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I have found that a few of the Russian captured 98k carbines sold recently look really fantastic on the outside, but
when you look inside the bore it looks like a miniature cavern (complete
with
stalactites and stalagmites). The rifling is really worn and
the word shiny is the last word I would use in description. I
have a couple of these carbines that I picked up in a trade,
including a beautiful 1938 Mauserwerke (Oberndorf) Karabiner 98k
that I wrote about in the article
Flat Vulture. She shoots poorly but has all of her
markings and a very nice stock and finish. A close analogy would
be that this is kind of like owning a very pretty, classic and
collectible car without a working engine. It just sits in the
garage for everyone to look at and admire but when they find out
she can't really be driven, her luster and beauty is diminished.
I have tried everything to restore the bore
to some semblance of what it used to look like when it was
carried on
the battlefield of the eastern front, but to no avail. Over the
years I have found
that I am somewhat prejudice when it comes to my rifles - either they
shoot or it really does not matter how pretty they are - they
hold no value for me. |
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FIGURE 1 |
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Everything needed for the project:
Tipton Gun Vise,
EBC2 Electronic Gun Gleaner Kit, and the hopefully
willing
candidate. |
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A vendor contacted me and told me that they had an
electronic bore cleaner that they would like me to tryout for
an article on
Surplusrifle.com. I have
already written an article on building an electronic bore cleaner
and it works pretty well. Then I was told that the product they
were offering was far better than the unit I had built for
myself. I had not had the opportunity to use any of the commercial
electronic bore cleaners on the
market today and thought I would give it a try to see how it
compared.
My Russian captured 98k with the "less than serviceable" bore and I had just never really
developed the relationship that we were destined to have and I
was willing to try anything to make it work. Kind of sounds like
we were on our way to some marital counseling with the Love my Guns
bore cleaner. Sorry for the very hokey analogy but it
seemed funny enough at the time I wrote it. |
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FIGURE 2 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
| Insert the best
fitting delivered rubber bore plug into barrel tightly,
so cleaning solution will not leak out. |
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The Love my Guns electronic bore cleaning kit comes with everything you need to get going,
including enough solution to clean around six to ten rifles of
varying barrel lengths. At the heart of the kit is a
sealed electronic device called the EBC2 that connects to the
supplied cleaning rod that you place in the bore. The EBC2
device times the cleaning session for you so there is no guess
work involved and also tells you when it is not hooked up
properly. There are no batteries and you just plug it into an
electrical outlet. You don't have to know anything about
electronics to use the device. Just follow the supplied
directions as I did in the following. To prepare for the cleaning and per the supplied instructions I
first cleaned the carbine's bore using a good bore cleaner. I
chose to use
Ed's Red homemade
bore cleaner to accomplish this task. Afterwards when I looked down the bore it
was still very rough in appearance. I was hopeful that the EBC2 cleaner
would work on cleaning her up, but I was not very optimistic.
Not that I did not think the cleaner would do its job, just that
I may have chosen too great a test to be successful.
I removed
the bolt and inserted the bore plug. Then I used a flat blade
screwdriver to make sure the plug was firmly seated and would not
allow any of the cleaner solution to leak out. |
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FIGURE 3 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
| Mount the barrel
securely in an upright vertical position with the
plugged end of the barrel at the bottom. |
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I used my Tipton gun vise to hold the carbine in an upright
position. I placed the vise on the floor with the butt stock
securely locked in place as shown in figure 3. I really
don't know how I ever did anything with a firearm without one of
these things! |
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FIGURE 4 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
| Slide one or more O
rings, evenly spaced, onto the non-pointed end of the
cleaning rod. Note: for .22 caliber, use electrical tape
instead of O rings. |
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I slid all of the supplied O rings onto the cleaning rod. I did this
because I wanted to make sure the rod did not short out in the
barrel (touch the side). Then I inserted the pointed end of the rod into the barrel
and pushed it firmly into the rubber plug's center. |
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FIGURE 5 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
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Insert the pointed
end of the cleaning rod through barrel and into rubber
bore plug. Mount the barrel securely in an upright
vertical position with the plugged end of the barrel at
the bottom. |
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FIGURE 6 |
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Manufacturer
Supplied Product Warnings |
- Promptly remove the EBC unit
from the gun barrel and wall outlet as soon as
cleaning cycle completes (solid YELLOW light);
- Never leave cleaning solution
in the barrel when not running a cleaning cycle;
- Remove the cleaning kit (all
components) from the barrel when cleaner is not in
use or is disconnected;
- To prevent rust, clean and oil
the barrel and firearm immediately after cleaning;
- Do NOT repeat the cleaning
cycle more than once;
- Always ensure that the rubber bore plug is clean
before each use. A dirty bore plug may cause an
alternate connection across the plug and will result
in impaired or no cleaning action.
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FIGURE 7 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
| Pour the LoveMyGuns
Diamond solution into the top open end of the barrel.
Fill the barrel to within 1/4" inch of the top. |
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The cleaning solution comes premixed and in an easy to pour
bottle. This is a lot easier than the funnel method I use in my
homemade setup.
