Henry Rifle Forums

JEBar wrote:I can't help but wonder if the barrels are smoothing down a bit from all of the bullets that have passed through them

Thanks for the update. That is my understanding as well. I have only shot about 80 rounds through my 30-30 so far. Maybe in about another 80 or so, I will spend less time removing traces of copper from it.

So, does the copper fouling decrease with more rounds going thru the gun?

Rangerhgm wrote:So, does the copper fouling decrease with more rounds going thru the gun?

that is my hope but we won't know for a while .... my belief (can't prove it) is the smoother the barrel the less the buildup and over time, jacketed bullets should help smooth out the barrel

That is my belief and hope as well. Below are links to a process that I have followed for cleaning, and a concept about how a barrel should smooth as rough spots are filled. I hope that is the case. Because, I have spent about 3 x longer cleaning my Henry, than I have my Marlin. And for me, clean up time seems to factor in which rifle I will take to the range.

https://www.range365.com/dirty-little-s ... n-cleaning

https://www.shootingsoftware.com/fouling.htm

from what I've observed, a lead buildup can affect accuracy .... for that reason, when I use lead bullets, I do whatever is necessary to remove any/all leftover lead deposits .... I haven't found that to be the case with copper fouling .... with it, my main reason for removing it is I simply don't like the look of it .... in my mind, that's a big difference .... one significant enough to me that I'm moving away from firing cast bullets .... there are several threads that promote the belief that one shouldn't mix firing lead and jacketed bullets from any firearm .... when you have 2 that's not a problem but when you only have 1 and want to fire both, doing so is reported to fostering a buildup .... all that's way above my pay grade .... time will tell if/how long it takes for the barrels to smooth out sufficiently to cut down on copper fouling .

I shoot only lead and accuracy can certainly be affected by a dirty barrel.

we have literally run tens of thousands (if not more) rounds through our Redhawk 44 Mag since its purchase approximately 30 years ago .... so far as I can remember, all have been our handloads, no factory rounds whatsoever .... since day one, our preferred hunting load has remained the same ===> 23.8 grains of W296 (same amount of H110 if we can't get W296), Large Pistol Magnum Primer, Nosler 240 grain JHP .... we mostly use CCI primers but as it has been with cassings, we haven't found the brand matters .... not too long ago we seriously gave loading lead bullets a try .... best guess, during that time loaded and fired 1,000 +/- of them .... bottom line, lead isn't for us so we've completely returned to our preferred hunting load which we also use exclusively in our Henry .... historically (regardless of the number or rounds) the barrel is cleaned after each firing but earlier today we used a copper remover (Sweets 7.62 Solvent) for the first time .... given the number of rounds, I was anticipating a much heavier buildup .... below can be seen the first and last patches .... I guess things can most certainly change quickly but copper buildup doesn't seem to be an issue .... for our level of shooting, the copper removed this morning had no noticeable impact on accuracy

I can agree. My Smith & Wesson and Marlin were similar. However, I have shot nowhere close to the amount of rounds you have. Even though, I have had my S&W 357 since 1991. That is why it was strange to me to see copper streaks in my new Henry, and again after I shot about 50 rounds. Hopefully, it will become a thing of the pass. But, I have only been shooting factory loads. Which, I hope will not make difference.

aditional note :

while we clean the barrel on our Redhawk after every firing, we don't clean the inside cylinder walls on a regular basis .... I don't remember how long its been this time, best guess well over 500 rounds .... the picture below shows Ballistol soaked patches, each patch was run through all 6 cylinders .... the patch on the left was the first and the one on the right was the last .... after cleaning with Ballistol, I ran a patch soaked with Sweets copper solvent through all 6 cylinders .... it came out clean, no indication of copper .... that surprised me

Like you, JEBar, I grew up in the 60s' and shot the heck out of my Win. Mod.70 and Browning BAR (both 30-06) without thinking of copper fouling in the bore. We just used Hopes No.9 with a few patches/ bronze brush and you're ready to go. 3-4 years ago I started to use the Sweets 7.62, "Holy Molly" what a surprise. I had "Green" patches following their directions. Believe it or not, accuracy did improve for me. To this day my rifles/ pistols get this type of cleaning. It could be mental, but I seem to get better/ tighter groups scrubbing the bore. I would guess, back then my 30-06s' with all the copper build up, were actually .284 bore ! (LOL).