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May. 1983
More On "Blue Goop"
To: Mr, Harold Shipley
Delr Harold;
Dave Brennan has passed your letter
along to me to compose an answer to
your question RE: Blue Goop. Specifi-
cally, "What in tarnashun does the
copper metal do In the way of removing
more of the same from our barrels?" I've
been asked this about 76315 times arid
I resent the doubting looks I usually get
back.
Now good old Dave Intimated he might
print. my answer. If he does, maybe
people willjust use the stuff and be happy
they have a copper remover that works
as fast as It does. So maybe Its worth the
effort to try to explain a little chemistry.
If I'm unable to make myself understood
my apologies are extended In advance. I
willtry to describe the process so that a
chemistry degree Is not required of the
audience.
A small amount of background Is in
order. Iguess all of us know that Hoppe's
No.9 will remove copper fouling but It
-Uh.. takes up to two weeks to complete the
job: -For' purposes of this' discussion,
copper can be considered to exist inthree
forms. Metallic copper, monovalent
copper and divalent copper. Metallic
copper has all the required electrons in
their various shells, monovalent copper Is
short one electron, and divalent copper is
short two electrons. They are repre-
sented as Cu. to indicate the electrical
neutrality of metallic copper, as Cu+ to
indicate the shortage of one electron and
as Cu + + to indicate the shortage of two
electrons.
Now the reason for all this gelelder-
frankerl is that it is necessary to un-
derstand how copper Is removed and why
Blue Goop is satisfactorily fast while
Hoppe's Is slow and ammonia by itself
takes. damn near forever. ..
As the copper lays in the barrel
screwing up our groups (excuse no. 317)
It exists In the form Cu. and In that form
it Is, for our purposes, Insoluble. We can structions thft' I've been passing out to
knock some of It loose mechanical!Vwith. . people who ask. They're pretty boiled.
a bristle brush particularly' from bore
surfaces that have just the right texture. trouble,
However any copper that has adhered
strongly enough to resist the brush must
be removed by dissolving It. Fortunately
for gun nuts, mother nature provided us
'with the means, That Is why I talked
aboOt -v~lences and all those Impressive
+ 's and"o's,
The essenceofourgoodfortuneIsthat
Cu +. and Cu+ + are soluble, So what?
I'lltell you so what.-That's what Hoppe's
and Blue Goop do-i.They convert Cu. to
Cu+ so It is soluble, When It Isdissolved.
it wipes out of the bOrezlpl The Important
difference between the two cleaners Is
that one Is fast enough to be useful
between bench rest matches.
Mother nature arranged Itso that when
we bring Cu+ + In contact with Cu. we
get two Cu+ 's, both. soluble. That's
right. The metallic copper Is changed to
a soluble form. The dear girl also ar-
ranged it so that the particular process
proceeds very rapidly. Too bad for us that
Hoppe's Is too slow for between match
use. . , qtbOttle
So finallyto get to the damn point. The
copper wire or jackets are put In the mix
to provide Cu++'s. The way it works is
this. The hydrogen peroxide Is there to
raise the wire, Cu., to Cu++. The only
function the ammonia has is to keep the
Cu + + In a complex that allows a large
amount of it to stay in solution. When the
.co1orottha-solution reaches Ii daep blue,
that means that a lot of copper is dis-
solved. It's there as good old Cu+ +
which dissolves metallic copper very
quickly and will not attack steel or
stainless steel.
To reemphasize, It Is the Cu+ + that
does the work. The ammonia is only a
means of holding the Cu+ + in solution.
I've been asked, "Why not just use
ammonia and hydrogen petoxide~" It
does work. My Impresslol) Is that is is
slower so I stick 10 Blue Goop. ..
Another beneficial thing I found, to my
good fort\.l'ne,at the ,BS Nationals, was
that B.G..dlssolves. that,tlght .collarIwas
getting just in.front of the throat. I was
\.IsingN201and it sure works better with
that collar removed. I suppose the collar
is composed of water soluble material.
About four strokes is all It takes.
I'm enclosing. copies of the B.G. In-
down but they will not get anyone Into
You may be Interested to know that I
laid that B,G. Information on Fletcher In
about 1978 at a Super Shoot. I wrote a
bunch of Jass out by hand. Alabor Iabhor.
I felt "ke a big ole hero. The agreement
between Fietch and myself was that, if !
would do all that wDrk RI'\ hila..,...11'1...1.-.--
his damn gun, he would see that it got
published.Then Iwouldn'thave to work,
never again. NowInJanuary 83 P.S. YotJ
will note he proved thar his word Is his
bond. That sand lapper never gives up.
I guess that's one of the reasons he
shoots so well.
I hope this sheds more light than
confusion on the subject. If anyonedoes
find It confusing,th'y canJust hum a little
tuneandnot worry abOut undlrltlndlng
It. It works. NOargument abbUt that. Use
it. And have a clean barrel. .
Phil Sauer
Preparation of Blue Goop
3/4 of . qt of 28% Ammonia
2 to. Tablespoons of
~ Hydrogen Peroxide
'0 IndI8SNo, ,.
copper wireor
equivalentjackets
Cap lightly. Gas may need to escape.
Agitate moderately with cap loose.
Afteran hour or two it will be a deep blue
and be ready to use.
After one week, remove copper from
solution.
JlJe solution is poisonous. Don't get it on
. your sandwich.
Blue Goop -
(for.copper remOval)
Howto Use
1. Clean gun normally and dry out with
patches, .
2. Soak patch with B.G. Make several
passes thru bore.
3. Re-wet patch with B.G. and add a
coupleof drops of hydrogenperoxide.
4.rMake 3 or 4 passes thru bore.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 about 3 times.
This will remove jacket fouling very
rapidly. I doubt if it effects powder
fouling. Note: Some powder fouling is
removed.
. 6. Dry the barrel and coat the interior
with Hoppes NO.9 (light coat).
..Ioad.rs Discounts! I
." ." list prir~ 01 Rffidinl/. C.H.
Bnnanza'. lop qualily di~ and equip.
m..nl. Sfond $3.50 IlIr manufarlurer"s
calalo!l/prirr park. refundablp nn $25
order. VISA/MasierCard a('('ppled.
Vqa T_I Co8qt-,.. lJept. 488.
1840 C..ommerce 81.. Un" H. Rouhler
l. Colorado 80301.(3031443-4750.