Filling the barrel with the supplied solution was the only
difficult step in the project. It was not difficult pouring in
the solution, only difficult knowing when to stop. I ended up pouring in
too much and having to pour off a little out from the top. |
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FIGURE 8 |
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FIGURE 9 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
| Attach the EBC2
Electronic Bore Cleaner to the rod (using clip on rear
of EBC case), and attach the black alligator clip to the
outside of the barrel at a convenient spot. This may be
the front metal sight or rear lug or frame that is
solidly attached. Do not attach the alligator clip to a
loosely attached piece, such as a moving link, or to a
non metal part. |
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Attaching the EBC2 electronic unit to the supplied cleaning rod was very simple and I chose the
carbine's actual cleaning rod
for the location to attach the alligator clip (as shown in
figure 9). The carbine's own cleaning rod appeared to be well
grounded to the bayonet lug which is attached to the barrel.
This completed the circuit. Once I hooked everything up and plugged in the wall power unit, I
found I had no shorts or other wiring problems. |
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FIGURE 10 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
| Let the cleaner
work. It will shut off automatically after 1 hour. Note
that each time the clip is removed, the timer will
pause. When the clip is reconnected, the timer will
resume again. Leave unit connected until it has
finished. To reset 1 hour timer to initial time, remove
power from the EBC unit and then reconnect the power
pack. |
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The yellow light blinked just like the instructions said it
would and it did change in frequency (the number of blinks). One thing I noted is
that there was a slight gurgling/fizzing noise from the top of
the barrel and bubbles could be seen escaping near the crown of
the muzzle as the photo in figure 10 shows above. |
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Legend for
Blinking Pattern of Yellow Light |
Constantly
Blinking: 100% or 55 minutes - 1 hour remaining
9 blinks, pause - 90% or 49-54 minutes remaining
8 blinks, pause - 80% or 43-48 minutes remaining
7 blinks, pause - 70% or 37-42 minutes remaining
6 blinks, pause - 60% or 31-36 minutes remaining
5 blinks, pause - 50% or 15-30 minutes remaining
4 blinks, pause - 40% or 19-24 minutes remaining
3 blinks, pause - 30% or 13-18 minutes remaining
2 blinks, pause - 20% or 7-12 minutes remaining
1 blink, pause - 10% or 0-6 minutes remaining
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FIGURE 11 |
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FIGURE 12 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
| After cleaning,
immediately discard cleaning solution and remove the
Cleaner Rod from the barrel. The black particles that
come out of the barrel with the cleaning solution are
lead. Some loosened lead will remain on the barrel,
especially in the rifling grooves, and must be removed. |
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FIGURE 13 |
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Manufacturer Supplied Instructions |
| The Cleaning Rod
will have lead deposited onto it, giving it a dull grey
color. This does not harm the rod or its cleaning
ability. Remove Lead from the rod with steel or brass
wool. Rinse the rod and all rubber parts of the EBC2
Electronic Bore Cleaning system in warm water and dry
with a clean cloth. Clean any liquid and/or grimy
residue from the bore plug and rod after each use. |
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FIGURE 14 |
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After an hour passed the cleaning process was finished and the
unit shut itself off. I unplugged the
power and disconnected the electronics and set them aside.
I
pulled the carbine free from the gun vise and then I poured the used
solution from the carbine's bore into a plastic container. Just as
the instructions stated there were many large black particles
floating in the bottom of the container (as shown in
figures 11 and 12).
When I removed the cleaning rod I found
it was a little difficult to remove the rubber bore plug as I
had really jammed it into the chamber. I ended up taking a
mallet and replacing the rod back into the bore with one end against
the plug and then I lightly tapped the rod until the plug fell
out. I will have to remember to do this next time before I
remove the rod.
When I had an opportunity to examine the rod I noted it was just
caked with crud (as shown in figure 13) and when I
wiped it down the rag turned black (as shown in figure 14). |
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FIGURE 15 |
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The instructions state: Some loosened lead will remain
in the barrel, especially in the rifling grooves, and must be
removed.
They were not kidding! On close inspection I could tell
that the cleaner had really loosened things up inside of the
bore. Immediately after the electronic cleaning, I took the
carbine into the garage for a thorough
cleaning and oiling. It took me well over a hundred patches and about an
hour to finally get the bore clean. When I finally examined it with a
bore light, I saw very strong and shiny
rifling (as shown in figure 15).
Note: Figure
15 is a photo of the bore from the breech end of the barrel.
I was amazed as I had not really expected much success with
this particular carbine. I really thought she had seen better days. Little did I know that she
still has better days to see!
I would
say our relationship is back on track and I no longer have
thoughts of separation in our immediate future.
In my opinion the Love my Guns electronic bore cleaner would
have paid for itself in this one single use as replacing the
rifle or barrel would have cost more than double the cost of the
cleaning unit.
I am now off to see if accuracy improves at the
range with my
little rehabilitated fraulein. ;)
Please, don't tell my wife! jlm;) |
