Where
We Left Off…
If you read last month's Cleaning
Clinic, you'll recall that Gun Tech Dave Bennetts
donated his AR-15
barreled receiver for an experiment in electrochemical bore
cleaning
with the Outers®
Foul Out® III (#674-000-001) system.
Dave figured he'd
put over 1,000 rounds of FMJ through the bore since its
last cleaning,
so I was optimistic about getting some great photographs
of copper
electroplated onto the stainless steel, electrode rod
supplied in
the kit.
Because the AR-15 is gas-operated, it's not an ideal
candidate for
Foul Out III technology. I struggled for quite some time
trying to
seal up all the potential leakage points so that when I
filled up
the bore with Cop Out Plus™ solution, it wouldn't run out
the ported
muzzle brake or gas tube. I finally settled on plugging the
end of
the gas tube at the receiver end and cleaning with the
muzzle facing
up. |
If you like hi-tech gadgetry
that actually
works, Foul Out III is an affordable and effective system
for removing
copper and lead without harming your
barrels.
|
When we left off, I had just
plugged-in the control
unit and the yellow, CLEANING LED came on, indicating the
unit was fired
up and cleaning was underway. This month, we'll take a look
at what you
need to do from this point forward to ensure a safe and
effective cleaning
cycle. We'll also take a look at how well the system worked
on Dave's
AR-15 barrel.
Watching The Clock
You're probably wondering just how long it takes to clean a
fouled bore
using the reverse electroplating process. Well, Outers is
pretty generous
in their estimates at 2 to 10 hours for copper, possibly longer
for those
who like to visit the prairie dog towns, and from 30 minutes
to 5 hours
for lead buildup. This might sound like an all day affair to you,
but
keep in mind that electrochemical cleaning doesn't rely on
harsh solvents
and aggressive scrubbing, which can really tear up and wear
down those
delicate bore surfaces. If you're offering electrochemical
cleaning as
a service to your customers, the number of minutes or hours
it takes to
remove the fouling isn't really relevant. What is relevant is
giving back
to your customer a barrel that shoots accurately again and
looks "factory-new"
inside. This can make you some serious brownie points.
Monitoring the cleaning cycle
is a no-brainer.
The control unit is equipped with three, easy-to-see LED's
that
indicate when the system is CLEANING, when an
OVERLOAD condition
exists, and when the bore is finally
CLEAN. |
Lights, Camera, Action
When you look at the control unit, you'll see three, clearly
marked
LED's that allow the operator to monitor the cleaning
cycle. The
yellow, CLEANING LED should illuminate immediately after
you connect
the control unit to a 120VAC power source, and it should
remain
lit throughout the cleaning cycle unless there's a loss of
power
or excessive accumulation of fouling on the electrode. A
red, OVERLOAD
light in the center of the control unit indicates problems
such
as too much fouling buildup on the electrode, direct
contact of
the electrode with the bore surfaces, or contaminated
cleaning solution
that prevents the electrode from functioning properly. In
any case,
this LED is your signal to shutdown the unit, drain the
bore and
replenish it with fresh cleaning solution. The green,
CLEAN LED
illuminates when the control unit senses a change in
resistance
that indicates the electroplating action has ceased, and
the bore
is completely free of copper or lead
residue. |
One important note about
removing lead is it produces
a dramatic growth of metal on the electrode rod in as little as
10 minutes.
Because of its weight, some lead will drop off the rod and
settle above
the breech plug. If it piles too high and makes contact with
the electrode
rod and the walls of the bore, the rod will ground out and
activate the
OVERLOAD LED. When this happens, simply unplug the
control unit, carefully
withdraw the electrode rod and wipe it clean with a fresh
patch. Only
if the control unit fails to return to CLEANING mode is it
necessary to
pull the breech plug and dispose of the accumulated lead and
sand down
and degrease the electrode rod again.
