Applying Ultra Bore Coat To Defeat Copper Fouling

Webster’s New Twentieth Century Unabridged Second Edition Dictionary describes bane as "The cause of mischief, injury, or destruction." If anything is the bane of all riflemen copper fouling comes closest to being the classic definition. I recently picked up a product called Ultra Bore Coat from Dyna- Tek Coatings (dynamicfinishes.com, that claims to reduce copper fouling in a rifle between 80 and 100%. It does this without affecting accuracy or velocity to any discernible degree.

Quite a big claim and certainly worth checking out. Thinking that this product could be a Godsend to some of my customers—and saving me a lot of cleaning time with a bore brush—I decided to test it on another recent development: Savage’s new rifle that comes fitted with ther Accu Stock. This is an aluminum bedding block with a unique way of locking the action in that helps increase stability and accuracy. I decided I could test both the rifle and the Ultra Bore Coat. First, I am a big fan of Savage rifles.

Even the basic models are known for delivering more than adequate accuracy right out of the box. Compared to some on the market they are relatively inexpensive but shoot inversely to their price. The 110 action that is the basis for these rifles is strong, safe and locks up solidly as any bank vault. As we all know the headspace is set by a locknut on the barrel giving superior potential for accuracy.

The later models have This product, when applied properly, will protect the outside parts of your gun from rust and make it easier to clean. With the bore and outside coated your whole gun will be protected from the elements. A light coating of oil can still be used. a more streamlined nut, so your old wrenches will not fit but the lockup is the same as it’s always been. My rifle is chambered in .250- 3000 Savage.

It is of the Weather Warrior series and sports a twentytwo inch stainless barrel and a black synthetic Accu Stock and Accu Trigger. I suffered a torn rotator cuff injury a few years ago in my shoulder and try to limit my range time with the big kickers. This gun also comes with a really effective synthetic recoil pad that Savage brands the P. A. D., or Personal Anti-Recoil Device.

I’ve had other rifles with these new types of super-forgiving recoil pads installed and I heartily recommend them, especially for old guys like me who don’t feel like being beat to death anymore. That being said, I just had a range session with my favorite .300 Winchester mag in an eight-pound rifle the other day. I survived and man, that rifle shoots, but that’s another story. My little Savage is a pussycat.

That’s not to say you can shoot with impunity, since recoil is cumulative and will wear out even the hardiest of us by the end of the day. However, thirty or forty rounds of full-power loads can be handled by anyone. One of the factors that help is the eight and one-half pound weight of the rifle including a Leupold VX-2 3-9 power optic in Weaver rings. When I bought the gun I was hoping for a

Ultra Bore Coat cannot be applied over copper, powder, plastic, or lead fouling. Believe me, this bore was thoroughtly clean when the Ultra Bore Coat was applied. field-ready, seven pound rifle that was more scaled to the .250-3000 caliber. Oh well, I’m still searching, but I like this rifle’s balance albeit the additional weight. I measured the barrel diameter at the muzzle at a nominal 0.585 inch.

That’s a little smaller diameter than a standard weight sporter, but with just a .25 caliber hole in the middle there’s still a lot of meat around it. At the range it performs wonderfully, aided by the great proprietary Accu Trigger that can be set as low as two pounds on this model. In the field the gun is steady as a best friend and, as long as I don’t have to tote it up a sheep mountain, it is well within specs for a deer-hunting rifle that will mostly be used from a stand.

Some of us area bit obsessive/ compulsive about cleaning our rifles. How many shots it takes to degrade accuracy from copper fouling depends on the quality of the barrel itself and the type of bullet used, among other things. Some of the all copper homogenous bullets that have recently become popular, like the Barnes, will usually—but not always—foul a bore more rapidly than a standard cup and core number.

The new Barnes Triple Shock was developed with three bands that have largely ended this problem but any hard bullet, be it a Nosler Partition or some of the so-called premium bullets, can sometimes deposit copper rapidly in a rough barrel. Normally I don’t clean my personal hunting rifles until accuracy actually falls off or until I start to feel guilty. This May I have another? A clean patch is a wonderful thing. can take at least fifty shots or more.

A quick wipe down with a lightly oiled cloth is all that’s needed, usually for the whole season, and you don’t have to worry about zero shifting, although there is some controversy in this statement. That being said, sometimes I think my whole life is concentrated around cleaning copper out of rifles. I have dreams (nightmares) about scrubbing a bore like Sisyphus rolling that rock up the hill, endlessly repeating the same task with no results.

There has got to be a better way than this to wear out our brass brushes.

