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Dealing with less than pristine bores (Read 320 times)

SteveStevens Participating Member Offline Posts: 26 Location: Fredericktown Ohio Joined: Jan 12^th, 2026	Dealing with less than pristine bores Feb 25^th, 2026 at 11:55am	Print Post
	I'm currently playing around with a non-single shot (sorry) rifle in 25-20 WCF with a so-so bore and cast bullets. I have several molds and sizer dies from 256 to 261 by .001. Just curious what has worked for others dealing with a so-so bores? .Its no match rifle just a plinker/safe queen. Thanks in advance!.


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 17742 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #1 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 12:06pm	Print Post
	My best results have come from using Kleenbore or Birchwood Casey's Lead Remover Cloth. I've had more than one bore I thought might need a new liner and after a thorough cleaning with patches came out looking good and shooting well! The key is an extremely tight patch fit, so sometimes I put thin cloth under a Lead Remover cloth to make is very snug in the bore. You want it tight enough that I use a rubber mallet to tap the rod and get it started down the bore. Once they start I can then push it by hand and when it exits the shards of lead built up will come out on the patch in the shape of the grooves. I repeat with 1 or 2 patches until nothing comes out, and then I run one more patch into the bore, stopping before it exits. Then polish the bore by running the patch back and forth about 10 times before removing it. I've had dark crudded up bores that ended up not just shootable, but even shiny and pretty accurate.

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craigster Oldtimer Offline Posts: 798 Location: lost coast CA Joined: Feb 20^th, 2011	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #2 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 12:26pm	Print Post
	Gum turpentine and tight patches.


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JHand Full Member Offline Posts: 213 Joined: Apr 15^th, 2024	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #3 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 2:05pm	Print Post
	The "not so nice" bores can shoot good, but i do find tend to lead up quicker. The silhouette rifle i shoot has a very rough bore, to the point that when I got it, I ended up cutting a "patch" of 0000 steel wool and hammering it down the bore (broke my heart on a new to me BPCR). The lead was literally coming out in sheets. Once I finished that, I used No-Lead to get the rest out. After all that, its still about a MOA ish rifle that works great, but I would not recommend that method. My Schutzen has a pitted bore, and a worn out throat. I have still shot in the low 240's with it and I is just about a MOA shooter. I just clean it by patching a 50/50 blend of hoppes and mystery oil, and keep it going til accuracy falls off, then do a heavier cleaning. If you shoot jacketed, its much less of a problem, but need a heavy copper cleaner. My great grandpa's 348 has a very rough bore, but shoots very well. I actually switched to cast, powder coated bullets because it is much easier to clean up after.


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SteveStevens Participating Member Offline Posts: 26 Location: Fredericktown Ohio Joined: Jan 12^th, 2026	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #4 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 2:59pm	Print Post
	I do a lot of casting but hadn't thought about powder coating because I haven't gone that route. The bore looked unsalvageable when I bought it but HEAVY brushing with a stiff bore brush wrapped with a bit of a Chore Boy made things look a whole lot better. I haven't played with it a whole lot yet but the first couple shots after cleaning it are fliers. Then I can place 6-8 into a decent group at 50 yards then things deteriorate. I shooting an 80G gas check cast hard with Lyman Moly lube. Ive tried .001 and .002 over groove diameter with results being just about the same. It's hard to discribe a bore condition and impossible to photograph. The rifling is planely visable and there are no rings of rust anywhere, pretty much the same from chamwr to muzzle.


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cellargun Full Member Offline Posts: 150 Joined: Feb 28^th, 2022	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #5 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 3:22pm	Print Post
	JHand wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 2:05pm: The "not so nice" bores can shoot good, but i do find tend to lead up quicker. The silhouette rifle i shoot has a very rough bore, to the point that when I got it, I ended up cutting a "patch" of 0000 steel wool and hammering it down the bore (broke my heart on a new to me BPCR). The lead was literally coming out in sheets. Once I finished that, I used No-Lead to get the rest out. After all that, its still about a MOA ish rifle that works great, but I would not recommend that method. My Schutzen has a pitted bore, and a worn out throat. I have still shot in the low 240's with it and I is just about a MOA shooter. I just clean it by patching a 50/50 blend of hoppes and mystery oil, and keep it going til accuracy falls off, then do a heavier cleaning. If you shoot jacketed, its much less of a problem, but need a heavy copper cleaner. My great grandpa's 348 has a very rough bore, but shoots very well. I actually switched to cast, powder coated bullets because it is much easier to clean up after. The steel wool trick works very well and won’t harm the bore if you oil both the bore and the steel wool. If it doesn’t harm the exterior bluing when scrubbing off rust freckles, it won’t hurt the bore. I salvaged more than one rifle with that method. I have a 40-60 Win highwall with a rough bore that shoots cast bullets quite well and doesn’t lead.


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 17742 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #6 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 5:48pm	Print Post
	craigster wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 12:26pm: Gum turpentine and tight patches. Is there some difference between turpentine and "gum turpentine"? I can't even find anyplace that sells anything called gum turpentine?

