polishing bbls...yall take it easy

[goblr77]

Never tried steel wool but I've had great success with the scotch brite, jb, and kroil method. Finished up with some mothers wheel polish. The pic is of an 835 I did with this method. Notice the difference between the barrel and the chamber. The barrel looks almost like it's chrome lined now. Patterns are much better and clean up is easier than with the factory bore finish.

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

Again I will say that even though we are talking about shotgun barrels and not rifle barrels here, but the same principle applies if you stop and think about it.  Benchrest custom rifle barrels that have been handlapped and cut to perfection and the guys that shoot them whether it be rimfire or centerfire all have their ways to clean or what they say works and what they say don't.  Call it the do's and dont's of how to clean.  On rimfire custom barrels, some like me believed in using a bronze or brass brush to remove fouling from the bores with a good solvent and then patch clean.  Others would only use solvent and patches and never use a brush because they thought it would damage the rifling.  Well I can tell you that no brass or bronze brush which is softer than the 28-30 Rockwell of a rimfire barrel is going to harm the rifling.  But it's their barrel so I do understand their beliefs since we are talking about shallow rimfire rifling.  And almost all centerfire shooters would use a brush and solvent and patch clean.  But no rimfire shooter or centerfire shooter that I know of would even think about running a stainless steel or any steel brush for that matter down their bores.  Your gonna scratch the rifling and the same goes for a shotgun barrel.  Your taking steel against steel, and that's a big no no.  Now some may do so with no ill effects, but you can count your lucky stars and I wouldn't recommend doing it again.

Now you can argue that point all you want, but regardless of who tells you different, what I said above holds water.  

[beaverslayer]

Here's my take on it.  The 0000 steel wool is polishing your barrel much more smoothly than any grit scotchbrite pad.  In my opinion, the WD40 had nothing to do with it, since it only acting as a lubricant as does the Kroil; either will just help to make it smoother than without it.  Where the problem is occurring is the extra smoothness in combination with the alcohol.  In a normal situation, the extra microscopic scratches in the barrel from the coarser scotchbrite pad would hold a little oil/lube which the steel wool doesn't.  Then when you send a patch down the barrel soaked with alcohol, you are effectively removing nearling 100% of any lube.  When you fire the shell, a tremendous amount of pressure is generated and when the wadding travels down the barrel, the plastic is being gilded to the metal due to a lack of lubrication.  Simple physics.  What I would do to remedy the situation, is get some of the green scotchbrite pads, wrap one of them around a brush, lube it up and work it back and forth a few times while chucked in a cordless drill and spinning.  Next, patch it out till they come out clean without brushing.  Next get a large patch, I use paper towels wrapped around a 20 ga brush or smaller brush for a 20 ga, spray some light oil like Rem oil on it and pass it through the barrel and then follow up with one dry patch to remove the excess oil.  You should not have anymore gilding.  Try it and I garauntee it will work.

[bird]

Correct me if I'm wrong here.  But I am sure that I read that after he ran the steel wool through the barrel that he also ran some "dry" steel wool with no kind of lubericant through the barrel and then he ran alcohol through the barrel at the end of the process.  If this is the case then I would say that when he ran the dry steel wool through the barrel is where he damaged he barrel lining.  Hell I clean my vehicle windows with steel wool and window  and it won't scratch glass as long as you have the steel wool wet. But I will guarantee you that if you run dry steel wool across glass that you will scratch it then. Steel Wool and window cleaner is the best way to clean the bugs off your windshield.

Dry Steel Wool is bad! Wet Steel Wool is good!

bird

[Reloader]

I have used 4/0 steel wool soaked in WD40, but only in a real rough bbl and always followed with the JB method.

There are many ways to polish a bbl with various fine abrasives.  Some bbls don't need anything as far as polish goes, others can benefit.  If the bore is shiny from the start with few tool marks, all I use is JB.  Cotton patch wrapped around a 12ga bronze brush, soaked in WD or any gun oil, smear JB all over, and polish. Keep the brush moving, stay out of the chamber, and use a new patch after 20 passes.  Clean it well to remove all the JB, snake 2x between shots at the range, deep clean after many shots, and rock on.

