Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

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Crash
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Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#1

Post by Crash »

Almost every time I shoot my Howa bolt-action (.308 Winchester) more than just a few shots I have to clean some copper fouling out of the barrel. However, yesterday I fired about 100 rounds from my Glock 43, all of them copper-jacketed and when I cleaned the gun afterwards there was no copper fouling in the barrel. Some powder fouling, yes, but no copper fouling. Is there some velocity threshold below which copper fouling doesn't occur?

Thanks in advance,

Crash

WTR
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Re: Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#2

Post by WTR »

Hijack......my .308 is actually more accurate if I leave some copper layed down in the barrel.

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Crash
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Re: Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#3

Post by Crash »

WTR wrote:Hijack......my .308 is actually more accurate if I leave some copper layed down in the barrel.
WTR,

Yes, I've heard that before. But, what about my question?

Crash

Nuts
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Re: Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#4

Post by Nuts »

It depends more on how polished your bore is.

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Re: Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#5

Post by mrvmax »

I have some rifles that foul worse than others. I’ve use Bore Coat in some and it works great and others it didn’t help. I usually put it on every new rifle anyway to help reduce fouling.
https://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning- ... 41538.aspx
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bmwrdr
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Re: Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#6

Post by bmwrdr »

I'd assume the Glock doesn't show fowling in the barrel because it is polygonal and not grooved rifling.
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Crash
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Re: Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#7

Post by Crash »

bmwrdr wrote:I'd assume the Glock doesn't show fowling in the barrel because it is polygonal and not grooved rifling.
Maybe that's it. Appreciate your input. However, I'm still wondering about that velocity threshold for depositing copper fouling????

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Re: Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#8

Post by Bitter Clinger »

Not clear that velocity is the root cause:

It has been my experience in shooting a number of rifles and barrels used in 1000- yard rifles, that longer barrels and faster twists tend to foul more. And as Fred pointed out, this could be caused more by the long bullets (and the internal forces acting on them) than the barrel. I found too that some bullets just seem to foul more than others. This is no doubt caused by differences in the gilding metal used to make the jackets


http://riflebarrels.com/barrel-fouling/

https://www.shootingsoftware.com/fouling.htm
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bmwrdr
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Re: Copper Fouling in Pistol Barrels

#9

Post by bmwrdr »

Crash wrote:
bmwrdr wrote:I'd assume the Glock doesn't show fowling in the barrel because it is polygonal and not grooved rifling.
Maybe that's it. Appreciate your input. However, I'm still wondering about that velocity threshold for depositing copper fouling????

Crash
Dynamics in a rifle are different and with higher velocity comes higher temperature which in turn will leave a different kind and amount of residues in the barrel. I think some research on the web would be helpful to shed some light on this topic.
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