Removing Hard Carbon Pt. 2 - JB Bore Paste, CLR, and Free-All

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[@trevorkolmatycki4042]

I just discovered some heavy carbon fouling in a stainless sako barrel that I thought was clean… my new teslong revealed heavy carbon in the first half of the barrel… way more than you illustrate in this video… like way… I did the following: 1) Applied patch out and accelerator via patch and plastic brush… let soak overnight. Patched out next day… brown patch. Borescope revealed a small reduction. 2) Scrubbed with Kroil and JB bore paste on felt plugs, twice… around 60 passes total… reinspected… probably removed 50% 3) Went at it with alternating CLR patches and bronze brushing… probably 5 times each… reinspected…. Now that really made a big difference! 4) did JB paste again to get the final bits, then was done. The borescope is a dramatic game changer… now i can clean based on what I see. Wow.

[@F15ElectricEagle]

The worst carbon fouling I have experienced from rifles chambered in the 223 Remington and 308 Winchester occurred with ammos I handloaded using Hodgdon CFE 223 powder. The bismuth/tin dioxide added to the powder do reduce copper fouling, but it results in excess carbon fouling that is almost baked into the surface of the lands and groove in the barrel. No matter how many wet/dry cleaning patch I ran through the barrel the carbon residue would not go away. I even scrubbed the bore with JB Bore Pass and CLR but the barrel would still produced dark wet and dry cleaning patch afterward. Out of desperation, I ran several cleaning patches wetted with Chevron Techron Concentrated Plus fuel injector cleaner. I let it cleaner soak in the bore overnight and all the carbon residue were finally cleaned out.

[@danpollard4210]

Thanks for your research and work on this valuable subject Sir!

[@philiphudson880]

I tumbled my rimfire silencer baffles for 3 hours with Dawn, a dash of lemishine and stainless pins. Still had hard carbon deposits. Dipped baffle in CLR for 5 minutes and carbon wiped right off. I’m not an FClass shooter but I know CLE breaks down hard carbon deposits on stainless steel.

[@nelsonm5032]

JB bore paste applied to a Kroil soaked patch or pellet for tough carbon deposits has worked great for me. now that i have all my barrels “clean” i use bore-tech c4 in the chamber for the carbon ring after each trip to the range. thorough cleaning every 5-600 rounds. great video! cheers

[@emoryzakin2576]

I dont have a bore scope yet but have been using free all for years. I'll let you know when I finally scope em out. Thanks for the video

[@aussiesteveakastevecallagh2280]

Great info Mate Steve from Australia .

[@s.manuel7969]

I would like to see on your next cleaning video, the process you use with the Free All, brush and patches.

[@bigjohnl57]

Hi Keith. Great series. Thanks for all the great info. New to longer range shooting and appreciate all the effort you put into providing info for people like me. That said I was doing some digging and came across Carbon-off from Discovery products. Their data states that this is safe for all metals, including aluminum. Developed for use by the restaurant industry. May be something that could help in your search for a complete carbon cleaner

[@brianpage1886]

You are going to think I am crazy but after spending months trying to get down to bare metal in my #1 gun I have to say this. I just passed on my C96 Borchardt pistol to Bonham's Auction so they could sell it. I bought it 15 years ago and cleaned it using a Remington paste product (Remclean?) I did not own a borescope at the time but the bore looked very nice and shiny. The night before the Rep came to give a valuation on the gun, I decided to run a borescope through it. Never do this on an antique. I saw a lot of fouling. I used JB, then Iosso paste. After I got yellow, green (very common on WW1 and older guns due to lacquer) I got clean patches. I eagerly ran the borescope down the barrel again and saw carbon. Lots of thick patches with some chunks broken off. I had never seen so much carbon in a barrel. Due to the value of this thing, and my fear of successfully getting it apart and back together before the next morning, I gave up. The Rep came the next day and I showed him the pistol and told him about the carbon in the barrel. He had a look with the borescope and said 'this is on top of the rifling, someone fired this pistol with a lot of oil in the barrel'. Now the 7.65x26 Borchardt cartridge runs around 1350 fps. Low by our standards but hot for the time. Nobody put a lot of rounds through these guns unless they had no choice. Could the Bonham's Rep have something? He has looked at a lot of different guns over the last few decades. Could some of our carbon problems be caused by some kind of residue left in the bore after cleaning? I have been watching people clean carbon steel and cast iron frying pans. Oil is a key component to the carbon build up on these pans. Oil overheats and carbonizes or at least contributes to the carbonization process.

[@ToadleyBrowne]

The art of bore cleaning is keeping in mind what happens when the next round is fired. There are areas of the bore that may not need to be completely perfect. After watching part 1 and a day in with Eliminator I tried CLR for about 10 minute soak as well with minimal results. Wanted to make sure to get it all out so I then just used Hoppes patch to rinse. The first patch came out black like yours did with Hoppes and I was thinking that it was interesting as well.

[@kencurtis508]

Great video, thanks for sharing.

