BoydAllen
Gold $$ Contributor
Amazon
Carbon removal
- Thread starter TTE
- Start date
Hoot
Silver $$ Contributor
Looks like it comes in different grades, much like steel wool. Is there a consensus as to which grade works best for carbon removal in barrels?
Hoot
BoydAllen
Gold $$ Contributor
The fellows that I have been working with have used fine, but I think that any grade would probably work. Here is the deal. If you have an accumulation of powder fouling and hard carbon one way to remove it that does not entail the risks of extensive abrasive use is to use a penetrating oil called Free All (Look around and find the pump spray (because you can then use it as you would any other liquid.) Starting with a dry barrel a very worn bronze brush, patches and the free all, wet the barrel thoroughly, let is soak for 12 hours or so, wrap strands of bronze wool around either a nylon brush (because it can be reversed in bore) or a bronze brush that is so worn that it can be reversed, to a very snug fit and then soak it with Free All and make about 30 cycles up and down the bore, avoiding exiting the muzzle, patch out with Free All, reapply more FA, soak the same amount of time as before, and so on. As you go through this procedure a number of times the blackness will recede down the bore so that you will be left short stroking the last few inches, having removed the black in front of it. Keep going until it is all gone and then start cleaning properly from that point on. One suggestion: if you are not prepared to do a very through cleaning immediately after your last shot, wet the bore with Kroil (at the range) to keep the powder fouling from hardening until you clean the barrel. At that point I would clean out the Kroil and start with what ever cleaning routine you find to be effective. One fellow that I worked with had seen accuracy issues bought a Teslong only to discover that a couple of thousand rounds of infrequent cleaning with Hoppes and nylon brushes had left him with a barrel full of black. It took him several days of the routine i described, but he managed to get it all out at which point the barrel's accuracy was restored. Based on other conversations, the only real trick is to be able to follow instructions and keep going as long as it takes.
AckleymanII
Gold $$ Contributor
Rhodes American Bronze Wool 3 Pad Pack - Fine | eBay
It is an essential maintenance item for boaters seeking to maintain beautiful wood and bright work. Bronze Wool cuts better and faster than sandpaper and other abrasives, with fewer scratches. FROM STEM TO STERN.Bronze Wool has long been used by professionals and do-it-yourself boat owners to...
www.ebay.com
Free All
Free All Deep Penetrating Oil
Free All Deep Penetrating Oil is the penetrant that trusted professionals turn to when they want to get the job done right.. and now so can you.
fedpro.com
Free All® Deep Penetrating Oil
fedpro.com
It works!
Just be careful and use that stuff sparingly. It works great but a little goes a long way.
jelenko
Gold $$ Contributor
FYI.
I've found that bronze wool wrapped around a brush [I'm using a very well worn bronze one that passes through the bore very easily] and just regular carbon solvent [I use C4] and short stroked a bunch in the throat and barrel does a great job removing almost all carbon. The only stuff left is in the very corners of the grooves and on the bottom 1/3 of the very beginning of the throat - the rest of the way around the beginning of the throat is bare metal.
As the wool wears it's easy to build it back up.
I've found that bronze wool wrapped around a brush [I'm using a very well worn bronze one that passes through the bore very easily] and just regular carbon solvent [I use C4] and short stroked a bunch in the throat and barrel does a great job removing almost all carbon. The only stuff left is in the very corners of the grooves and on the bottom 1/3 of the very beginning of the throat - the rest of the way around the beginning of the throat is bare metal.
As the wool wears it's easy to build it back up.
COLT45SA
Silver $$ Contributor
My solution has never been written about as far as I know. Most of you know what Kroil is and have seen it sold at the gun shows for several years now. I've used it since the mid 80s. It's made by a company that is a very poor marketer, Kano Labs. Kano has the most amazing carbon cleaner I've ever experienced, and I've tried them all. The product I'm referring to is called "Kreen", and it's expensive at $25 a quart. However, you'll use so little of it that a quart will last you the rest of your shooting life. Kano no longer sells direct to the public. Their products have to be bought through distributors, and the distributors don't even stock the products. I have used Kreen to remove carbon from some "impossible" jobs I have encountered, and still use it in automotive applications and carbon removal in gun barrels. You wouldn't believe what it did for a Model 1885 Winchester that was built in 1902. I periodically clean my .22s with a patch soaked with Kreen, let it sit for an hour or so, and finish with the Tipton cotton plugs.
