Brake kleen for carbon?

[ntsqd]

Carbon is one very hard clinging substance. If you've ever had the opportunity to do a valve job on and engine, or overhauled and engine, you know how difficult it is to clean under the piston rings. A bead blaster works on these places, but is impractical on a bore.
I leave brake cleaner to brakes and carburetor cleaner to carburetors.

My suggestion is to use products made for carbon in firearms.

Bore Tech C4 and

Slip 2000 Carbon Killer are absolutely the best that I had used in the many years that I have been cleaning guns.

I hope that you're not planning on bead-blasted ring grooves sealing very well as they won't. This is why there are tools called "ring groove scrapers" made. Easier to just buy new pistons.

Have you ever did a fuel injection flush ? Tapping into the fuel rail. The smell of ammonia is strong during the process. And if you watch the tailpipe you can see the deposits expel. I used to do them at Toyota. Not sure if they still do it these days though.
Vinegar is another cleaner for certain usages. it eats rust. It's harsh if used straight. And mix it with baking soda it's a good drain cleaner. It does have a chemical reaction. Like a small volcano that kids build.
I would not be surprised to find Kroil has Kerosene in it. I believe type F trans fluid also has some amount of kerosene.

Vinegar is Acetic Acid. Baking Soda is a basic salt. Acid + Base, anyone remember them high school chemistry? yeahah!
I use white vinegar for removing plating when I need to weld on something that came plated and for removing rust. I do not use it on anything firearms related.
I do use CRC Brake Cleaner in place of B-C's Gun Scrubber. It's not quite as good when used for guns, but it is a bit less expensive and a whole lot easier to find.

 

[MagnumManiac]

To answer the OP's question, yes, I have cleaned barrels with brake clean, carb clean and CLR. Carb clean is harsh, but does not hurt the barrel, brake clean works better but needs more strokes due to evaporation. The best thing is CLR, it trumps everything I have ever tried…be careful with blueing, it will dissolve it in seconds, ask me how I know!
Carb clean is excellent as a final pass before lightly oiling the bore, it removes all residue from whatever copper cleaner or solvents used.

Cheers.

 

[Korhil78]

I used to clean my barrels to bare metal
Everytime and never had a carbon ring. I got away from that and have just been cleaning them as the rifle needed it and had to deal with a few annoying carbon rings. It's so annoying to me that I've just gone back to cleaning them after every session and no more carbon rings.

 

[Old Rooster]

I used to clean my barrels to bare metal
Everytime and never had a carbon ring. I got away from that and have just been cleaning them as the rifle needed it and had to deal with a few annoying carbon rings. It's so annoying to me that I've just gone back to cleaning them after every session and no more carbon rings.

Amen brother!

 

[blueprairiedog]

I religiously clean my rifles and never go past 50 rounds without doing so. I've used Bore Tech products and Patch-Out with Accelerator as directed for some time and I can tell you they do not really clean a barrel. Those nice white patches that come out the end are not the indicator of a clean barrel I always thought them to be. I have started using Thorro-Clean and Thorro-Flush that was developed by Bullet Central and cleaning to nearly bare metal each time. After cleaning I short stroke a patch with Lock Ease down the barrel and this seems to keep that first shot after cleaning going where it should........No foulers required. I've heard all my life how overcleaning is bad for barrels but I have to call BS on that now. I have 481 rounds down this barrel and here are the first three shots after cleaning yesterday.......

View attachment 471339

I had 5 practice shots and 10 on target in 2 matches about 30 rounds total (time to clean) cleaned barrel,trigger and dissembled bolt and tightened all hardware. my first shots look a lot like yours

 

[Chokoloskee Joe]

Eric Cortina has a very good video on how CLR works to remove carbon from his muzzle brakes. Again, remember to not get CLR on blued steel parts! He has stainless steel components in the video.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

why not use one of the many solvents made for safely cleaning carbon/firearms?
Looking for faster results? Residue too stubborn?

 

[Chokoloskee Joe]

why not use one of the many solvents made for safely cleaning carbon/firearms?
Looking for faster results? Residue too stubborn?

Yes, if you read my first post, I use CLR to remove a hard carbon ring, as it is much faster than dedicated bore cleaners. After the ring is gone, I clean with Bore Tech C4 Carbon cleaner.

 

[Darryle]

Which sea foam product? They seem to have dozens of options.

The fuel treatment, it's worked for me, but I haven't let carbon get bad enough to cause issues.

It's worthless for copper

 

[Darryle]

Kroil must be like magic....I've have had some bench rest shooters tell me they mix it with a few different things. I think one was JB bore paste?

I know we use Kroil and it dissolves carbon, actual dried carbon, especially in my air tools I use to prep and sand to remove carbon fiber. I clean my air tools with Kroil and they instantly come clean and operate better after a blast of Kroil.

I never considered using it for rifle barrel cleaning, just as a final wipe down or bore swab after cleaning to prevent rust.

It works great on plastic residue and carbon in shotgun barrels, just never linked the idea to rifles or pistols.

Shows you how little I actually use my brain

 

[Old Rooster]

Me too Darryl.
Some years ago I mixed a small amount of Kroil with equal amount of Butch's Core Shine and liked the results.
Now I may go back to that and add Kroil to some of my favorite solvents and see if it helps.
May be wrong but my confidence is high enough to try it again.

 

[doggonner]

Free All oil works pretty well on carbon, but J&B and bronze brush will do the trick, or isso, or the cleaner from Bullet Central works very well, unless you scope u have no clue

 

[Korhil78]

I always have a can of kroil at the ready. I use it mixed with JB Bore Paste and it makes it super slick while you are working the patch back and forth. I also put a patch with kroil on the tip to coat the bore and then a dry patch.

 

[dug]

KG-1. Nothing to mix ,nothing to think about it melting ,
nothing hard to find !
its for guns !
im not a chemist and cant find the time to learn that , so KG -1 just plain works for me with no worries