History...
I have an older Rem 700 that has been semi-customized to 30-338. I worked for a family that owned a pawn shop, auction company, car lot, antique store, furniture store, etc. Me and the pawn shop manager bought this rifle together when it came out of pawn. It also came with RCBS dies. This was in '03, maybe '04. My job ended me up out on the road for extended periods, and as my co-owner did not handload, the rifle just sat at his place until now. I have the rifle now and am about to start loading for it.
First order of business was a good cleaning. This rifle has not been touched at least since we bought it, and have no idea when the pawner cleaned it before it came to us. When I pulled the rifle out of the case I noticed the ports on the brake had what looked like oxidized copper in them. (this brake has 24 ports all angled forward) There was also the same blue oxidation inside the brake where the threads of the barrel ended, evenly dispersed all the way around. The bore at the muzzle showed alot of copper in the grooves that was already oxidized blue. Evidently there is alot of fouling in this rifle, which I am addressing now. It's soaking while I type this.
Anyway, the question is, is there some amount of copper that possibly vaporizes during the bullet's trip down the bore? If the bullet was striking the brake upon exit, I would think that there would just be a couple of ports that picked up the copper, but ALL ports had this oxidation in them.
I have an older Rem 700 that has been semi-customized to 30-338. I worked for a family that owned a pawn shop, auction company, car lot, antique store, furniture store, etc. Me and the pawn shop manager bought this rifle together when it came out of pawn. It also came with RCBS dies. This was in '03, maybe '04. My job ended me up out on the road for extended periods, and as my co-owner did not handload, the rifle just sat at his place until now. I have the rifle now and am about to start loading for it.
First order of business was a good cleaning. This rifle has not been touched at least since we bought it, and have no idea when the pawner cleaned it before it came to us. When I pulled the rifle out of the case I noticed the ports on the brake had what looked like oxidized copper in them. (this brake has 24 ports all angled forward) There was also the same blue oxidation inside the brake where the threads of the barrel ended, evenly dispersed all the way around. The bore at the muzzle showed alot of copper in the grooves that was already oxidized blue. Evidently there is alot of fouling in this rifle, which I am addressing now. It's soaking while I type this.
Anyway, the question is, is there some amount of copper that possibly vaporizes during the bullet's trip down the bore? If the bullet was striking the brake upon exit, I would think that there would just be a couple of ports that picked up the copper, but ALL ports had this oxidation in them.