Plastic fouling removal oddity. And serious warning.

[DMTJAGER]

I was concerned about plastic fouling build up in my various different makes of choke affecting how well they pattern as I am about to try T$$ shells. I have Carlson XR chokes designed for use with lead, TSS and heavy shot.
I also own two Indian creek BDSS chokes. As well as two Remington factory aftermarket turkey chokes. The ICBDSS and Carlson's chokes both have internal raised ridges to help with wad separation and I have read from multiple sources such raised ridges tend to accumulate significant amounts of plastic wad fouling after a limited number of shots and can affect the chokes ability to pattern consistently.

I have read that if you have fired a large number of shots that the plastic fouling build up will be visible to the naked eye and when cleaning you should see shavings of plastic on your bore brush. After I ran a 10ga phosphorus bronze bore brush whetted with acetone back and forth through my Carlson's and ICBD chokes I saw what looked like brush marks in a small amount of plastic build up in both chokes. I did this just to see if the plastic build up was as bad as i was lead to believe it should be. Although I did see what I think was a slight amount of built up plastic wad fouling I wasn't 100% certain and it by no means even approached the level of moderate to sever fouling build up I was expecting.

Each choke had at least 25 or more shots each some a great deal more on them as some had not been cleaned since I couldn't recall when.

First I soaked all chokes over night in glass gars in a mixture of 50% acetone and 50% brake cleaner that advertised would attack and damage plastic objects or finishes.

To clean the next morning, I used a 20ga bore brush wrapped in 100% copper chore boy chucked in my battery drill set on low speed, soaked it in acetone and ran it back and forth in each choke for a timed 8 seconds. I could see no evidence what so ever of any plastic fouling had accumulated on the chore boy or any where else. I did this again 2 more times and same results. I checked the jars and although slightly discolored, I could not see anything that looked like gooey dissolved plastic had accumulated in the acetone/BC mix.

So my question is did the overnight soak in the mix dissolve all the plastic, or contrary to what I have read there just wasn't that much plastic fouling build up to begin with? Keep in mind the ICBD and Carlson's chokes had at least 25 and likely 30 shots each minimum since there last cleaning and I didn't over night soak them that time I just ran the the 10ga phosphorus bronze bore brush and acetone back and forth 30-35x.

I recently also gave all my turkey gun barrels an over night soak in acetone and cleaning and had similar results little to no evidence of major plastic fouling build up.

So did the plastic simply dissolve or for what ever reason the plastic build up in my chokes wern't all that bad to begin with? lastly I once did a test to see just how effective acetone is at dissolving plastic fouling by retrieving a bunch of 12 ga sabots from my Federal Barnes Tipped expander shotgun rounds and placing them in a jar filed with acetone. I let them sit for 24hrs, then 48 then 72 and could see no measurable evidence the acetone had any affect on the plastic sabots. Never tried it with the wads from turkey loads so they might react differently. Will retrieve some and give it a try. 

Now for my very serious warning. I bought a can of Gumout spray brake cleaner and sprayed it into the acetone to get my 50/50 mix. Doing so obviously created fumes. I had set up a 36" box fan to help circulate air and I thought reduce the level of fume accumulation to a safe level.

I'm here to tell you I was wrong. Less than an hour after I stopped spraying the GBC I got a pretty bad head ache and about and hour later experienced some moderate chest pains along with light headedness and mild nausea.

I promptly disposed of the remaining Gum-Out brake cleaner by spraying it out side on some landscape rocks by my garbage cans and despite being outdoors with the wind at my back i still developed a mild head ache but no other issues. Wont use that stuff again. I've been cleaning and maintaining firearms for over 30 years using all kinds of chemicals, solvents and lubricants and never a single time have i ever even been remotely affected. So be advised if you are going to use Gun-Out brake cleaner fallow directions and use only outside in a very well ventilated area.

[LaLongbeard]

I think you are seriously over thinking and over doing the plastic in the chokes. A bore brush and some denatured alcohol and about 2 min will scrub out 100% of all plastic residue I don't care if you shot 1000 rounds of plastic bullets lol. Save all the soaking and dangerous fumes for something else.

[DMTJAGER]

I believe you are correct. It was a situation of reading a multitude of posts about the affects of excessive plastic wad fouling on shotgun patterns and I allowed that information to convince me of a problem I may or may not have had.

Lesson learned.

[lowoctane]

I believe you are correct. It was a situation of reading a multitude of posts about the affects of excessive plastic wad fouling on shotgun patterns and I allowed that information to convince me of a problem I may or may not have had.

Lesson learned.

Smart man! Most of that stuff is haz-mat, the alcohol and brass brush with do what you want!


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[bbcoach]

When I clean my chokes, I only use brake cleaner.  Soak, by spraying the choke, with brake cleaner, run a toothbrush inside and out, spray again and let dry. A little choke lube on the threads and install back in the gun.  Great warning!  Sounds as if acetone and brake cleaner mixture is a NO NO.

[Old Timer]

i shot 5 loads through my beretta and blackout choke, the shredded plastic was a lot. I have always used smooth chokes no porting,wad catchers etc so it really caught my eye. But choke was not hard to clean with hoppes and a brass brush, patches then a little brakefree .Before all this innovation back in the day we did not have this problem. At least not that i noticed. 

[deadbuck]

Every year right before turkey season I clean all my barrels and choke tubes. I noticed in both my Sum Toy chokes that the longitudinal grooves were full of lead from squirrel hunting the prior fall. An oversized wire brush on a cleaning rod would not do the trick. I ended up using a dental pick to get the lead buildup out of the grooves of the chokes. A lot of lead was removed. It surprised me.

[SumToy]

I like a chamber brush.  It is bigger and stronger.    Most the time you can wire brush gun every few shots and not have a problem.   Our target guns get wire brush and denatured alcohol every shot.   

Now I have seen some that will shave lead off but if not let go you can get out with brush maybe twist it in choke.   Now like said above a pick if it gets packed in the stops. 

Big thing with this stuff is keep oil out the barrel.   Do NOT over think this stuff just brush and have fun