Checking For Rust
When cleaning a firearm for the first time with the Foul Out III
system,
Outers recommends shutting down the unit after the first 30
minutes of
operation to check the condition of the cleaning solution.
Because the
reverse plating action not only removes fouling, but also
strips corrosion
and bluing from inside the bore, any rust formation will cause
a visible
color change in the cleaning solution. Allowing ferric oxides to
remain
swimming in the solution during cleaning could literally pull
iron molecules
from the bore surface causing irreversible damage not
covered by Outers.
Therefore, don't ignore the solution if it's taken on a green,
yellow,
or orange tinge. These colors signal that the electroplating
process has
broken through the first layer of lead or copper buildup and is
working
on removing some corrosion underneath. If this occurs, it's
imperative
you drain the bore, brush it with a good solvent to remove as
much corrosion
as possible, and degrease and dry it again before
replenishing it with
fresh solution. You'll want to repeat the inspection of the
solution every
30 minutes to an hour throughout the entire cleaning cycle
for barrels
that haven't been electrochemically cleaned before.
I was pretty confident there wasn't any rust in the bore of
Dave's AR-15
barrel, but I figured I'd better heed the directions and check
the Cop
Out Plus solution anyway. So, after the first half hour into the
cleaning
cycle, I unplugged the power adapter from the control unit,
disconnected
the red, anode lead from the front sight housing, and lifted
the electrode
rod carefully out of the bore. When doing this, you'll want to
place the
electrode rod in a clean, dust-free area to prevent lint and
other debris
from settling onto it. Also, don't touch the rod portion that
resides
in the bore. Skin oils on the rod can reduce the effectiveness
of the
reverse plating action and could put the electrode into an
overload condition.
Instead of removing the barreled receiver from the vise and
trying to
dump out some of the solution, I inserted a Cotton-Tipped
Applicator (#885-861-500) into the muzzle to get a
reading on the
color. It still looked nice and blue, so I knew everything was
a-okay
as far as the quality of the solution was
concerned.
Trickle
Time
By this time, I noticed some minor leakage of solution from
the front
sight housing. Quite honestly, I was surprised I hadn't
experienced
a gusher by now. But, apparently, the fit of the gas tube
was pretty
snug, or there was enough carbon buildup around the
connection point
to limit leakage to an occasional drip. Nonetheless, it was
enough
leakage that I needed to add about half an ounce more
solution to
bring its level back up even with the muzzle face. I was too
far into
it to back out now, so I crossed my fingers and kept on
going. |
The biggest problem with
trying to clean
gas-operated, semi-auto firearms with Foul Out III is
sealing up
all the areas that are potential leak points. Shown here is
evidence
of the Cop Out Plus solution seeping out where the gas
tube enters
the front sight housing.
|
Thirty minutes of
electrochemical cleaning
was enough to produce a significant buildup of copper on
the electrode
rod. |
The Evidence
I also made a point to inspect the electrode rod, and
noticed a
light bronze hue forming in various areas along its length.
This
was evidence that the reverse electroplating process was
beginning
to pull the remnants of copper jacket fouling from the
rifling and
plating them onto the electrode – pretty cool
stuff! Using
a clean paper towel, I wiped off some of the residue to
help give
the electrode a head start when I powered-up the control
unit again.
|
After reinstalling the electrode rod
and making
the appropriate connections, the system was back in action. I
allowed
the unit to run another hour before repeating the solution
check. Again,
it was nice and blue with no sign of rust contamination. I'd
gotten a
late start setting up the system; so after another hour, I shut
it down
to give myself some time to cleanup for the day.
Cop Out and Lead Out are water-based solutions, so you'll
want to be certain
to remove them from the bore as soon as you've stopped
current flow through
the electrode rod. Also, remember that Outers doesn't
recommend reusing
either of these solutions, so discard what's in the bore, and
start fresh
next time you clean with the unit.
