I saw that. I think it boils down to how the stuff is used and what price someone is willing to pay for it's effectiveness...or ease. I very seldom use abrasives but I won't say never. I just scoped the bbl I shot this weekend. I fired about 175 rounds without cleaning and won the 200 yard portion of unlimited class. Conditions were tough so it wasn't a day to really judge accuracy but after cleaning with traditional methods...no carbon ring and the bore is clean but has the start of some fire cracking and some discoloration from heat near the throat. Abrasives would probably get both looking good again but I will wait. It still shoots fine and the lands are still sharp. It ain't a beauty contest, to me. Lol!
Cleaning with Abrasives and using Fire Lapping kits and warranty
- Thread starter FrankG
- Start date
dellet
Gold $$ Contributor
Just remember it’s not so much how much you remove, as it where.
Basically trying to clean the copper and carbon out of nice square corners using a round tool with abrasives. In the beginning the sharper the corners are the more work to clean. As those corners round out, it’s easier to clean. Probably less bullets blowing up that way, may be a trade off?
Something else to consider is “bronze brushes”. I Stumbled on to some plated brushes
Plated with what. I don't think I've ever seen plated bore brushes. It doesn't sound good to me.
dellet
Gold $$ Contributor
I do not remember the brand, Otis comes to mind, but wouldn’t throw any one under the bus on that memory. Bought as a bulk pack, quite possibly a gun show vendor long time ago.
The giveaway was after the second trip down the bore. Run the brush through, unscrew it, run again. All the bristles were folded back. Cut a bunch of bristles off and picked them up with a magnet. Bronze or copper plated steel.
I’ve also seen nickel plated bronze. I don’t think that’s all that uncommon.
Hmmm. I don't think I wanna find them but thank you.
ELR LVR
Silver $$ Contributor
I think what is being said is, Flitz will polish a barrel too smooth, with extended use, over use etc
Flitz def polishes steel, in order to do that, metal must be removed to average out the surface finish
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I never use Flitz inside of a barrel
and when I seen Iosso is about as good a Flitz on SS
I stopped using Iosso also.
I would rather take longer cleaning with chemicals than less time with abrasives
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I think Rem Clean is diatomacious earth, which is an abrasive on carbon but not on steel
I have done some test patches on barrel stubs and looked at them with magnified Loupes to get a good idea what to use and not to use inside a bore.
ABRASIVE only on carbon? But not on steel? SMDH!
dellet
Gold $$ Contributor
You got me curious. Maybe it was brwnells, although these are not plated.
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I think those are a ss wire core but not the actual bristles. I may be wrong but I don't think I want plated bristles, was my point. On the core, it's likely fine there.You got me curious. Maybe it was brwnells, although these are not plated.
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ELR LVR
Silver $$ Contributor
What?
yes, does not also a bronze brush scrape out carbon but not scratch SS?
How many guys here remove the carbon ring with a drill and bronze brush?
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Steel wool is another example, I can scrape off rust, carbon etc without hurting/scratching a blued finish
That's a rational point, to a point. But I can scratch polished metal with my clean fingertip, if that's where your point is headed. I mean, both are abrasive but not the same.
Point taken though. Good point. Thank you.
It doesn't negate the other crap though!
edit...sorry, that's in another thread!
dellet
Gold $$ Contributor
Sadly I don’t think it’s just core. It’s pretty clear, I think in the description. Kind of how got fooled. “Thinking nobody would do that”
hmm. I've heard of ss brushes. I'd run those by your bbl maker first.
TA17rem
Banned
A company I buy barrels from has the buyer lap his own barrel and furnishes lap compound with directions on lapping. No big deal.
Using the tub process with lapping bullets is a different thing all together, the bullets with lapping compound are applying pressure to surface inside the barrel just like a sanding block on piece of wood, yeah, you going to get more wear. Lapping compound on a bristle brush does not apply enough pressure to the surface thus you not hurting anything buy doing so. I'd say the tub process is a last-ditch effort but if one thinks he needs to use it then something was wrong with barrel to start with.
Using the tub process with lapping bullets is a different thing all together, the bullets with lapping compound are applying pressure to surface inside the barrel just like a sanding block on piece of wood, yeah, you going to get more wear. Lapping compound on a bristle brush does not apply enough pressure to the surface thus you not hurting anything buy doing so. I'd say the tub process is a last-ditch effort but if one thinks he needs to use it then something was wrong with barrel to start with.
dellet
Gold $$ Contributor
Easier to just run away from the brushes.
When the description says “regular use can shorten barrel life”. I’m not real interested.
Wow, very educational and a great read! I'm from the camp that "certain people" can kill a good barrel with kindness, or OCD trying to achieve a spotless barrel.
Steve Donlon
Gold $$ Contributor
I had a one ton with a 6.2 that was not kind to head gaskets or heads. I did put a good water separator fuel filter on it when I bought it. It was a joke but it sort of worked for awhile.
jelenko
Gold $$ Contributor
I got to thinking about the test I did with the SS rods and Iosso - maybe the reduction in diameter was just from smoothing out the surface and, if the test continued, the rate of reduction would go way down.
So, I just redid the test on a fresh SS rod. As before, I spun the 1/8" SS rod in a cloth with Iosso for 20 seconds; each time I used a fresh cloth and fresh Iosso.
After each pass of 20 seconds, I measured the diameter of the SS rod where the Iosso contacted it with a Mitutoyo mic. I took measurements at 6 random locations around the diameter.
Here's the results:
I guess first is should we be comfortable that these results are meaningful? In reading others' comments about measuring below tenths, I wonder if the fifth decimal has any meaning? Are we comfortable with the measurements to the tenth's?
Assuming the tenth's are valid, it looks like the first pass smooths out/polishes the surface. After that, it looks like there is no further material removed.
What do you think?
To me this looks like the first pass with the Iosso polishes rough spots
ETA: When I pasted the table it looked fine. I just noticed that after saving the table got scrambled. Just replaced it with an image.
So, I just redid the test on a fresh SS rod. As before, I spun the 1/8" SS rod in a cloth with Iosso for 20 seconds; each time I used a fresh cloth and fresh Iosso.
After each pass of 20 seconds, I measured the diameter of the SS rod where the Iosso contacted it with a Mitutoyo mic. I took measurements at 6 random locations around the diameter.
Here's the results:
I guess first is should we be comfortable that these results are meaningful? In reading others' comments about measuring below tenths, I wonder if the fifth decimal has any meaning? Are we comfortable with the measurements to the tenth's?
Assuming the tenth's are valid, it looks like the first pass smooths out/polishes the surface. After that, it looks like there is no further material removed.
What do you think?
To me this looks like the first pass with the Iosso polishes rough spots
ETA: When I pasted the table it looked fine. I just noticed that after saving the table got scrambled. Just replaced it with an image.
Last edited:
FTR_Mojo
Gold $$ Contributor
Another very interesting test thank you.
What rpm were you spinning the rod at?
Many years ago, the folks at PacNor barrels were kind enough to give me a tour of their shop. The other day I ran a cross the pictures. One of them shows the station where they finish lap barrels (button process) after rifling, stress relieving and contouring. There were several bottles of Witches Brew. If I find the picture again I will post it.
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