If a bbl is really rough, I use 4/0 wool and WD.  Wrap the wool around a 12ga brush for a tight fit.  After the bbl starts to shine, swap to the JB method.  The amount of passes or depth of polishing as a whole is dependent on the condition of the bbl.

It's best that folks just simply deep clean if the bbl looks fine from the start IMO.

One of my best patterning guns looked terrible from the factory, very rough.  I went with the wool/WD followed by the JB method and that baby flat shoots.  Ever since polishing all I've done was clean when needed and snake at the range.  She still throws a mean pattern.

My last two new turkey guns looked fine from the start(shiny with no tooling marks), so I simply cleaned them. Both pattern great.  

The best patterning shotgun I've ever fired has never had any polishing done, just simple cleaning.  The bbl was nice and shiny from the get go.

The original poster's problem may be fine scratches in the bbl from the wool as a follow up with the JB method wasn't done.

If any of you are curious about this, just take a piece of smooth steel and polish it with a fine polish like Flitz or JB until you get a really good shine. Then clean it and scrub it with dry 4/0 wool. You can create fine swirls with the wool, which take another polish treatment to remove. That tells me that the 4/0 cuts the surface better than polish alone. That's the reason I use it if the bore is very rough to start, but always follow with JB or Montana bore polish.  There are many other fine metal polishes as well.

loder

[Grunt-N-Gobble]

Reloader's method sounds pretty solid to me and logical.

Sometimes I think we are taking this polishing way too the extreme.  So much so, we are damaging barrels in the process depending on the materials we use.

I used the JB method with the SB pads.  One pad, up and down the barrel several times, same with the bore polish.  Just don't have the time to spend 45-60 minutes cleaning/polishing a barrel using multiple SB pads.

My barrel and my Dad's did come out looking better than they started.  Would spending an hour per barrel verses the 15mins per barrel make THAT much of a difference in the pattern.........my guess is no.  And its not worth the time for me, at least, to find out.

But I guess that is why alot of us are here on this site anyways.........  We like to take things to the extreme.

[870supermagnum]

I'm not trying to start a fire fight here, but WD-40 is a poor lubricant and wasn't developed to take the place of lubricating oil.  Water Dispersing 40 (40th reciept tested) intended use is to prevent rust.

I know WD-40 has been used for many things, but it wasn't developed to be a lubricant.

[joffutt1]

Wow thats intresting.

[msgobblergetter]

It WILL take some time, just the nature of the beast my friend..... I hate to do it too, but if you want the performance, you have to put in the time....

I have polished 6-8 different barrels since joining this site and reading the "how to"..... I used the Kroil, JB Paste, & Green Scotchbrite Pad EVERY time.... spent about 45 min-1 hr per barrel...... 50-100 passes (1 pass is down and back).... got my barrels mirror clean. Run a bore-snake through it with a little oil.... then a rag through it to take off excess oil..... even after 4-5 shots the barrel is about as clean as after just pulling the rags through it....

I think your alcohol is taking your lube off, causing friction with the wad and barrel.... which in turn is causing the plastic residue.... I get it in my choke tubes from time to time....

Change your process and materials and I promise you will see a difference..... Heck, ship it to me and I will do it for you if you buy the materials......

[Reloader]

I'm not trying to start a fire fight here, but WD-40 is a poor lubricant and wasn't developed to take the place of lubricating oil.  Water Dispersing 40 (40th reciept tested) intended use is to prevent rust.

I know WD-40 has been used for many things, but it wasn't developed to be a lubricant.

Directly from their motto:

"WD-40, everyone's favorite multi-purpose problem solver for over 50 years, cleans, lubricates and protects against corrosion"

It's not the best lube by any means and I'd never use it as gun oil as it gums after a while, but it works like a champ in place of kroil on polishing bbls. It lubes well in it's wet form(such as polishing a bbl).  Most of the polishes used already have lube in them. JB or Montana for instance are a grease base with abbrasives added. Using any oil on a patch prior to applying the polish is more of a means to hold the patch to the brush more than anything. 

