An established carbon ring is not easy to remove. I suggest an old bronze brush and spin it in a drill....you could try nylon and isso/jb first. Once i removed old carbon rings i noticed a stain left in the "stainless" steel. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Carbon Ring, what is it, where is it?
- Thread starter powderbrake
- Start date
6MMsteve
Gold $$ Contributor
I went with what the guys said on here, bronze brush, Isso, Kroil, but I soaked it with seafoam for ABOUT 25 min. then went in and used my chamber cleaning tool with bronze brush and Isso it come right out. There is a stain left behind looking through the borescope but I can see the metal also coming through the stain if that makes sense. but it was a pure carbon ring that was well defined and thick lookin and I'm very happy to have it removed and thanks to this thread for the info I needed 
6MMsteve
Gold $$ Contributor
got it
Carbon Ring prevention/reduction.
I have taken 2 actions in my reamer design to address the area that attracts carbon at the case mouth. Not yet cut the chamber.
1- reduce the chamber length to a minimum, less room for carbon.
2- replaced the 45 deg chamfer to the free-bore with a full radius, again less room for carbon and gases flow is much better into an orifice/bore with a radius edge. (according to a mechanical engineer friend)
LC
I have taken 2 actions in my reamer design to address the area that attracts carbon at the case mouth. Not yet cut the chamber.
1- reduce the chamber length to a minimum, less room for carbon.
2- replaced the 45 deg chamfer to the free-bore with a full radius, again less room for carbon and gases flow is much better into an orifice/bore with a radius edge. (according to a mechanical engineer friend)
LC
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Without giving details about where I worked. We tested Lucas fuel injector cleaner. It's at any auto parts store. It removed carbon and chemical deposits in fuel injectors better than any other product on the market. Use it full strength. It needs a time to work. It shouldn't damage the barrel if left in for a a few days. Not aware of having carbon in my barrels. No way to check. I use it a few times a year. Let us know if anyone tries with success. I'm too cheap to buy a bore scope.
I did some quick tests awhile back with permatex gasket remover on the top of some old 2 stroke motocross bike pistons as I had read it worked wonders for removing carbon deposits. Well I tried it on a piston that was completely covered with carbon that was hard enough that one would need a wire wheel to remove it. I sprayed the top of the piston and let it sit for 10 minutes. It dissolved that carbon into a black paste that wiped off with one pass of a rag and the top of the piston looked brand new. I tried wipeout and sweets on another piston I had that was carboned up just as bad and even after sitting for an hour the Wipeout and Sweets never even touched it. The permatex was on a different level of carbon removal. I have been wondering for quite some time if it would make short work of these carbon rings and im thinking it possibly would. I tried a bit on the outside of a stainless barrel and it never etched the steel or did any damage that I could see and am getting closer to cleaning my 6br bore with it. I have some old barrels lying around that are real dirty but I don't own a bore scope to see the results. Anyone that owns a bore scope want to give it a go on an old barrel and see if it will remove a carbon ring?
JBT47
Silver $$ Contributor
Will be watching this. Any idea of the chemical compound?
USMCDOC
Silver $$ Contributor
Here is the page that they have the spec sheet on
https://www.permatex.com/products/gasketing/gasket-removers/permatex-gasket-remover-low-voc-formula/
Someoldguy
Mr Boyer speaks of replacing barrels in as few as 300 rounds. Pg. 182. The Book Of Rifle Accuracy.
Seems he finds most are done by 700 rounds.
I do not dispute ANYTHING Mr. Boyer has to say.
But I can't replace barrels at an equivalent pace. I'm poor.
So I do what I can.
Seems he finds most are done by 700 rounds.
I do not dispute ANYTHING Mr. Boyer has to say.
But I can't replace barrels at an equivalent pace. I'm poor.
So I do what I can.
Depends on the barrel. The Hart barrel my dad rebarreled his 243 with by 900 rounds the throat was out so far you couldn't seat a bullet and have it touch the lands, well under the calculated barrel life. Replaced it was a Kreiger and it lasted around 2,600 rounds right with what the barrel life calculator said. Granted the Hart used IMR-4350 and I ran N160 through the second barrel. Barrel life depends on the powder being used and the steel. When I've shot barrels out in the .243 (1) and .280 (2) they all seem to have had a really good 20 round match in them then the next two match of the 3x1000 things start to go weird. THe one barrel I thought was going out as things were getting wierd (was a warm day) last match of the year. Next season it shot great for 2 strings at 1k on a cold day. Next match it warmed up and went to hell, retired the barrel. So I think there is a temperature issue possibly or at least there seems to be.
I use them along with standard patch and jag method. They are a handy addition to add to your cleaning supplies.
The .45 caliber is perfect for cleaning the chamber on 308 rifles
Tony Boyer is trying to shoot 25 shot aggregates under 0.200". We are more than happy with .25 and .350" 5 shot groups at 100 yards. For short range competition at 100 & 200 yrds. Tony has 169 Hall of Fame points his next closest competitor has 49 HFPs.
