Removing the carbon ring in a barrel

[pikergolf]

I had a Savage rifle suddenly go bad on me at about 800 rounds, to be fair they were hot. It had been a very accurate rifle and suddenly opened up to 2.5" at 100 yds. I swapped out the barrel and the rifle returned to shooting and I had the barrel laying around the shop. Soon after I started an interest in Benchrest shooting and of course did lots of reading. This topic which I had never heard of came up (carbon ring) and I got curious. I bought a Teslong bore scope and had a look in the old barrel, it revealed a large carbon ring. I slide an empty case into the chamber and had a look, the cartridge bumped right up to the carbon ring. So.. my conclusion was, that the carbon ring was impinging the and crimping the neck slightly. I run my case only about .005 short of max, so trimming them shorter would have probably have solved the issue.

I clean my benchrest rifle after every session and pay attention to the carbon ring. My last barrel had 1300 round through it before it started to slip but it never developed a carbon ring. To keep it out I would run a couple of patch's of carbon remover through the barrel after each shoot and then push a wet patch into the area where the ring develops and leave it overnight. Next morning I would take a bronze brush one size up from the barrel size, put it into the barrel just short of the lands and give it about 5 twists. After that clean the barrel as usual. This barrel never developed a carbon ring, just a little darker there, that is it.

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

I had a Savage rifle suddenly go bad on me at about 800 rounds, to be fair they were hot. It had been a very accurate rifle and suddenly opened up to 2.5" at 100 yds. I swapped out the barrel and the rifle returned to shooting and I had the barrel laying around the shop. Soon after I started an interest in Benchrest shooting and of course did lots of reading. This topic which I had never heard of came up (carbon ring) and I got curious. I bought a Teslong bore scope and had a look in the old barrel, it revealed a large carbon ring. I slide an empty case into the chamber and had a look, the cartridge bumped right up to the carbon ring. So.. my conclusion was, that the carbon ring was impinging the and crimping the neck slightly. I run my case only about .005 short of max, so trimming them shorter would have probably have solved the issue.

I clean my benchrest rifle after every session and pay attention to the carbon ring. My last barrel had 1300 round through it before it started to slip but it never developed a carbon ring. To keep it out I would run a couple of patch's of carbon remover through the barrel after each shoot and then push a wet patch into the area where the ring develops and leave it overnight. Next morning I would take a bronze brush one size up from the barrel size, put it into the barrel just short of the lands and give it about 5 twists. After that clean the barrel as usual. This barrel never developed a carbon ring, just a little darker there, that is it.

Ha! This is exactly what I do. I’ve heard people say that you can’t remove it this way, but I’ve sure had luck with it. And verified it with a bore scope. I have a picture here somewhere of a carbon ring I removed from another individuals barrel by letting it soak for a couple of days.

[Pathfinder76]

Here it is.

[marxman]

Originally Posted by Pathfinder76

Here it is.

Wow that is ugly. I assume some of it is still in there. Do you have a borecam? I had one that was prbly thate bad in my 303 savage, i rrmoved it with a lot of twisting with an oversize brush, it came out not in a chunk like that

[Pathfinder76]

I do have a bore scope, yes.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by Pathfinder76

Ha! This is exactly what I do. I’ve heard people say that you can’t remove it this way, but I’ve sure had luck with it. And verified it with a bore scope. I have a picture here somewhere of a carbon ring I removed from another individuals barrel by letting it soak for a couple of days.

What did you soak it in?

[GrandSlam]

Carb-Out by the makers of Wipeout might be something to try as well.

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

What did you soak it in?

I’ve used both hoppes and patch out. The pictured one I used whipe out

[Tikka300]

Try Throrro clean, Insite Arms in Lloyd stocks it and ships it. I was ready to give up on a rifle due to accuracy falling right off from where it used to be. I was talking to insite about re-barreling my rifle and they mentioned I should try Thorro clean. To say I was blown away is an understatement, the rifle is shooting as good as ever, maybe even better.

It is a two part system and can be a bit messy with the second part being a thicker liquid type paste, no harsh odour though.

[fps plus]

Suzuki carb cleaner .

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by fps plus

Suzuki carb cleaner .

Interesting, I have been using Mercury Quicksilver Power Tune or Amzoil Engine tuner for years to take out powder fouling for as the start of my cleaning regimen, and have never had a great problem with carbon rings on my own rifles, but have encountered some big ones on guns that I have worked on that belong to others.
Sullijr (RIP) was the one that turned me onto the Mercury Quicksilver , he found out that Sinclair International actually sold it out of their Benchrest supply catalog!LOL

A few years back when I was working with paper patching, I started running the bore scope down through the muzzle with an empty case in the chamber to try and find the best case length .
What I found out about carbon rings and case length really amazed me!
Cat

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by Pathfinder76

I’ve used both hoppes and patch out. The pictured one I used whipe out

I like Bore Tech C4 Carbon remover, not sure if it works better than the others but is better for my lungs than the stinky stuff.

[MOUNTAIN MICKEY]

General Motors Combustion Chamber Conditioner works good on carbon.

[6.5 shooter]

Iosso brush larger than the case neck with Iosso bore paste works just fine. Then go in with a chamber/neck sized brush (AR style works great) wrapped with a cotton patch to clean up the chamber and the carbon ring. I use a cheap plastic pistol rod to clean the chamber, better control as I twist it in the chamber. I have used CLR it is OK. Stopped using wipe out to messy and left a sticky solvent residue (like varnish) after a bit of time if you happened to miss a spot when cleaning it up.