It definitely makes steel wool less abbrasive than it's dry form.  WD on fine wool is a great way to remove surface rust as well.

[BHMTitan]

It WILL take some time, just the nature of the beast my friend..... I hate to do it too, but if you want the performance, you have to put in the time....

I have polished 6-8 different barrels since joining this site and reading the "how to"..... I used the Kroil, JB Paste, & Green Scotchbrite Pad EVERY time.... spent about 45 min-1 hr per barrel...... 50-100 passes (1 pass is down and back).... got my barrels mirror clean. Run a bore-snake through it with a little oil.... then a rag through it to take off excess oil..... even after 4-5 shots the barrel is about as clean as after just pulling the rags through it....

I think your alcohol is taking your lube off, causing friction with the wad and barrel.... which in turn is causing the plastic residue.... I get it in my choke tubes from time to time....

Change your process and materials and I promise you will see a difference..... Heck, ship it to me and I will do it for you if you buy the materials......

How long does it take you to do one pass?  I don't remember seeing this in the polishing sticky.

[SumToy]

Now I dont want to start a war.  I do make a living building target barrels.  Working with chambers, barrel bores and chokes is what makes it all come around.  I dont have a dog in this war just like to try to figure out what helps and hurts barrels.   Some of them shoot better if you never clean them. The better side has one if you clean it with just dry brush will go from blowing a hole to a good dove gun.  Just shoot and forget it.  

Now the steel wool we use all the time with out a problem.  Now we dont run it over and over for hour or so. We find that on some of the small bore clay guns will build up the 1st few inches of the barrel from heat and the barrel being small.  We run it a few times it is back clean like a mirror.  Now that said I think that the problem with this barrel is from something else.   He did buy this gun USED.

Reloader,  or some of the other guys I hope can help with this.  

This shot we shoot (TSS,HTL or steel) is hard.  Look at the chokes that folks have had swell, scared or just wear out. Now if a shot gets out of the cup it will damage the barrel.  who is to know how or why it got out.  I know I have seen on the water fowl sites that folks have had the barrel scratch from one brand of shell in some of the barrels.  Folks this problem is a line down the barrel not around the barrel.  The problem he has he would have had to run the brush or rod up and down with out it turning.  

This gun has had TSS shot out of it.  I dont know what else has been shot.  I cant say this is why but I would bet my life that the steel wool the way he did it did not hurt the barrel.  I cant say what maid this problem but it went from one end to the other.  I think the polish of barrel maid it show up more.  

Now let go back and add this.  I say the way he did.  I was not with him or did not know he was going to do it.  Now he told me how he did it so it should not have hurt anything.    I told him the bump his head to do it.  The one gun was over 300 last year.   

[Cutt]

I use scotch brite with Kroil, clean out all residue, then polish with Simichrome Polish and soft cotton rags, seems to work well. Not sure if I'd use Steel Wool?

[st8tman]

Not sure about all the merits of WD40, but I do recall a memo being sent out years ago by the local police department to all of their employees warning them about using WD40 on the actions of their service Revolvers, as it had caused major functioning issues/gumming up. Keep in mind these were S&W Model 66 .357 Revolvers, not the intricate actions of todays auto pistols. While this is certainly a little off topic, it does demonstrate to me the lubricating properties or lack thereof.

[chipper]

I polished my 870 in early
200o's after reading a post on the NWTF forum using green scotch brite and WD-40, I used the same method a few weeks ago on my sons 870, I didn't use a chamber guide, just went slow and kept it really wet with WD-40, I did use 2 finer grits of polishing pads on my sons, the secret IMO is to keep the speed slow on the drill and keep it lubricated I keep a pretty stesdy motion up and down the barrel but the speed of the drill slow,both 870's pattern great! WD-40 is fine to polish with, Its all I,ve ever used and like I said, my guns pattern fine,I do not use it to clean my guns though because it will gum up.