifle wouldn't fire. I'm not saying you have to be obsessive, I'm certainly not, but I know my firearms are going to cycle and shoot where and when they're supposed to. There's a big difference between a slightly fouled bore and "I can't remember the last time I cleaned it..."

 

[Gila]

Looks like bug squat...

 

[Willy Dee]

I have heard about lining deteriorating in some bore guides and decided to give these a try. Seems like they will hold up a little better.

https://possumhollowproducts.com/BORE_GUIDES.html

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Looks like bug squat...

That's what I was thinking, but bugs don't eat gunpowder and oil!

 

[EKYHunter]

I have heard about lining deteriorating in some bore guides and decided to give these a try. Seems like they will hold up a little better.

https://possumhollowproducts.com/BORE_GUIDES.html

I’ve got a Possum Hollow for my X Bolt. Love it!!

 

[Gila]

That's what I was thinking, but bugs don't eat gunpowder and oil!

Looks like bug squat...

Lady bugs in rifle barrel

The other day I posted about all the lady bugs in my shooter house. Got some good suggestions on had to get rid of them. Will try that this afternoon. Last night I was packing my stuff for a hunt this afternoon after work. I open the chamber of my rifle and it was full of lady bugs. The...

forum.gon.com

 

[coleslaw]

I’ve got a Possum Hollow for my X Bolt. Love it!!

I have both Tipton and Possum Hollow bore guides. The Tipton could be better, but for some of my "not-so-premium" rifles, it works. If Possum Hollows weren't so $$ I'd have one for every rifle chamber. They do exactly what they are supposed to.

 

[Arcola]

Snuck out to the range today with a clean barrel. I can confirm that @JLS was correct, as he occasionally seems to be.

Clean barrel shot 100% on par with the previously dirty barrel. So similarly that I couldn't differentiate Sunday's target from today's, had I not labeled them. Spent some time re-zeroing and it's shooting well again. (It was also 1.5" right, but that was less concerning that the elevation issues)

I've never had a scope become unreliable without a memorable explanation, until now. I must have bumped it pretty good somewhere along the way. Being that this is a "backup" gun, perhaps I wrote something off that I shouldn't have. Can't recall.

The quasi unidentifiable debris situation didn't help my sanity in this situation. I'll be looking into the above mentioned guides or finding a piece of non-reactive tubing to replace the one that is supplied with the Tipton guide.

Lastly, I had fully expected that @ImBillT was on to something with his "months in the safe copper fowling" philosophy, but that wasn't the case here. I do however appreciate the detailed input from Bill. And the interwebs were no help in defining the "graphite fowling" comment that was redacted. Perhaps that one will remain over my head for a while.

 

[JLS]

I can confirm that @JLS was correct, as he occasionally seems to be.

Blind hog gets the acorn every once in a while.