How to remove carbon from chamber/ throat area?

[BoydAllen]

How about this. Clean the barrel till it looks completely free of copper and carbon. This will probably require some use of abrasive. Shoot it for 25 straight rounds, at a pace that does not over heat the barrel. Then, clean it with patches BBS, and a fresh bronze brush , till it is respectably clean, drying and scoping as you go to determine the minimum amount of cleaning that will get you to your goal. Then, re-clean with abrasive, so as to have the same starting condition and repeat the shooting, in the same manner, and then let the barrel sit dirty for three weeks before doing the same cleaning exercise, and compare the amount of effort it took to cleaning right after shooting. I know that this will entail some effort, but the result should be that we can quantify the cost of procrastination, in terms of the extra cleaning required, if that is the case, or justify waiting if there is no difference.

 

[DennisH]

Then, clean it with patches BBS, and a fresh bronze brush

Is the barrel being removed for this process?

Or what type brush are you using on the throat area of the barrel while it's on the action.

I am trying to see if there is a secret using the brush through a port, or if there is a special brush.

 

[Nomad47]

deadly swift, thanks for the offer and I see a number of ways to conduct the experiment. What I was wondering was whether the warm barrel would aid in removing even old carbon. In other words, is the same amount of time and effort needed to clean immediately after 20 rounds vs 20 rounds wait a week 20 more rounds, then immediately cleaning.

I live in a motorhome and am limited in the amount of guns I can carry. However, I do have 2 long range rifles (and two others plus a handcannon, a shotgun, and a couple handguns). I currently clean them at 50 rounds. Sometimes that happens in a day or two, sometimes that takes a month or more. Depends on where I am in the country and how much shooting is available.

 

[BoydAllen]

I meant just a regular brass core bronze bristle cleaning brush, like I use on all of my rifles, with the barrel still on the rifle. As far as cleaning stubborn carbon from the throat, if the usual brushing has failed, a nylon brush one caliber larger, loaded to the top of the bristles with IOSSO, shoved half into the throat, and twisted a few turns by hand usually does the trick. Nylon brushes can be reversed whereas with bronze brushes this is a problem. Be sure to get all the abrasive out.

If there is carbon in front of the throat, short stroking a nylon brush, of the proper caliber, loaded the same way, will usually get it out. The reason that you don't want to do this any more than you have to is that you may have to do some re breaking in of the barrel afterward, and although IOSSO is very fine, it is also sharp and could potentially over polish a stainless bore if used to excess. (IMO).

 

[GerryM]

Slick 2000 should take the carbon out apply with patch and let soak, Reapply until it gone.

 

[fdshuster]

GerryM: Slick2000 was one of the first products I tried when they first came on the market. Had to buy it directly from the maker ( in Chicage, I think) as they had no retail distributors at the time.

First tried it by soaking 223 Rem. brass that was fired in one of my AR's, using ball powder (748) that produced extreme carbon fouling on the case necks ( you can bet that carbon was also in the bore), and was very impressed that the 10 minute soaking made the carbon easy to wipe off with a rag.

Then tried it in the bore, following the directions to the letter. 'Scoped it with the Hawkeye & it did take out a very tiny amount of carbon from the center section of the grooves, and a very small amount from the tops of the lands.

But, the heavy carbon remained in the before-mentioned corners where the lands meet the grooves, no matter how many repeat applications I used.

Without the borescope, I also might have thought the carbon was removed. The remaining amount of Slick2000 was poured down the drain. p.s.: Change "Slick" to "Slip", the correct name.

 

[BoydAllen]

I have tried Carb Out (by the same company as WipeOut) with one change (that I have found necessary) from the directions. I use a bronze brush, having found nylon ineffective for this application. The rifle was an old 7 mag. that probably had never seen a proper cleaning, and had only been used for hunting. After a conventional cleaning, the bottoms of the grooves were black. I wet the bore with Carb Out, wet the brush, and stroked about 20 cycles, and then let it set for about a half hour. Then I patched it out and repeated the process. After drying the bore and chamber, I scoped the bore and found that the black was gone. This may not correspond to hard carbon in the throat, and I would be careful with the stuff because it is black and can end up where you don't want it, but I believe that it is a useful tool.

 

[LongRanger]

If you have or suspect carbon buildup in the small space between the mouth end of your case and the end of the chamber it can quickly be removed mechanically. Have used this trick for years.

Take a fired case and cut a series of small, pointed notches in the lip with a Dremel cut-off disk. Use the same cut-off disk to cut the neck off at the shoulder. Glue or force-fit the neck onto the end of an appropriately- sized wood dowel. Run your new cleaning tool into the chamber, by hand, until it stops. Give it a light twist or two. Remove tool and clean chamber. Carbon gone.

Frank B.

 

[GerryM]

FD ' I have had good luck with it I soaked the gas cylinder plugs from my M1 A and garands and it wiped right off. I think the key is not to wait too long before using it.
It also took Most of not all of the carbon out of my Stainless match barrels.
The baked on stuff if there if any is usually taken out with JB or Iosso paste.
I have very little trouble with Carbon. Maybe it,s because i clean the way Clyde Hart told be, Brush after each relay and wipe out. I don't shoot excessivly long strings in a row. I always check with the bore scope. Best investment i have ever made''

 

[fdshuster]

GerryM: As with your M1 & M1A gas plugs, my 223 case necks were a smooth surface that was not subjected to the intense heat of the burning powder, some say over 2000 degrees F.

Some have also reported that it removes carbon deposits from the bolt assembly of the AR, again a smooth surface not subjected to the intense heat.

But to get it out of the corners of the rifling, in my opinion, nothing is as effective as the bronze bristled brush with its' mechanical, scrapping action.

Maybe some of the liquid solvents would be more effective if a bronze rather than nylon ( what I used as suggested by Slip2000) brush would be used. I'll give that combination a try in the near future when I see a need to remove some accumulated carbon.

Easiest way to prevent it, before it becomes a problem is to try to use the cleaner burning powders like the VihtaVouri's rather than the Ball powders like 748 (filthy), H380, H414, etc. If I must use a Ball powder, I do find H335 to be one of the cleanest burning.

 

[zfk55]

We've had a Hawkeye Borescope for a number of years now because of a Moly dedicated rifle and another 30 or so that are all hBN bore ceramic sealed and the fact that no projectiles go downrange unless they are hBN impact coated.
We borescope everything periodically and have settled on just two products.
Wipeout is used on any and all incoming rifles, and for carbon we use Montana Extreme. Its a dedicated specific carbon product.
Tha Hawkeye Borescope tells the glaring truth about barrels, lands/grooves wear and copper/carbon fouling.

Latigo