Borescope stories - the magic of Flitz polishing

[Rcher]

These two videos speak better than my words:

Clean barrel before Flitz polishing:

https://youtu.be/xRQbItaF7xk

After Flitz polishing:

 https://youtu.be/Gs_UXnHuNzA

And it took less than 5 minutes to do the job. Probably makes sense to do every 1000-2000 rounds. I will try to do it for my AR-15 bore as well.

[M1A4ME]

The "shininess" difference is amazing.

But it is smoother, or just cleaner?  And how could that be measured?

Maybe (just maybe, I'm guessin' here) you migh see a difference in how dirty the patches are after a similar number or rounds with the same ammo.  You know, if the barrel is smoother, it might (might) not grab/hold as much crud from the same number of fired rounds.  Or, require more patches to come clean as you get farther from the last polishing and closer to the next polishing.

I'm impressed by how shiny the barrel was after polishing.  I know I've got some simi chrome polish somewhere in the garage.  Not sure how that stacks up to Flitz though.  It's getting cool enough, some days, to get out in the shed and do some work again.

[Rcher]

That's all good points, thank you. I shoot different ammo (when it is available and recently tried my own reloads). I'm trying not to shoot dirty ammo (never shoot steel-cased).
I usually do "light" cleaning after 80-100 rounds (boresnake, Balistol) and more deep cleaning every second time (Hoppe's). I'm trying not to use brass brush only nylon. I consider my barrel "clean" when I see clean patches, but when I inspect barrel with borescope I still see yellow copper and even black carbon residue (like on the first video). So, the cleaniness of patch is not an indicator here.

I plan to do my next cleaning after 100 rounds using Hoppe's and trying to do it as best as I can (may be also use brass brush a bit). Next I will do borescope inspection to see how dirty it become.

My procedure of polishing:

(1) Oil bore very well, so that Flitz stuff won't stuck and can be easily removed. (I used normal Flitz metal polish, not bore cleaner).
(2) Heavily soak cotton patch in Flitz paste, wrap brass brush with this patch and brush it 3-4 times. The patch will became black-greenish immediately.
(3) Replace patch with another soaked in Flitz, do the same.
(4) Use 3-4 oiled patches to remove remainder of Flitz, carefully clean barrel outside.
(5) Optionally - run wet patch with isopropyl alcohol for better clean-up.
(6) Run patch with Balistol (you can use any CLP or oil) for preservation purposes.

[Joe L]

Rcher--thanks for posting these and for sharing your experience.  I love borescope videos. 

I'm still experimenting with the .22, which seems to be the most critical as far as getting it clean before the accuracy falls off.  On the centerfires, I haven't seen much effect as long as there aren't large pieces of material stuck to the bore, especially near the chamber end.  Any deposit large enough to remove material from one side of the bullet will affect the accuracy.  But my P-10F barrel is so rough looking that one would think it would not be a good shooter, but, in fact, it IS an excellent shooter, I think because the roughness is so uniform and consistent through the length of the barrel. 

On the .22, the bore is so small that a tiny bit of hard material left in the leade area will swage the bullet down and then it will not be sealed by the time it reaches the muzzle.  This is one place where the JB Bore Paste or Flitz would be useful--as an abrasive to remove what is there, and as a polish to make the surface smoother so it slows the buildup after cleaning.  I have some Flitz left over from polishing the P-10 parts several years ago, I may try it on the .22. 

"Don't aim your borescope at anything you don't intend to clean."

Joe

[Armorydoc]

That's an interesting process. Thanks for the post.

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[exit plan]

It would be interesting to do before and after chronographs.

[Mercs]

To me it seems like there is no way to avoid “polishing” the rifling, which is dulling it, albeit ever so slightly. I’m sure anyone who has polished before understand how it affects sharp lines in metal. I would like to see some data on this


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[jwc007]

Very Interesting!    I'm going to have to try that.   

[Rcher]

Rcher--thanks for posting these and for sharing your experience.  I love borescope videos. 

I'm still experimenting with the .22, which seems to be the most critical as far as getting it clean before the accuracy falls off.  On the centerfires, I haven't seen much effect as long as there aren't large pieces of material stuck to the bore, especially near the chamber end.  Any deposit large enough to remove material from one side of the bullet will affect the accuracy.  But my P-10F barrel is so rough looking that one would think it would not be a good shooter, but, in fact, it IS an excellent shooter, I think because the roughness is so uniform and consistent through the length of the barrel. 

On the .22, the bore is so small that a tiny bit of hard material left in the leade area will swage the bullet down and then it will not be sealed by the time it reaches the muzzle.  This is one place where the JB Bore Paste or Flitz would be useful--as an abrasive to remove what is there, and as a polish to make the surface smoother so it slows the buildup after cleaning.  I have some Flitz left over from polishing the P-10 parts several years ago, I may try it on the .22. 

"Don't aim your borescope at anything you don't intend to clean."

Joe

Joe, you're welcome - I've got inspiration from your videos
Ironically, my 22lr barrels looks very clean comparing with 9mm and 5.56

[Rcher]

To me it seems like there is no way to avoid “polishing” the rifling, which is dulling it, albeit ever so slightly. I’m sure anyone who has polished before understand how it affects sharp lines in metal. I would like to see some data on this


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Well, to my knowledge Flitz is very "gentle" abrasive. I used it for polishing my knives and besides "mirror finish" it doesn't make knife more or less sharp. The reason I think it is safe for rifling is because Flitz sells dedicated bore cleaner which I suppose is the same rebranded product, but a bit more expensive

That's being said I don't think what I did is required for handgun barrels. I'm  more concerned about copper fouling/rust at my 5.56 barrel , so I might try Flitz sometime there.

One thing to keep in mind - Flitz is safe for stainless steel and if your patch becomes "black" - it's ok. However, be careful when using on blued or coated surfaces - it's ok if it is "brown" or "green", but stop immediately if it is "black". That's the answer I found from Flitz representative on some forum thread.

[bang bang]

welcome,

just a comment.

any "polishing" you are removing material. 

just something to consdider.

[Rmach]

welcome,

just a comment.

any "polishing" you are removing material. 

just something to consdider.

Absolutely, this is something you should not do IMO.   

[Rcher]

I found new target for my borescope - reloading dies
Man, I didn't expect to see so much brass residue there!

"Never point borescope to anything you don't want to clean"