I tried the Outers Foul Out as soon as it was available. It works pretty well if you follow directions. You can see the barrel fouling actually deposit itself on the rod running through the bore. This process takes the lead or copper fouling molecule by molecule from the bore and puts it on the stainless rod running through the bore bathed in a special solution to aid the transfer. If there is a more thorough way than an electrochemical process to get your rifle clean I’d wonder what it is.

The problem is, as with any known way to remove copper, the process can be slow and cumbersome. You still have to scrub the bore with a brass brush. It’s almost the same as your wife dusting and scrubbing and picking up the house before the cleaning lady gets there.

The use of copper-eating solvents like Hoppe’s Bench Rest formula or Butch’s Bore Shine attacks the fouling like piranha at cattle-crossing time but I personally don’t like the smell of ammonia in my shop and having to run a fan to ventilate the area is not good for my asthma. Ultra Coat promises relief from this misery. It claims to stop copper fouling from being deposited in the bore in the first place, making removal unnecessary. Let’s see how well it worked for me.

John Barsness advocates the use of Ultra Coat and his directions for cleaning a bore to be CLEAN are included with the instructions. If the bore is not perfectly clean down to bare, dry steel, the coating will be sticking to powder, lead, or copper fouling instead of the bore. I am a fan of John Barsness. He is a no-nonsense gunwriter and I think you can take his instructions to the bank.

He recommends starting with Hoppe’s No. 9 then moving to JB Bore compound, billed by the company as a "non-embedding bore cleaning compound for the removal of lead, metal, and powder fouling from rifles, pistols, and shotguns." In practice, the compound is used on a tight fitting patch wrapped around a wire brush to scrub the bore. Rubbing a little bit of this stuff between your fingers lets you feel the grit but it is very mild and will not harm the bore.

After using Hoppe’s again to clean out the JB Compound use a chemical copper solvent (any and all are probably OK) and repeat as directed by the manufacturer at least three times. Finally, degrease the bore with isopropyl alcohol or acetone. I went John one step further and set up my Foul Out machine. I can’t really say I beat him because the machine registered clean when I started. I let it run for an hour for good measure and then degreased before applying the Ultra Coat.

The application instructions for applying the Ultra Bore Coat are specific and clearly written so anyone can understand them. The kit comes with a degreaser which is used first. With the muzzle pointed down the Ultra Coat is then applied with a bore mop working with short two to fourinch strokes. This step is repeated three times, and then repeated again three times.

Next, with the muzzle pointed up, this process is repeated We are supposed to wait at least 6 hours—and preferably overnight—before shooting 10-20 rounds of jacketed bullets to use the heat and pressure to "set and center" the coating. After this is all done the company recommends using solvent and patches only to clean the bore. If you feel you must, they also recommend only using a nylon brush to scrub the bore. So how are we to measure this supposedly 80 to 100 percent improvement over an uncoated bore?

Good question. If you do not have access to a bore scope I recommend using empirical data such as the color of cleaning patches and how many it takes to end up with a clean patch. This really isn’t that imprecise if you know your rifle in the first place. The company notes that ten patches may be required for the first cleaning and by the third or fourth cleaning only 4-6 patches will be needed. For this article I inspected my Savage’s bore with a Hawkeye bore scope.

The scope proved the barrel was clean, showing no traces of copper or any other fouling. Some tool marks were evident but for a factory barrel this one looked pretty good. I think it will shoot when I get the right load developed. The chamber was not too rough and the leade showed smooth sailing into the rifling. I had shot this rifle about one-hundred times to break it in and establish a base line.

Twenty shots would definitely deposit copper in the barrel, forty would have some serious problems as defined by the blue-green color of my patches when copper solvent was used. Accuracy was not affected as the rifle shot three to four-inch groups at two hundred yards, clean or not. That is disappointing for a rifle of this type, but it is what it is. I’m sure it will do better when I have a chance to play with it. For now, I was more interested in the Ultra Bore Coat project.

I removed the action from the stock to check out the Accu Stock and adjust the Accu Trigger to my satisfaction. It came with about a three-pound pull, which was more than adequate, but I wanted to play with it from a gunsmith’s point of view. The Accu Stock has its own quirks. Make sure the rifle is unloaded and close the bolt. Dry fire the trigger. The bolt must remain closed and the action uncocked throughout the entire procedure of removing the stock and then reinstalling the action.

For a detachable magazine rifle push the bolt release forward as far as it will go to gain access to the rear action screw. For the hinged floorplate model, like mine, open the plate to get to the rear and front action screws. Use a 5/32 Allen wrench to loosen and remove them. When removing the stock loosen the wedge screw located in front of the front action screw one turn counter clockwise only or else the wedge may come off the screw.

