Accuracy is relative to the condition of the bore...
Son and I try to shoot weekly, at least twice monthly, and expend at least 200 rounds through the rifle selections of the week, which leaves us some really dirty rifles to clean. We have gone through just about every product on the market to arrive at the combination that works best for us, is the most cost effective to use, and takes the least time to do. Just personal experience but, why I recommend the method we use. Note that all our guns have been Extreme Cleaned and treated with MolyFusion. Our after range cleaning time has been cut by 2/3 and expenses cut by 80%. The process has restored several milsurps I thought were going to become wall hangers and vastly improved accuracy on all of them!
Understand that the bullet is made to very specific dimensions to slightly engage the lands and impart spin as it travels down the tube.
The amount of heat created by the burning powder behind a rifle bullet is sufficient to vaporize copper (and or lead on an open tail bullet) into a gaseous state. The gaseous metal deposits out as it cools down the length of the barrel and combines with the carbon deposits which adhere to the metal.
Three components - copper, lead and carbon.
Eventually, residue will accumulate sufficiently to decrease bore diameter just enough to squeeze the bullet smaller than the intended diameter. The lead in the core has to go somewhere. It will squeeze out enough to bulge the nose or tail end. That makes the bullet get out of round or off balance.
Deformed bullets do not fly straight!
Some "hunting rifles" are purposely built with slightly oversized bores and don't shoot well until well well fouled! The makers know full well that the average hunter won't clean it well and account for that by leaving a little extra room. They can require 30-50 rounds to get "shot in".
Many handloaders will change bullet diameters until they find the right fit that shoot the most accurate in their particular rifle, be that over or under sized. A thousands of an inch diameter change can make a huge difference!
Advanced Auto Parts Carb & Choke Cleaner.
The object is to break up and remove the carbon deposits that are trapping the copper and lead fouling.
Whatever the formulation in this stuff is ... it just works better than any other spray cleaner we have tried. Beats the pants off Gun Scrubber at almost 10:1 cheaper per can!
Cheaper by the case! (Buy it by the case as you will use a lot!)
It does not evaporate as fast as Berkebile 2+2 allowing more time to work with it.
Spray down bore from chamber end until it runs out.
Let stand five minutes.
Stroke with brass/copper brush 10-20 times.
Flush liberally from chamber end and watch black gunk run out!
SOAK a patch with it and patch several times. Patches will be black.
Repeat until patches are no longer black. 90% of carbon and fouling is now removed. (also works with a well soaked Bore Snake)
Soak 1 patch in Shooters Choice Bore Cleaner and swab barrel.
Let stand for 20 minutes. Brush again.
Flush with carb cleaner and watch black gunk flow out!
Repeat and patch with carb cleaner patches until nothing is coming out.
At this point, rifle is clean enough to patch with oil patch (lightly) and put away.
For more obvious fouling and copper fouling removal:
Start with above and repeat until nothing is coming out.
Soak 1 patch with Shooter's Choice Copper Cleaner and swab bore until well coated.
Shooters Choice will dissolve copper without damage to your bore.
It works well. Some copper cleaners have a very high ammonia content and can seriously damage the bore if not used correctly!
Let copper cleaner stand 1 hour.
Repeat the cleaning process from the beginning.
It may require several cycles until no GREEN/BLUE dissolved copper residue comes out on the patches.
Still a little dirty?
Spray bore from both ends with Shooter's Choice Extreme Bore Cleaner foam until filled up completely.
Let stand 1 hour.
Brush and flush.
Repeat cycle from the beginning until patches are coming out clean.
Extreme Clean is a bit more potent than the straight Bore Cleaner and will dissolve copper.
May require several cycles until nothing is coming out.
Very good stuff ... too expensive for routine cleaning.
Initial Extreme Cleaning or TWICE YEARLY Extreme Cleaning ...
Follow the cycle above.
Fill bore with Wipe Out foaming cleaner.
This is THE extreme cleaner!
It gets everything out down to bare metal but is NOT COST EFFECTIVE for routine cleaning even though the little can goes a long way.
Recommended fall and spring cleaning cycles or before you pack them away for the winter.
Place the action on several layers of newspaper as it seeps out all over as it breaks down.
Place over heater vent (increased temps speeds the process)
Let stand 3 days.
Start the cycle again from the beginning.
It can take up to four complete cycles with Wipe Out until the bore is perfectly clean! It WILL eventually get completely clean!
ONLY ... when the bore is perfectly clean down to bare metal with no fouling ... can you apply MolyFusion as it must react with and adhere to the metal. ANY fouling prevents it from working as intended as it can't penetrate and react with the bore metal.
http://www.shootersolutions.com/mol12ozkit.html
1 kit will do a hundred guns!~
READ about what it is and what it does on the site.
I can somewhat believe the claims of improved accuracy as it vastly reduces fouling.
Simply put, crap no stick!
The carbon and metal deposits can't adhere as tightly to the metal.
Once treated, carb cleaner alone will remove a good 98% of everything in there on the first cleaning cycle!
MolyFusion is a PERMENANT treatment that reacts with and binds to the metal surface. It can only be removed by GRINDING!
The bore only needs to be properly treated ONCE, providing it is adequately Extreme Cleaned to begin with. I still repeat treat it at least once a year.
I swear by this product enough that ALL my guns have been treated with it!
Believe or not claims of improved accuracy ...
I would tend to agree as fouling is considerably reduced!
What I do attest to is 2/3 reduction in cleaning time and effort!
Following a couple hundred rounds, a treated gun can be effectively cleaned in less than half an hour!
Note MolyFusion is also a fantastic and permanent lubricant to apply to trigger parts and sears/ bolts for a smooth as warm butter action!
Extreme Cleaning and MolyFusion treatment can take a few weeks per gun. This makes a great over the winter project to accomplish while you are trapped in the cave by bad weather. You will appreciate the final results in the spring when you can go to the range and dirty them up again!
When I run another Hoppe's soaked patch through the bore, it comes out completely green. So should I just put this Mosin-Nagant away and not shoot it, consider it "shot out" and relegate it to the safe, or would firing ammo be a) unsafe, or b) a waste of good ammo on a shot out bore, or c) beneficial to scraping out some of the rust, or d) all of the above?
