Hard carbon removing, help!

[Steve Donlon]

Frank is definitely not in favor of using abrasive with brushes. Patches only.

That makes sense if you have a premium barrel. I learned the value of a borescope so I can stay ahead of those issues. The AR barrel I was given, I did not think it was possible to get a barrel that black with carbon and not know it. When I got all the carbon out, there was no fire cracking. I guess with a 2 moa $60 barrel maybe the carbon protected the barrel.

 

[JFrank]

I cleaned most of guns that came into the family pawn shop, unbelievable what some looked like.
I start with soaking ( insert your favorite flavor here) then use a new bronze brush and hoppes oil to break up as much carbon as I can before hitting it with abrasives on a patch wrapped around a soft nylon brush.
Most of the time I can get them real clean but never to bare steel on a used hunting rifle.

 

[DShortt]

I cleaned most of guns that came into the family pawn shop, unbelievable what some looked like.
I start with soaking ( insert your favorite flavor here) then use a new bronze brush and hoppes oil to break up as much carbon as I can before hitting it with abrasives on a patch wrapped around a soft nylon brush.
Most of the time I can get them real clean but never to bare steel on a used hunting rifle.

JB Bore Paste has been my friend along with a borescope to monitor progress.

 

[ronemus]

I read somewhere that there is no known solvent that dissolves carbon. You might soften other chemicals that it's mixed with? Sounds like you need an abrasive.

Concentrated nitric acid will dissolve carbon (I'm a chemist by the way), but it will dissolve the bore as well; we're limited by what barrel steel will tolerate.

 

[DShortt]

Sounds like throwing the baby out with the bath water.

But abrasive are bad.

OK then.

We're launching a copper projectile down a rifled bore propelled by a combustible that leaves a residue and expecting it to be exactly the same every time.

Huh.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

After using my borescope countless times to check cleanliness with numerous solvents over the years, “Remington 40x” is my favorite for fast hard carbon removal without being too aggressive on the bore steel. Excellent Non-amonia based solvent with what appears to be a corn-cob type ground media. Really gets the job done well even when using a nylon brush. I follow it with Pro Shot Copper Solvent once the carbon has been knocked out.

Montana Xtreme makes the best nylon brushes