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joeb33050
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Cleaning guns with paper towels
Aug 24th, 2006 at 9:21am
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I've been reading about cleaning guns with paper towels-Bounty is recommended- over on the "Arbiet Macht Frei" site. Yesterday at the range I cleaned 2 rifles with paper towels, ripped off a strip and wound it around an undersized brush as I do withh cotton patches.
But.
I was told by several/many machinists that paper is hard to cut, very abrasive.
In the '60's at Carter's Ink we cut ~1 1/2" of carbon paper with a normal-looking shear, all day long. That's how we cut carbon paper to the 8 1/2 X 11 size. The blade was changed every Friday afternoon, sent for resharpening. After zillions of pieces of paper were cut.
I'm not sure that paper has much kmore abrasive stuff in it than cotton.
Unless somebody can tell me why not to, I'm going to Bounty for a lot of my cleaning.
Comments?
joe b.
  
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #1 - Aug 24th, 2006 at 9:47am
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I use the blue shop type paper towels found at Wal Mart.  I have used them for some time to clean the fouling when shooting blackpowder, both in cartridge and muzzle loader firearms.  Final patch material in cartridge firearms is cotton, if there is some minor lead present.  I have shot my rifles for a number of years and thousands of rounds.  I should be so lucky as to wear one out.
  
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QuestionableMaynard8130
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #2 - Aug 24th, 2006 at 11:29am
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I think a lot would depend on the paper in question.  much paper now is recycled and will vary from batch to batch. some of the towels are promoted for absorbancy, others for durability.  I know that optical makers warn against using paper products to clean optical glass and that even a single swipe with a paper towel or napkin will leave microscopic scratches.  Glass is harder than steel as far as I know.  perhaps its fine abrasive qualities are just what we need to clean a bore and heaven knows we use use other abrasives and solvents for bore cleaning.

In the far dim dark past I worked for a very short time at Simplicity Pattern Co where they had close to 60 printing presses of various sorts and used gazilllions of tons of paper every year.  They even had an in-house paper mill to make the thin brown paper the patterns were printed on.  Their paper was very tough and abrasive and they had to get very special imported blades to cut it off the take up spools on the presses. They were sent out to a special shop in Detroit for sharpening and cryogenic treating---and this was back in the very early 70's before Cryo-treat was common.   I bought a blade that had been dropped and broken (the employee who did it was canned) and made several knives from it--it made super knives though it required a awful lot of very slow careful hand held grinding to avoid overheating.
  

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singleshot1
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #3 - Aug 24th, 2006 at 11:41am
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SmileyBack in the early 70's shooting in bench rest matches paper towels were quite common. They were used with Parker Hale jags, it made for a very tight fitting patch. I have continued to use them in that fashion with no bad results. They may cause some wear, but if so I won't think any more than using JB bore paste. Just my two cents worth.    Dave Grin
  
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digitall423
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #4 - Aug 24th, 2006 at 12:12pm
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And then there is the issue of paper patched bullets!
  Bill
  
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Brent
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #5 - Aug 24th, 2006 at 12:20pm
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digitall423 wrote on Aug 24th, 2006 at 12:12pm:
And then there is the issue of paper patched bullets!
 Bill


What issue?  They work.  And, no, they don't wear out your barrel.  Internet legends not withstanding.

Brent

  
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Bent_Ramrod
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #6 - Aug 24th, 2006 at 10:11pm
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A friend of mine uses paper towels on his guns, and claims they're the only way to go.  He uses them on a jag.

But if he ever cuts those paper towels to size with his wife's sewing shears, he's a dead man Wink.

If paper can noticeably dull the edge of scissors, couldn't it significantly dull the edges of rifling?

I use cut-up white cotton socks, of which I have an endless supply.
  
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joeb33050
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #7 - Aug 25th, 2006 at 10:40am
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digitall423 wrote on Aug 24th, 2006 at 12:12pm:
And then there is the issue of paper patched bullets!
 Bill


I wonder how many shots modern day patched-bullet shooters shoot out of one barrel in a year. I suspect not many. Maybe 500 to 1000 is typical. Ned Roberts, in "The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle", writes about bore wear with both paper and cloth patches, and states that a grooved lubricated bullet allows the gun to be shot for 30,000 to 50,000 shots. He doesn't like patches in target rifles. See the end of Chapter VI, "The Target Rifle And Target Shooting".
joe b.
  
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Brent
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #8 - Aug 25th, 2006 at 10:48am
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Bent_Ramrod wrote on Aug 24th, 2006 at 10:11pm:
A friend of mine uses paper towels on his guns, and claims they're the only way to go.  He uses them on a jag.

But if he ever cuts those paper towels to size with his wife's sewing shears, he's a dead man Wink.

If paper can noticeably dull the edge of scissors, couldn't it significantly dull the edges of rifling?


If you knew more about women, you would know that it's not the dulling she is worried about, esp from paper.  It's that they end up in his tool box or out in the garage where she can't find them.   

Why the worry with dulling edges?  Even if it did happen.  Ever seen Metford rifling?   

Consistent edges are important.  Sharp edges, I think not.

There is more hysteria about paper patches than has ever been warrented by anything like data.   

Brent
  
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MartiniBelgian
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #9 - Aug 25th, 2006 at 5:58pm
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Brent, talking of paper patches, would you happen to have a detailed drawing of Metford's 540gr BL PP match bullet?  I know, a long shot (pun intended), but you never know...
  
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Brent
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #10 - Aug 25th, 2006 at 10:04pm
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MartiniBelgian wrote on Aug 25th, 2006 at 5:58pm:
Brent, talking of paper patches, would you happen to have a detailed drawing of Metford's 540gr BL PP match bullet?  I know, a long shot (pun intended), but you never know...


Sorry but I don't.   
Brent

  
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Re: Cleaning guns with paper towels
Reply #11 - Aug 26th, 2006 at 3:15am
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I'd be real careful with those paper towels and wiping the rifle down. In no time say 10-15 years you won't have much blue left.

I do know  that those blue shop rag paper towels will scratch new blueing right of the blueing tanks. 
  

Douglas, Ret.
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