CLP and Accuracy

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Walt Sherrill

New member
One guy on another forum mentioned that some of his friends, several of whom shoot rifles at long-distance targets, believe that using CLP to clean barrels degrades accuracy.

My response was, "Yeah, sure. Right." But having said that, I thought, perhaps there's something there that I simply don't know. (Most of my shooting is pistol, and close range...)

Is there any quality lubricant/cleaner that can negatively affect a gun's accuracy?

Or are these guys just trying to blame chemicals for their own problems?
 
M

Master Blaster

New member
I have heard that at 3500 f degrees the teflon in clp turns to hydroflouric acid, I doubt this happens in a gun barrel in the abscence of oxygen though.

Hey but here is some wisdom regarding Molydisulfide which many benchresters swearby:

Moly it seems causes stress cracks in stainless steel when it is applied and heated to 1500 F degrees. I read this on the website of a lubricant manufacturer it was a warning, not to use moly on stainless steel.

:eek:
 
S

Steve Smith

New member
I've never heard of any problems with this in the Highpower community, but most of use Butch's Bore Shine, Sweet's, Shooter's Choice, or equivalent.

Winston-Salem, huh? That's my home town!
 
S

S.F.S

New member
Master Blaster

Which products contain the chemical Molydisulfide? You mentioned that teflon turns to Hydroflouric acid at 3500 F. What exacly is that? And how hot does a gun barrel usually reach?

Thanks..
 
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saands

New member
Hydroflouric acid (HF) is one of the harsher acids out there. IIRC, it will etch glass! I had never heard that this was a possibility. I don't know how hot the barrels get ... and I don't know how much CLP is in the barrel after it get shot the first time either ... my guess is that there isn't much left, though, as the bullets must act a lot like a squeegee.

Saands
 
A

Art Eatman

Staff in Memoriam
Dunno 'bout the Moly thing. I'm purely guessing as to a "mechanism" for that to happen: The moly is forced into the steel, between the molecules (?). Maybe the heat makes it expand at a greater rate than the steel, causing the surface cracks, or hairline cracks or whatever. (I'm sorta dubious.) SFAIK, the combustion temperature of gunpowder is not too much over 2,000F.

Anybody heard of a moly-coated-bullet manufacturer giving such a warning?

There's no way for anything like teflon or whatever to stay in a barrel, given the gas-blast ahead of the bullet, and the "squeegee" action of the bullet itself. And most folks run an almost-dry patch down a barrel at the end of the cleaning process, anyway.

Yeah, hydroflouric acid is mean stuff. But it's gotta be in liquid form and it's gotta sit there for a while to make Bad Things happen. (To etch glass, you cover the work-area with wax and make a wax levee around it. You scribe the design, gently pour on the acid, and wait a while. The depth of the etch is a function of the strength of the acid and the length of time it's in place. When you're satisfied, wash with water.)

:confused:
 
R

RobCon

New member
Walt, the Otis cleaning kit issued to Marine scout/snipers for care of the M40 series rifles in the field contains Breakfree as does the kit that came with my Accuracy International AWP. Can't imagine these folks using it if it was detrimental to accuracy. Rob
 
T

Tankcommander

New member
CLP

I don't know how hot a rifle barrel can get but doen't steel melt at over 3000 degrees. I saw a show about the WTC and how the steel weakened when the fire was at 1500 to 2000 degrees.

As a real tank commander I can tell you for a fact the only thing provided to clean and lube all of our weapons is CLP and an M240 machinegun or Ma duece gets a lot hotter then any rifle barrel. We even clean the cannon with CLP and usually give it a light coat before its put away. I think a 105mm APDS round at 4800+ FPS gets the barrel hotter then a rifle bullet and the danger of cracks would be a lot higher. Haven't had any problems yet.

I'll stick with CLP if its good enough for Uncle Sam its good enough for me.

TC
 
J

Jeff White

New member
We use CLP exclusively in M198, 155mm howitzers.

It's specified for nearly all weapons from 5.56mm up to and including 155mm. There are a couple exceptions, I think the M252 81mm mortar doesn't use CLP but still uses RBC, hoever I might be wrong.

Current military spec CLP contains no teflon. Royco has the current contract IIRC. I think commercial produtction BreakFree does still contain teflon in the mix though.

HTH

Jeff
 
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