Carbon cleaning methods curious after borescoping club barrels

[Pommy Chris]

I have been keeping carbon in check by cleaning maybe every 150-200 rounds and every other time ie around 400 rounds examining the barrel with a borescope and cleaning then lightly paisting to remove the excess carbon. This works fine but would love to be able to eliminate the abrasives if I could. I checked some club members barrels in the last days and one in particular was like a coal mine it was hard to see the grooves as they were full of carbon. This was a barrel that shot fantastically but went off and ended up shooting very badly (no surprise). Shooter was using bronze brush, then eliminator so surprising, but I have found myself that non of the carbon solvents get all of the carbon out and this 400 round paste seems to be necessary.
Is there an alternative? I have thought about cleaning a barrel then plugging it with something then maybe filling it with Hoppies or something and leaving it to stand for maybe a week. My reasoning is this would allow time for penetration into the carbon layer. Anyone found a solution to this, as all the barrels I have examined from a number of shooters all have carbon after cleaning?
Cheers
Chris

[John23]

I myself am always looking for the magic cleaner .

From a post from Keith hills I started using Nulon throttle cleaner .
I shoot about 100 rounds between cleans .


I have not checked with a bore scope but find after many applications and about 150 passes with a bronze brush the patches go from black and start to turn blue .

Making assumptions this makes me believe I have removed the carbon and then use sweets to attack the copper .

Every barrel cleaning product I have used gives clean patches with little work .
I believe this is because they only remove powder residue and don’t actually break apart the carbon at all.

To clean a barrel I find it is a good hours work .

[johno]

i tried the boiling water down the barrel then cleaned when barrel was really hot and seems to work a treat, some say you should clean as soon as you finish shooting when barrel is hot ,this is not always practical so i tried the boiling water and was happy with results, very cheap alternative, hope this helps.

[Walt]

Black powder shooters have been using hot soapy water after each shoot, without any other solvents and this seems to work. How effectively, I cant say. Basically half fill a bucket with hot, soapy water, stick the muzzle in and scrub the bore using a nylon brush. Run some clean hot water through afterwards to purge the soap scum and then try solvent like Boretech or Hoppes afterwards.

[Pommy Chris]

Thanks guys,
Yes I heard about carby cleaner too, that is a consideration. It seems with all solvents we are only getting most of the carbon out not all, cant help wondering if the problem is these products are not in the barrel long enough to penetrate the carbon. Dont know just a speculation. Which is why wondered about leaving the safer products in for a number of days. Anyone tried this approach and checked with a borescope?
Cheers
CHris

[disb]

What about one of the foaming bore cleaners?

[Singo85]

Bronze Brush with Hoppes or Proshot and abrasive paste (JB or Iosso) on a patch or nylon brush is the only thing I have found to work.

[Pommy Chris]

Bronze Brush with Hoppes or Proshot and abrasive paste (JB or Iosso) on a patch or nylon brush is the only thing I have found to work.

Me too ie paste seems to be needed to get all the carbon out, just hoping there is another way like soaking in something..
Chris

[Trevor Rhodes]

You have to remember that a little carbon in the throat area is a good lubicant for the bullet to pass through but you don't want it half way down the barrel. I clean every day even in competitions and l don't have any problems with carbon as l check with the bore scope after cleaning. I scrub soon as possible after l finished shooting leaving Boretec in the barrel over night then another 6 strokes with the bronze brush soaked in Boretec and next morning and all clean, no carbon , no copper.

[Tim N]

This has been kicked around a few times here.
Bore scope needed as the patches lie.
There was some talk about ultrasonic cleaning which might be the only non abrasive method to work?

[jasmay]

I find if you just follow the Instructions to the letter on boretech products they work a treat removing all the target fouling.

I’ve seen a lot of people use their own method and the results are poor, I thought eliminator was rubbish from others experience until I was forced to use it one time, followed instructions and it worked beautiful, I rarely use pastes these days.

[Longranger]

Probably the best solvent (if you can call it that) for ease of carbon removal I have found is Evinrude/Johnson engine tuner. Used regularly (best straight after a shoot) it seems pretty effective. It can be left in the bore between weekly shoots but I wet patch then dry patch prior to shooting. Borescope inspection shows it is quite effective. JB every 2-300 rounds or so but hardly needed.
It seems remarkably good at being on the money on the first and subsequent shots.

As always results may vary depending on load, powder, pressure etc. Slow powders running less than 60kpsi can be grubby.

[RDavies]

I do the same as you, I give the barrel an abrasive clean every 200 rounds.
My barrels are all left with Hoppes soaking in them until the next shoot and I have tried all the carbon cleaners which get the soft carbon out but after 200 rounds there is always some hard carbon left in the first few inches when checked with a borescope.

This has been with F Open cartridges, from 6BRs up to 300WSMs. A few friends have brought barrels around for me to have a look at after they stopped shooting. They always assured me their barrels would be carbon free as they use such and such carbon cleaner which the internet experts assured them would remove all carbon, but many were choked with hard carbon. On a barrel makers advice I now stick to using Rem 40X for the abrasive clean. I wrap a patch around a smaller nylon brush so it is a pretty tight fit and wont skip over the lands and round them off. To check it is following the lands/grooves and not skipping over them, I put a white paint mark on the rod and make sure it is rotating as I slowly stroke the patch back and forth from 2-3" up to 6" up the barrel.

I have heard from some shooters who have access to a commercial ultrasonic cleaner which seems like a good solution, but have been warned about using cheap basic ultrasonic cleaners which could damage the barrel.

[AlanF]

...My barrels are all left with Hoppes soaking in them until the next shoot...

Rod,

Do you use standard Hoppes No 9 or the No 9 Bench Rest version? I seem to remember conflicting opinions on a US forum discussion about whether it is safe to leave the Bench Rest version in the bore during storage, and some even said the standard version shouldn't either. If you've been doing it for while without evidence of damage, then that would useful to know. Maybe others can chime in?

[Wal86]

AlanF

I leave both Hoppes no9 or no9 benchrest in barrels for storage and will leave it in for months, but I always keep them wet and don't allow them to dry up.... I have never seen any evidence of damage..

Saying that I'll foam up and leave sweets in a barrel over night and push it out in the morning. Never had a drama..

cheers

Alan