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JHand Full Member Offline Posts: 213 Joined: Apr 15^th, 2024	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #7 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 6:36pm	Print Post
	SteveStevens wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 2:59pm: I do a lot of casting but hadn't thought about powder coating because I haven't gone that route. The bore looked unsalvageable when I bought it but HEAVY brushing with a stiff bore brush wrapped with a bit of a Chore Boy made things look a whole lot better. I haven't played with it a whole lot yet but the first couple shots after cleaning it are fliers. Then I can place 6-8 into a decent group at 50 yards then things deteriorate. I shooting an 80G gas check cast hard with Lyman Moly lube. Ive tried .001 and .002 over groove diameter with results being just about the same. It's hard to discribe a bore condition and impossible to photograph. The rifling is planely visable and there are no rings of rust anywhere, pretty much the same from chamwr to muzzle. A lot of people have luck with mixing the powder in acetone and tumbling the bullets. It never worked well for me. I bought a cheap powder coating setup from harbor freight and use a tester oven to cure. It works great. I now powder coat all my pistol bullets too and it works great. You don't need to lube the coated bullets either


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GunBum Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 275 Location: SW Missouri Joined: Oct 30^th, 2021	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #8 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 9:10pm	Print Post
	marlinguy wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 5:48pm: craigster wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 12:26pm: Gum turpentine and tight patches. Is there some difference between turpentine and "gum turpentine"? I can't even find anyplace that sells anything called gum turpentine? Depends how old you are and how pedantic you are… Technically, Gum Turpentine is obtained by steam distillation of crude turpentine collected from live trees. Wood turpentine is extracted from tree parts by destructive distillation. Most of the turpentine you will find nowadays is a byproduct of pulp mills from either the Kraft process or the sulfite process. Most likely what you will find in big box stores is from the Kraft process and will smell very very piney compared to all the other turpentines. Boutique art suppliers usually carry true Gum Turpentine. Colloquially, all of the terms are interchangeable especially for people who remember seeing turpentine marketed as Gum Turpentine a million years ago. As to which is better? I don’t think it matters since the chemical composition of the various turpentines varies greatly according to what types of trees gave up the juice and how it was extracted. Don’t get wrapped around the axles. It’s just fancy paint thinner.


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bullshop Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 291 Joined: Sep 14^th, 2017	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #9 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 10:36pm	Print Post
	For me the two things that have helped accuracy with bores that are far less than perfect are to use a fairly hard alloy 15 to 18 BHN and to use a gas checked bullet. Diameter should be not less than actual barrel groove diameter and not more than .001" over. Bullet diameters larger than .001" over actual groove diameter can cause other problem that can affect accuracy. In summary groove diameter bullet BHN 15 to 18 and a gas checked bullet.


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craigster Oldtimer Offline Posts: 798 Location: lost coast CA Joined: Feb 20^th, 2011	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #10 - Feb 25^th, 2026 at 11:39pm	Print Post
	marlinguy wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 5:48pm: craigster wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 12:26pm: Gum turpentine and tight patches. Is there some difference between turpentine and "gum turpentine"? I can't even find anyplace that sells anything called gum turpentine? Gum is pure , "non-gum" has synthetic petroleum additives. (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links)


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 17742 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #11 - yesterday at 11:10am	Print Post
	craigster wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 11:39pm: marlinguy wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 5:48pm: craigster wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 12:26pm: Gum turpentine and tight patches. Is there some difference between turpentine and "gum turpentine"? I can't even find anyplace that sells anything called gum turpentine? Gum is pure , "non-gum" has synthetic petroleum additives. (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) Thanks. I couldn't get any to show in a search. Wife has an Amazon account, so I'll have her buy me some to try.

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Babydriver Full Member Offline Posts: 233 Joined: Mar 22^nd, 2024	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #12 - yesterday at 11:22am	Print Post
	Gum turpentine. From what I have read there is a difference between gum turpentine and just turpentine. A few years back I ordered Auson Balsam gum turpentine from Hamilton Marine. It is fantastic. From my perspective there is nothing like it. Regular turpentine is a zero.


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GunBum Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 275 Location: SW Missouri Joined: Oct 30^th, 2021	Re: Dealing with less than pristine bores Reply #13 - yesterday at 5:43pm	Print Post
	craigster wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 11:39pm: marlinguy wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 5:48pm: craigster wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 12:26pm: Gum turpentine and tight patches. Is there some difference between turpentine and "gum turpentine"? I can't even find anyplace that sells anything called gum turpentine? Gum is pure , "non-gum" has synthetic petroleum additives. (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) Not true. Gum turpentine is steam distilled from raw turpentine collected from live trees. Wood turpentine is destructively distilled from pieces of trees. Most of the turpentine you find nowadays is a byproduct of pulp mills. It has nothing to do with being pure or diluted or anything else. It is an artifact of the manufacturing process, not a purity issue. I’ll plant my flag and die on this hill.


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