CLR and barrel cleaning

[stagpanther]

Update--barrel may be saved!

I dragged the rifle out of the safe and was actually looking at it to put a new barrel on, and decided to take one last look at the damage. While the finish was definitely eaten off at the muzzle and under the barrel, I decided to give the damaged crown the "neutron bomb" treatment of chemicals to see what would happen--pretty much had nothing to lose since I figured I'd lop off an inch of the muzzle anyway. After soaking a while in a couple of different treatments, I was surprised to see that the rifling had "repaired itself" at the crown. What I figured must have happened was the initial CLR treatment resulted in a "sludge" of metallic substances that solidified at the exit of the muzzle--it looked exactly like damaged rifling in color and texture to my eye. I don't know what to do about the bluing--which actually resembles a black epoxy paint of some sort and not real bluing, but I don't really care if the gun can still shoot OK.

 

[HiBC]

Y'all can do whatever you want. Its your rifle.

I'm of the opinion that more barrel damage is done by "cleaning" than shooting.

I don't care what his shooting record is, I'm not following any you tube "influencer" that tells me to put oven cleaner,drain cleaner,pickle juice or any other wild hair idea in my barrel.

AFAIK, the guy is not a barrel maker,or a metallurgist,or a chemist.

He might be an idiot with too much gun money.

If I can afford to fit custom barrels.or even shoot at today's ammo prices,I can afford the occasional bottle of whatever bore cleaner gets blessed by.....hmmm,oh,say Unclenick here on TFL. Beats Youtube every time.

I just do not get the facination with witches brews,ameteur alchemy,or whatever.

I wonder what Gale McMillan would have said to someone putting CLR in his barrels.

Its nothing personal,Stagpanther. I'm not talking about you,individually.

I don't understand the whole enchilada. Why does the youtube guy do it??

 

[stagpanther]

Y'all can do whatever you want. Its your rifle.

I'm of the opinion that more barrel damage is done by "cleaning" than shooting.

I don't care what his shooting record is, I'm not following any you tube "influencer" that tells me to put oven cleaner,drain cleaner,pickle juice or any other wild hair idea in my barrel.

AFAIK, the guy is not a barrel maker,or a metallurgist,or a chemist.

He might be an idiot with too much gun money.

If I can afford to fit custom barrels.or even shoot at today's ammo prices,I can afford the occasional bottle of whatever bore cleaner gets blessed by.....hmmm,oh,say Unclenick here on TFL. Beats Youtube every time.

I just do not get the facination with witches brews,ameteur alchemy,or whatever.

I wonder what Gale McMillan would have said to someone putting CLR in his barrels.

Its nothing personal,Stagpanther. I'm not talking about you,individually.

I don't understand the whole enchilada. Why does the youtube guy do it??

Your point is well taken--but in the end we all have to make our own decisions based on our experiences and anticipated needs. I happen to have a natural disposition towards trying something new--often without knowing fully what I'm getting into. However--nobody forces me to do anything and I take 100% responsibility for the consequences of my "experiments" (unless something is genuinely defective).

 

[stagpanther]

I got 5 quick shots off of a random load I chose using varget and 105 vld's off the hood of my truck just as the lightening started flying from an approaching thunderstorm. I think the barrel is probably still in pretty good shape.

 

[std7mag]

Someone's been watching Eric Cortina...

At the match.
Couple drops of Dawn & water. 3 wet patches, followed by 2 dry patches.
Or.....
Take 3 patches & put in your mouth. Swirl them around while you shoot.
After that round, take patches out of your mouth & run through barrel. Follow with 2 dry patches.

At home is 1/4-1/3 Kroil mixed with Hoppes #9.

 

[stagpanther]

I guess everyone has their own version of snake oil.

 

[mehavey]

At the match.
Couple drops of Dawn & water. 3 wet patches, followed by 2 dry patches.
Or.....
Take 3 patches & put in your mouth. Swirl them around while you shoot.
After that round, take patches out of your mouth & run through barrel. Follow with 2 dry patches.

You sure you talkin' smokeless -- and not BP?

 

[std7mag]

Last i checked, 6BR, 30BR, 6BRX, 6PPC were not black powder.

It's surprising the amount of carbon that comes out with those first 2 patches.

 

[mehavey]

I `spose water/saliva would work to a reasonable degree is washing out carbon-based fouling.
Just never heard it used (or used it) outside of the BP mafia.

 

[JohnKSa]

As far as I know,yes. Its bathroom cleaner. I don't know the composition.

From the MSDS, it contains:

Lactic Acid
Gluconic Acid
Lauramine Oxide

As already mentioned, it recommends that it should not be used on any metals other than stainless steel or chrome.

According to Wikipedia, Lactic Acid is 10 times more acidic than acetic acid.

A bit of interesting trivia: Sandvik uses it for corrosion testing the various steels they make.

https://www.materials.sandvik/en-us/materials-center/corrosion-tables/lactic-acid/