With the stock removed the Accu Trigger may now be adjusted using the tool provided. Insert the tool into

the bottom of the trigger return spring and adjust towards the higher range of pull by turning clockwise. The maximum trigger pull is at the point where the spring "clicks" when rotated. To adjust towards the lower range of pull, turn the tool counter clockwise. The minimum trigger pull is at the point where the large coil contacts the top portion of the trigger and you detect resistance. Do not force the spring beyond these limits.

I set my trigger to a two and onehalf pound pull as measured by my RCBS trigger-pull gauge. It has no creep nor discernible over travel, in other words, it’s a great trigger. After taking the rifle apart from the stock the fixed recoil lug and bedding block that make up the Accu Stock can readily be examined.

Our friend and colleague, Chick Blood, has already given usa good overview of the Accustock in the October 2009 edition of this magazine with, "Take an Insider’s Look at the Savage Accustock." He also enlightened us with very good pictures of the Accustock concept. I would add that the tricky part of putting this action back in the stock is to make sure the wedge and wedge screw are positioned correctly.

Make sure the recoil lug is tight by putting the recoil pad on the floor, pull down on the barrel and lightly tighten the front action screw first and then the rear. After all the screws and lugs and wedge are in place tighten the front action screw to 40-inch pounds followed by the rear action screw to 40-inch pounds finishing with the wedge screw by the same amount. After I had played around dismantling and reassembling my new toy I got down to the serious business of applying the Ultra Coat to the bore.

As I said, the barrel had been cleaned as well as I could do it and degreased with the degreaser supplied in the kit. I can see where the average hunter may not have the necessary components needed to clean a barrel clear to the bone, so to speak, so this is a job we probably should do. At any rate, while I also can see that almost any serious hobbyist gunsmith could do this, I believe we professionals can pick up some work recommending and completing this procedure. The kit supplied is supposed to do 5-6 firearms.

The cleaning and application of a few jobs could amortize the cost of the kit quickly. Using a twenty-five caliber sized bore mop I applied the Bore Coat as directed, left the gun sit overnight, and then went to the range to shoot and cure the coating. The instructions caution against shooting anything but jacketed bullets. However, I assume that is just for the curing process since later it states that it makes leading easier to clean in handgun and rifle bores.

Ten to twenty shots are supposed to be all it takes to finish this process. I loaded some .250-3000 rounds with plain-jane Remington 100 grain Core Lokts over some H4895 powder. Ten to twenty shots were recommended, so I fired twelve shots to cure without unduly heating the barrel and took the gun back to the shop to inspect it. The instructions do not say how long to wait after curing before firing regularly. Since I was not under a deadline I decided to give it twenty-four hours.

After running a patch soaked with Hoppe’s Number 9 though the bore followed by a couple of dry patches, I cheated a little by checking out the bore with my bore scope. I didn’t see any copper. It might not have been fair, but I decided to fire another twenty five rounds without any more cleaning to see what would happen. When I got back from the range I repeated the Hoppe’s Number 9 patch and a couple of dry patches.

I wasn’t trying to clean out copper at that point, only get any powder fouling and crud like that out of the bore so I could get my bore scope in without dirtying its lens and optical mirror. I found copper, but not a lot. It was concentrated more towards the chamber end of the barrel than the muzzle, which is as it should be and is to be expected. Was there a lot? No there wasn’t and I was impressed.

Several of the lands had small streaks of copper but the deposits were a lot less than I had come to see with the same type of shooting and before coating with Ultra Bore Coat. Surprisingly, before the coating I thought the bore was a little rough, but not much rougher than most factory barrels. As a matter of fact the lands looked like little railroad tracks. After the coating they were smoothed out considerably and I think it will help this rifle shoot better.

Cleaning the rifle was attempted with patches soaked in Hoppe’s Bench Rest solvent and left to sit for 30 minutes. This is a pretty good copper remover but not as harsh as Butch’s Bore Shine and some others. After a follow up with dry patches this process was repeated until no traces of copper remained on the patches. I didn’t use a brush of any kind. After a short period of wet and dry patches the bore scope revealed that the bore was clean as when I started to apply the Ultra Bore Coating in the first place.

I have to conclude that this stuff works and the company claims that it gets easier to clean after the first several times. I’m preparing my personal hunting rifles for coating. Here area few facts about Ultra Bore Coat provided by the company: This product will allow longer shot strings without cleaning from a center-fire rifle, faster and easier reloads with a muzzle loader (no crud ring), leading cleans from your revolvers easier, and plastic is a non-issue in shotgun bores.

Bore Coat has no impact on velocity, point of impact, or group size. They claim no one has yet shot it out and if you’re the first, just reapply. The coating once cured is 0.25 microns thick (1/99th the thickness of a human hair) and has no effect on pressure. It will protect your bore from rust. A small amount of oil will not hurt. AG