Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
First off, the point about running a snake down the barrel prior to firing after a period of downtime makes perfect sense. I have read a lot about a carbon ring but I have yet to identify in any of my rifles. I may not be looking in the correct location.
It's found in the first 4-6" of the bore where the most heat and pressure is evident. Basically hard baked. Not all easy to identify or remove. I discovered it early on due to seeing increased pressure on my brass and accuracy fall off a bit. Smith bore scoped it and said clean it you moron. Since then, I have my own bore scope and clean within 100. I am pretty good about running my snake a couple passes before hitting the mountain, if the rifle hadn't be fired for more than a week.
I use some modeling clay, like I use when bedding an action, to make a dam of sorts at the muzzle. Then put the barrel, bore down, in a plastic container, like a yogurt or sour cream container. Stand the barrel/rifle as vertical as possible and fill the barrel to the chamber with straight Simple Green. Let it soak for a day, bore brush and repeat. It's hard to imagine any carbon fouling remaining after the second time. It's the best method I've found, but I do NOT use ammonia based cleaners. They can cause pitting and introduce irreparable damage to your rifle. A lot of folks will chime in and say how it's never happened to them, and so on, but it's not hard to screw up your gear with ammonia.
If it is hard baked carbon, then nothing really work but IOSSO and J B paste. Temperature and pressure are two good elements in producing hard carbon on your barrel. Carbon cleaning compound mentioned above just remove dirt and residue. Those cleaning compound and brush will be no match to the hard carbon pressed hard and baked on your barrel. Soak and clean barrel from powder and residue with what ever you have and if copper is present use solvent intended for copper. Once copper are removed only the hardened carbon will remain, time for IOSSO or JB paste to do their job. If it doesn't work, check the throat and the crown. I hope yo don't need a new barrel. As to what fouling is acceptable, every barrel is unique, but your target paper will tell you for sure. Hope that helps.
I have tested most of the cleaners and lubes over the last 2 years and spent a bunch of money doing it. Ive seen barrels recently so cartooned out that rifling was barely visible. These barrels were of foreign military rifles that a friend has. He complained of bad groups and said he cleaned it until clean patches came out using Hoppes. On a bet I won a few bucks telling him it wasn't clean. I scoped the bore and it was horrendous. Heavy copper on top of carbon. I'd have to say it was fired with undersized bullets for it to build up like that. So here is what I have found to be the best cleaners and CLP's. Bore Tech were good but for normal carbon removal, Flitz LIQUID polish is awesome and my go to cleaner. For really heavy stuff as mentioned above, KG2 bore polish is the best. I know JB is popular but it is a pain to get out and KG2 cleans out much easier. I wrap a patch around a nylon brush and soak with KG2 and go at it. KG2 cleaned my friends bore and rifling was visible when done. I follow up with Prolix CLP to clean out KG or Flitz and provide a dry film lube and rust preventative in the bore.
Thanks for that bit of information!
Mike, my bores were shiny as a mirror when I bought the barrels. They are still that way. They get only very minimal carbon fouling which is easily removed. Never had a carbon ring and very seldom a trace of copper from the Barnes copper bullets. Been cleaning this way for years and won't change a thing. The 6000 non embedding grit in flitz isn't even classified as an abrasive and does no damage. I have match barrels from shilen, hart, pacnor, Krieger, PBB and all are pristine.
As far as getting the carbon out, Bore Tech carbon remover is the best I've found and I've tried just about everything. Roll up a soft foam earplug and put it in the muzzle to seal it off. Fill the barrel up to the chamber with bore tech carbon remover. Secure it vertically with the muzzle pointed down. Let it sit for five days. Drain it and push about 5 dry patches through followed by 5 patches wet with bore tech. Then 5 more dry patches. Repeat if necessary. The bore tech turns carbon into mush after a long period.