What procedure do you use with the kreen if you wouldn't care to share? I've got a WinMag that I need to clean from a few hundred rounds of just not knowing how to really clean a barrel properly at that time. Thanks!
Shooter13
Gold $$ Contributor
Found it on Amazon but only in 4 and 6 qt bundles!!
This place has quarts but shipping adds another $14
pilotshq.com
Kreen All-In One Gas and Oil Treatment, Internal Engine Cleaner
It is guaranteed to improve engine performance. When added to either the gas or oil of your engine, Kreen dissolves carbon deposit buildups and varnishing to enhance compression, increase gas mileage, reduce downtime and restore power. Thoroughly cleans engine rings, valves, and fuel injectors...
pilotshq.com
JEFFPPC
Gold $$ Contributor
These cleaning threads are great . We all think we have the best method. So I have 2 comments. One will make some froth at the mouth. The other will make some roll on the floor in laughter. First....after reading glowing reports about Free All, I bought a can . I found it worthless to clean carbon, your kidding yourself. Secondly......I have been experimenting for a year with water and Dawn. I was being chintsy with the Dawn. I added a lot more Dawn and a half dozen patches gets a large percentage of the carbon out for pennies. No not the carbon ring you have from neglect and poor cleaning practices but accumulation from the last relay. I follow with a patch or two of Kroil/ Hoppes, ready for the next relay. Ok, your turn. PS....I am not afraid of JB or Iosso been using them for years.
How does it do on the “hardened” carbon that other cleaners cant break down. My observations are that the first 6 inches of any barrel are impervious to non-abrasive cleaners.
B23
Gold $$ Contributor
Anyone ever use Quicksilver Power Tune? It's a Mercury Marine product that comes in a spray aerosol can or you can also buy it in 12oz liquid non spray can. It's supposed to be a good carbon remover.
www.westmarine.com
Amazon.com : Quicksilver 858080Q03 Power Tune Internal Engine Cleaner, 12oz - for 2-Stroke, 4-Stroke and Fuel-Injected Gas Engines : Sporting Goods : Sports & Outdoors
Amazon.com : Quicksilver 858080Q03 Power Tune Internal Engine Cleaner, 12oz - for 2-Stroke, 4-Stroke and Fuel-Injected Gas Engines : Sporting Goods : Sports & Outdoors
www.amazon.com
858080Q03 Power Tune Internal Engine Cleaner for 2-Stroke, 4-Stroke and Fuel-Injected Gas Engines - 12 Oz. | West Marine
Check out our 858080Q03 Power Tune Internal Engine Cleaner for 2-Stroke, 4-Stroke and Fuel-Injected Gas Engines - 12 Oz. and more from West Marine!
www.westmarine.com
jelenko
Gold $$ Contributor
Absolutely. Important to differentiate between getting hard carbon vs all the non hard carbon. And, there is 'stubborn' carbon - stuff that will come out with scrubbing but won't with just patches.
I also tried Free All. I found that if you wait 6-8 hours after scrubbing, it seemed like more carbon came out than patching out right away - but not a lot more.
As an experiment, I used bronze wool on a worn brush with Boretech C4 instead of Free All and scrubbed. The bore looked the same as using Free All. In either case, the hard carbon did NOT come out.
Based on observations using a borescope, my current theory is that bronze wool wrapped around a well worn brush gets more carbon out that a unworn bronze brush; scrubbing with bronze wool and a good 'solvent' [Free All works as well as C4] can get the bore and the throat pretty clean - down to the corners of the lands/grooves; eventually, enough hard carbon will build up in the throat area that some abrasive is needed.
As others have said, if you're not using a borescope, you don't know what the effect is of your cleaning approach.
I asked my gunsmith to give me the barrel stubs when he cut my barrel to length. I took a section about 1" long and brushed the hell out of it with a brass brush, then I cross-sectioned it and took images on a scanning electron microscope at work. Considerable damage. SS barrels and CM are not very hard, about 30HRC. They are bored, rifled and chambered in the annealed heat treat condition. I rotated the brush so any scratches vertical are from machining or lapping the barrel. Left to right scratches can only be from the brush.
Attachments
Last edited:
HTSmith
Silver $$ Contributor
Too cheap not to try it. Could you share the ratio of Dawn to water? Thanks
Upgrades & Donations
This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.