Best method for removing a carbon ring and non-rotating cleaning rod

[TXCOONDOG]

Yes I have a bore scope. I had hell getting the lead out as it was deep in the grooves from the chamber to the bore. I had to use a 22 cal brush and choir boy to peel small amounts at a time until I could pull a lewis lead remover through the barrel.

I clean my guns after each range session and small amounts of lead & carbon was always easy to deal with. I only gave $400 for the rifle; the SS action, trigger and MDT chassis is worth more than that.

I want to see if I can get it to shoot, before replacing the barrel.

Thanks for the tips and help all.

[Hannibal]

OK then, I don't think anything apart from JB Bore paste or Flitz is going get that out and time + elbow grease will be required.

In all sincerity, I hope it works out for you.

[45_Colt]

Use Boretech C4 Carbon remover. Let it soak, let it do the work for you. It does the trick.

Seriously, lightly stuff the chamber throat with paper towel or patch material. Then soak it in C4. Let it go for at least 12 hours. Knock the patch(s) out and see how it is. Rinse and repeat.

Note that C4 will also attack copper. So be aware that bronze brushes and brass jags need to the cleaned ASAP.

Hard carbon deposits are a pain in the a (PITA). C4 was originally developed for rimfire firearms. But seeing (dang bore-scope) how bad centerfires get, it is also used on them.

45_Colt

[Hannibal]

Tried C4. Got clean patches. Looked and carbon was there. Tried again with a longer soak. Same result. Tried again overnight. Same result.

Personal experience.

If whatever is vexing you comes out with C4 then it's not hard carbon. I can't imagine how hard carbon could even form in a .22LR barrel. Completely different circumstances and resulting problems.

[Hannibal]

I've got a nearly new 16oz bottle of C4. If someone will PM me their address and actual shipping cost you can have it because I don't have any use for it.

Yes, I'm absolutely serious.

[Hannibal]

Moderators, if this runs afoul of any forum rules that is purely an honest mistake on my part. I presume since it's essentially a give-away it's fine but if I'm mistaken then tell me what to do and I'll correct it any way I can.

[Shawlerbrook]

Whatever method you use, be careful. I have seen some major barrel damage from some overzealous scrubbing.

[Hannibal]

Whatever method you use, be careful. I have seen some major barrel damage from some overzealous scrubbing.

I've taken a bronze brush to one of those takeoff barrels and chucked it up in a cordless drill. Let 'er rip for roughly 5 minutes. No significant damage noted in the bore scope.

Dragging a cleaning rod over the crown or throat is a different matter all together. I don't recommend either one. But carefully cleaning a bore with mild abrasives to remove hard carbon isn't going to make things any worse.

[45_Colt]

Tried C4. Got clean patches. Looked and carbon was there. Tried again with a longer soak. Same result. Tried again overnight. Same result.

Maybe it was bluing in the barrel? Most barrels get blued without plugging the bores. BTST (been there, seen that).

If whatever is vexing you comes out with C4 then it's not hard carbon. I can't imagine how hard carbon could even form in a .22LR barrel. Completely different circumstances and resulting problems.

Hard carbon buildup in a rimfire barrel is a known issue. For the most part it builds up at the mouth of where the cartridge ends. Once a large enough ring (when let go) builds up, it rips at the soft lead boolit and wreaks accuracy.

45_Colt

[Hannibal]

Maybe it was bluing in the barrel? Most barrels get blued without plugging the bores. BTST (been there, seen that).



Hard carbon buildup in a rimfire barrel is a known issue. For the most part it builds up at the mouth of where the cartridge ends. Once a large enough ring (when let go) builds up, it rips at the soft lead boolit and wreaks accuracy.

45_Colt

I'm not intimately familiar with rimfire shooting in high volumes so I'll not attempt to dispute this. Perhaps we are speaking to the same problem but I've no way of knowing.

As I've said before, no one knows what they don't know. Perhaps I'll take up rimfire shooting on a large scale one day and develop an opinion based off that. All I can say for sure is hard carbon in a centerfire is a real problem and best avoided if possible.

[porthos]

i would try 0000 steel wool wrapped around a bore brush; with solvent. i don't think that a one time scrubbing will do any damage to the bore of a modern rifle bbl. i just read on another site recently that it would take 50,000 strokes in a bbl. to do any damage with steel wool (0000)

[Hannibal]

C4 has been spoken for pending shipping arrangements.

[stubshaft]

JB with Kroil on a patch over a worn bore brush works well most of the time. But if you have severe carbon build up in the throat tube best stuff I’ve found is called Freesall which I bought at N O’reilly’s auto parts store. Plug the chamber and spray a liberal amount down the bore while the rifle is setting in a position so that the Freesall flows toward the chamber. After setting over night drain and run a few patches. Then clean as normal. Worked on my Remington .308. Now I use Patch out after each range session to prevent the build up.

Most solvents including Brakleen will only cause the carbon to laugh. Copious amounts of elbow grease with the abovementioned will do the trick!

[elmacgyver0]

So, what I am reading here is nothing will dissolve carbon?

[M-Tecs]

So, what I am reading here is nothing will dissolve carbon?

Normal carbon and hard carbon are much different animals. The best advice is to use cleaning methods that don't allow build-up. Once the hard carbon ring forms is much more difficult to remove. I was tasked with removing a hard carbon ring on a competition trap gun. No chemicals I tried or mild abrasives would touch hard carbon ring. Next was a long angle HSS forcing cone reamer. The hard carbon ring toasted the HS reamer. Stepped up to carbide forcing cone reamer and that did take it out but once removed there was pitting where the hard carbon ring was so the Barrel was replaced.

With competition rifles or high usage rifles you also have hydrogen embrittlement issues so it's not a direct comparison, but hard carbon rings will kill a HSS reamer if you are doing a barrel setback. In the 90's some writers in Precision Shooting Magazine and other places were pushing no brush/abrasive cleaning methods. Some of the same people were using Moly in a big way. Hard carbon rings became a significant issue for some.

Barrel cleaning methods almost become a religion for some. Lots of very strong opinions. The video's I posted above are the methods a national champion long range shooter and another nation level shooter works for them.

Personally I use Bore Tech Eliminator, Wipe-Out foam, Sweets 7.62, Butch's Bore Shine in various sequences. In addition, a mild abrasive is used every 400 to 500 rounds. My borescope and actual target results indicates these methods work well for me. No carbon issues let alone anything that comes close to a hard carbon ring forming.

One more from a bench rest legend

[Martin Luber]

Anyone use Slip 2000 degreaser?

[TD1886]

It's not explained normal carbon and hard carbon, it's explained soft carbon and hard carbon. The difference between the two, although they are both carbon, is the arrangement of the carbon atoms. They are different in how they react. A good example of hard carbon is diamond, which is the hardest thing on earth. It's hardness makes it impervious to many thing, but yet they cut diamonds by fracturing them as they are brittle. Hard carbons are far resistant to chemicals as duty noted by this thread. A diamond can be dissolved by hydrofluoric acid. Yes the carbon is hard in that chamber, but not nearly as hard as a diamond, so there are more chemicals/acids that can dissolve it. It's the temperature and pressure that bond the carbon atoms to each other in a unique arrangement; one carbon atom to four other carbon atoms. We kind of have that in the chamber.

[M-Tecs]

https://mdttac.com/blog/the-carbon-r...jHHoNS-ibb5m6M

[45_Colt]

https://mdttac.com/blog/the-carbon-r...jHHoNS-ibb5m6M

Great article. Short, sweet, to the point, and has good photos... Thanks.

45_Colt