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RampedRaptor
Gold $$ Contributor
I would enjoy reading a test someone conducts on carbon removers and the efficacy. Maybe there has already been one done that someone is a aware of and could link for myself and others?
Ben, that is the best description I've ever seen on the dreaded carbon ring build up. I've had the exact thing, in the exact place, happen.
Now, I do the same thing as you, except I have a short section of cleaning rod cut to length, and I chuck it up in a drill and spin it around that way. I also spin it and move it back and forth at the same time, for that critical first section of the barrel that shows the most fouling in my 'scope.
Well I promise you, you will never have another carbon ring taking care of it like you are along the way! I can not find any reason to NOT vigorously go after it BEFORE it gets in place!
I believe I have just learned something important in reading this thread. Thanks to each of you who have posted about the carbon ring as I was unaware of such a thing but can now see why I am having a bit of trouble chambering a round in both my Swift and a 243 truck gun. Seems like a borescope will be in my near future.
Interesting thread. About two years ago I switched to Bore Tech cleaning products after using Shooter's Choice for about 30+ years. The reason for the swtich was the wifey could no longer tolerate the odor of Shooter's Choice.
After some research I choose C4, carbon remover, so I could use a bronze brush because I believed the mechanical action of a bronze brush would do a more thorough job. I was stunned by the amount of fouling this product removed. I followed after dry patching with C2, copper remover using a nylon brush. I got very little if any "blue" indication on most of my rifles, more on a few other rifles. After a while the C4 was all that was needed but I continued to clean every 3rd cleaning with C2 but all traces of copper indication (on patches) disappeared.
I've always cleaned my rifles after approximately every 30 rounds. I've use a lot of Varget in both my 223's and 308's in the past but have switched to H4895 about two years only because I've gotten better accuracy and had trouble finding Varget.
I don't own a borescope but I did have my gun smith examine a few of my rifles, the ones with the most rounds through them. He could find no evidence of any 'carbon rings.' Since I only recently began using Bore Tech products I don't believe it's reasonable to conclude that it removed or prevent formation of a carbon ring. And as I said, I use to use a lot of Varget in my 223 and 308's. Although I practice a lot off shooting sticks, about twice a week, 10 to 15 round per range session, I never shoot in rapid fire mode, always allowing the barrel to cold between shoots because I'm a varmint / predator / deer hunter so my cold barrel shot is most important to me. Every shot is recorded and evaluated in an effort to improve my skills by calling shots and trying to learn.
I'm not making any claims here just wondering if my shooting routine and frequent cleaning has prevented formation of any carbon rings.
After some research I choose C4, carbon remover, so I could use a bronze brush because I believed the mechanical action of a bronze brush would do a more thorough job. I was stunned by the amount of fouling this product removed. I followed after dry patching with C2, copper remover using a nylon brush. I got very little if any "blue" indication on most of my rifles, more on a few other rifles. After a while the C4 was all that was needed but I continued to clean every 3rd cleaning with C2 but all traces of copper indication (on patches) disappeared.
I've always cleaned my rifles after approximately every 30 rounds. I've use a lot of Varget in both my 223's and 308's in the past but have switched to H4895 about two years only because I've gotten better accuracy and had trouble finding Varget.
I don't own a borescope but I did have my gun smith examine a few of my rifles, the ones with the most rounds through them. He could find no evidence of any 'carbon rings.' Since I only recently began using Bore Tech products I don't believe it's reasonable to conclude that it removed or prevent formation of a carbon ring. And as I said, I use to use a lot of Varget in my 223 and 308's. Although I practice a lot off shooting sticks, about twice a week, 10 to 15 round per range session, I never shoot in rapid fire mode, always allowing the barrel to cold between shoots because I'm a varmint / predator / deer hunter so my cold barrel shot is most important to me. Every shot is recorded and evaluated in an effort to improve my skills by calling shots and trying to learn.
I'm not making any claims here just wondering if my shooting routine and frequent cleaning has prevented formation of any carbon rings.
I clean my rifles after anything from 5 to 30 rounds depending on what I wanted to do at the range but got into the "let the chemicals do the work...aka brushing is bad" routine untill I picked up a carbon ring in a 6mm that looked like a rubber oring sitting there, that was just before the availability of the new lyman bore scopes so I went with the white patch comes out the end = clean barrel.
Since then every time I clean my barrels the last step is a short rod in a drill with a over size brush coverd in Iosso and then a patch with Iosso and kroil shotstroked the first 6 or so inches. No more carbon problems and barrel cleaning is a breeze and now I know they are clean. I think a good brush and good solvents goes a long way in preventing that ring with regular cleaning, I also started trimming the min off my brass to try and keep that "gap" between brass and chamber to a minimum.
Since then every time I clean my barrels the last step is a short rod in a drill with a over size brush coverd in Iosso and then a patch with Iosso and kroil shotstroked the first 6 or so inches. No more carbon problems and barrel cleaning is a breeze and now I know they are clean. I think a good brush and good solvents goes a long way in preventing that ring with regular cleaning, I also started trimming the min off my brass to try and keep that "gap" between brass and chamber to a minimum.
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