Spent all day doin errands figured I'd relax watch some YouTube clean barrel or two.......and definitely not because I was banished to my side of the house by the wife ... . Well now I slightly irritated.. gotta ask does any EVER get white patches ? Because I've managed to go from this

To this

And my patches still look like this

Same here Wolfdog. No matter how many I run through I still have a patch come out with a bit of discoloration. Eric

I dont seem to have that problem. I shoot a lot of Barnes copper bullets...just make sure I have a quality copper cleaner.

I run patches until I am tired. Then I shoot the gun and it goes back to where it is supposed to be, DNO.
The D is for Dead, and the O is for On. If you can't figure out what the N is for, ask a child which we are allegedly trying to protect from profanity.
They'll surely know. lol

I don't think they ever come out completely clean....I don't worry about it...

I don't think I've ever made over 4 passes through a barrel in one sitting. But if I did, I'm sure I would have similar results, so I don't worry too much so long as it's clean enough

Carbon from chamber and first couple inches of the bore would be my guess.?.?.

Same for me. I will often use Wipe Out Bore Cleaner to get fouling and copper out, but patches still come out with some discoloration. Better than with Hoppes, but still discolored. With my flintlock it is no different and everything corrosive in the black powder residue is water soluble. The first dry patch after a wet patch always shows discoloration. Graphite is added to both smokeless and black powder to reduce static electricity and to make it flow better. I think the discoloration may be graphite being leached from the pores of the bore by the wet patch and then picked up by the dry patch. As far as I can tell there is no point in running more patches trying to get them to come out white.

This
Good quality Copper removing solvent

One of my biggest failings with guns has been to properly take care of them........and specifically the barrels. Would wipe down the outside, but neglected the barrels. Out of sight, out of mind.

When I started reloading, had pretty good success except for one rifle. Could not get it to group well no matter what. Was finally exposed to how to get a barrel really, really clean and it took several hours to get anything that resembled a clean patch. Then took the rifle to a smith with a bore scope and we found out why it wouldn't shoot straight. The barrel was toast. Deep pitted corrosion coast to coast. I had screwed the pooch out of ignorant neglect. Never going to let that happen again.

if you go at it with a copper solvent you get to a little cleaner than that end patch not white but not as discolored
it is also a harsher solvent and you have to take more steps to neutralize the ammonia , then oil the barrel.

where you are at is fine however , that your not seeing anything in the bore scope is good

think of it like this , you have a cast iron pan and you keep taking a white rag and some oil and rubbing the pan down , you are going to keep getting a bit of carbon that discolors your white rag.
it doesn't mean the cast iron isn't perfect to cook on , it just means you didn't strip it to bare metal.

you won't harm a barrel at all shooting it in the state it is in when you get that patch grey like that and you don't need to strip a barrel to bare

how many rounds would you say you are cleaning at?

if most people did a few hopes patches at the end of every season the gun got used or ay day hunting in the rain or mist or a patch a year if it just sits , there wouldn't be a barrel around neglected to death.

you can take life out of a barrel cleaning it aggressively as well

Absolutely.

Read an article years ago that much of the barrel cleaning procedure that's been beat into gun owners heads goes back to the days of corrosive ammo, (more exposed) lead bullets and old powders. IIRC it basically summarized that there's no need to go as overboard as we do anymore, especially for the shooting/hunting that 99% of people do.

Use a nylon brush. The brass leaves deposits and gives the patch a false reading.

Wipe out is the best! It is a different chemical than all the other copper solvents

After fouling cleaner I run some Kroil down for the night. Next day I can get a pretty clean patch after running a few. Those grooves always keep a bit.
Interestingly I have one very old 30-30 that decades of sitting in someone’s attic corner before me pitted the inner barrel very much visually. That darn thing still drives nails. Go figure. Bothers me to look down the barrel but man it’s a shooter.

Wolfy if you want a really clean patch, run all as you did, lastly run a couple with good transmission fluid on them. Clear that and then try.

Osky

And it contains a corrosion inhibitor. The directions actually say to NOT oil afterward.

never had this problem on any of my guns.
I use a bronze brush in and out 3 times then a cotton ball looking attachment in and out three times then a military grade clp soaked patch in and out three times and replace patch no oil on it and it comes out perfectly clean

Cheap rod flex causes color.

how many rounds between cleanings ?

depends I clean my guns every time I use them could be anywhere between 5-200 rounds