After I emptied the bore for the evening, I pulled the breech
plugs and
ran several dry patches through it to remove as much
solution as possible,
flushed it with Brownells
TCE Cleaner Degreaser (#083-060-024) to ensure all
solution was gone,
then made a single stroke with a patch soaked with Brownells
Rust Preventive No. 2™ (#083-019-016). There
are a lot of good
oils available that do a fair to excellent job of preventing rust,
but
I prefer RP2 for long-term storage or any application like this
where
extra moisture displacement is highly advisable.
With 2-1/2 hours into the cleaning process, the electrode had
taken on
some obvious copper residue. However, I didn't want to clean
it off quite
yet in case the bore was approaching the final stages of
cleanup. So,
I placed the electrode rod in a safe location until
morning.
Day Two
Right away the following day, I looked inside the barrel with a
bore light
and noticed quite a bit of powder fouling hanging along the
edges of the
lands and grooves. The reverse plating action had loosened
quite a bit
of the embedded crud, and the overnight soaking in RP2 had
lifted much
of it off the barrel steel. Powder buildup between the layers
of metal
fouling can really delay the process of getting a bore clean
with Foul
Out III, so don't think you can totally abort traditional
scrubbing with
a bore brush. Occasionally, it's necessary to get back to the
basics and
brush out some powder.
I ran a couple dry patches down the bore to get rid of the
loose stuff,
then made a few passes with a .22 caliber, Brownells
Nylon Bore Brush (#084-420-003) soaked in solvent. For
typical powder
fouling, I usually don't stray too far from my old reliable, Hoppe's
No. 9 Nitro Powder Solvent (#699-000-005). But, since
there was a
bottle of Brownells
"Ed's Red" Bore Cleaner (#083-150-001)
within arms reach,
I went that route instead. Several of the Brownells Gun Techs
have touted
it as a very effective powder solvent – I, too, found
this to be
the case.
Once I felt satisfied the bore was free of powder, I repeated
the routine
of degreasing the barrel with TCE and set up the
electrochemical cleaner
again. Another 45 minutes passed, and the CLEAN LED lit up.
With just
over 3 hours into the electrochemical cleaning process, the
control unit
indicated all copper had been removed from Dave's AR-15
barrel.
The
Proof Is In The Pudding
That doesn't mean I wasn't skeptical. With over 1,000
rounds of copper
jacketed ammunition through Dave's rifle, I had a hard time
accepting
all copper was gone. So, I doused a clean patch with Sweet's
7.62 Solvent (#100-000-001), wrapped it around a
nylon bore brush,
and gave the bore a last few strokes to check for
blue/green streaks
on the patch. Surprisingly, I got nothing! After removing
the Sweet's,
I finished up Dave's barrel with a thin application of RP2 to
coat
the bore surfaces and gave it final peek. It looked clean as
a whistle.
The electrode rod, on the other hand, looked pretty darn
nasty. You
could easily identify the dark bands of copper plating,
which corresponded
with those areas in the bore that were most infected with
bullet jacket
buildup. It seemed that Foul Out III had the
"stuff" and
could restore the usefulness of the most fouled barrel.
|
Clearly visible is the buildup of
copper
plating on the electrode rod after 3 hours of
cleaning.
|
I was impressed with the Foul Out
III technology,
but I don't think it's for everyone. If results are what count, it
does
what it's supposed to do, and in a manner that won't take
out your rifling
ahead of schedule. On the flip side, there's a short learning
curve and
some extra fiddling around required to get it setup and
running (especially
with a gas-operated firearm). Where it does shine is in the
niche of extremely
neglected barrels – ones that just don't seem to
shoot like they
used to due to heavy copper or lead buildup. And, for that
unique breed
of shooter who pursues tiny targets at long distances, it fits
the bill
to get back down to bare metal after a day or two on a hot,
prairie dog
town.
If you have questions about different cleaning products or
techniques
you want us to test, be sure to let me know at
WebBench@Brownells.com
CLEANING CLINIC: Easy Bore Cleaning For The Gadget-Inclined – Part I
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