[@buckshotaaa]

I love a good bore cleaning presentation and yours is way up there. I recently bought a Teslong borescope and it sure is an eye opener seeing the results. What i thought were clean bores were far from that with the bore scope. I'm not quite so paranoid now as i was when i first used it and find it a fantastic addition to my maintenance equipment. I have to tell myself not to take too much notice of those massive pieces of debris that aren't present without the borescope view!😁

[@jimo680]

Great vid! Thanks, so much. Finally! lol. A great vid that actually shows the results. I learned a lot and will share with friends.

[@mickroberts5166]

Completely agreed with Keith on teslong borescopes ... excellent value

[@leeNWHuntinganFish4713]

Thank you for the much needed tip. Very tired throwing money away. Where can I get some? I live just down the road from you by 4 corners. Thanks

[@emoryzakin2576]

Well it took a year but I finally bought the teslong. It's crazy how much carbon are in the barrels I thought were clean!!!!

[@rdsii64]

I just ordered to cans of free all. I looking forward to the next free all video

[@MCheekeOutdoors]

I had some difficult carbon and like you I think Bore Tech softened things but Lasso on a patch wrapped nylon brush quickly started to move it...Cheers!

[@wyattlarsen3880]

I’ve been using Witches Brew from Holland Shooters Supply. It’s a mild abrasive type solvent. Works well for me and appears to make each subsequent cleaning a tad easier.

[@rudolphferdinand3634]

I always wanted a borescope, but due to the extreme price, no way, but Teslong is now at home, and placed an order with Brownell's bore brushes 264 and 8mm. Additional: Teslong bore scope worth every penny. I have looked at every rifle bore, and here is what I have; a 1995 Winchester Model 70 in 30-06, the bore condition like a rifle neglected by many years; it is what Winchester used for rifle barrel material. I have a 1903 Springfield made in April 1943, clean bore. Another rifle bore looked at Savage 110 Tactical in 308W chattering marks deeply; the worse that I have ever seen, replaced with a Criterion barrel 308W 22”. Remington 700 in 30-06 chattering mark barely visible. Thank you.

[@chadbowdidge5347]

I clean with some boretech eliminator, best cleaning solvent ive used by far, gets rid of carbon and copper no issues. If theres anything left after that i use some JB and it comes up spotless. I normally clean after every 50 or so shots and ive never seen it build up like that where i couldnt get it clean

[@davidunderwood3605]

This is first time I have watched you. Informative. I will say that J B bore paste is a great product when used to polish out a less expensive barrel. One saturated patch using over a bore squeegee or a very tight jag with about 200 combination forward/backwards strokes stopping just before the crown and edge of the where the lands start from the chamber to polish out imperfections and remove burs. It also make for easier cleaning in the future. Brownells tech support taught me this a long time ago. This is close to what a good barrel company does when hand lapping a barrel. They will use progressively smaller grits. JB is none embedding and by not changing the patch it'll automatically reduce the size of the grit. I polished out a Savage 300 win mag barrel that was close to new. 40 rounds. It was a chore because of tool marks. After the polish job, it gained 17 fps with the same factory ammunition, same lot #, and was far easier to clean and the groups tightened up by .25 inch's at 100 yards up to 400 yards.

[@davidgillikin3859]

Nice video . I also have a Teslong bore scope and I have been satisfied with the results so far . I use it mostly to see if my barrels are getting cleaned . I have found out that it takes much more to clean them than I previously thought. I had never heard of Freeall before your video. I have been using Kroil for years along with JB’s and it seems to do the job.

[@NorthwoodsShooter]

Kroil is AWESOME!!!

[@markthegunplumber8376]

Bullet Central sells a product called Thorro Clean. Squirt it on a bronze bruch and it does the job and fast. Never had any luck with the CLR myself either. Hell, in a pinch Mothers Mag cleaner on a bronze brush works pretty good. JB Bore Bright works really good as well.

[@rotasaustralis]

I've spent a lot of hours trying to find a chemical which dissolves carbon & so far, most of the information I've found states that carbon is resistant to most chemicals we'd want to put anywhere near our rifles. I've looked into all the chemicals in CLR & there's nothing in it which attacks carbon itself but, I know CLR removed a lot of black stuff from my barrel when I tried it but I don't have a borescope to confirm the extent of the removal.

[@TexasTrained]

Erik Cortina uses CLR.Ive never left a chemicalin my barrels that long.I wouldnt leave water in there over night..Good Video..It does not have to one single chemical that did the trick.We try to always narrow things down and pin point it.However thats not always the real result.Thanks Keith

[@mikekopmanis2099]

Keith, Free All works great, but my buddy had some get on his bedding job and turned it to mush. Bedding material was from Brownells. He was using a universal bore guide rather than a o -ring unit like a Possum. That's what I use and no issues. I will continue to use Free All as it works great but thought I'd share this info.

[@donalddepew9605]

It would be interesting if you did a comparison between Free-All, Kroil, and Marvel Mystery oil.

[@MrMetalhead0124]

I used Flitz and copper solvent wrapped around an old bronze brush, and it was amazing! My bore has been cleaned and almost looks like a new bore! I will add CLR in the next trial and see if it works even better!

[@G5Hohn]

Flitz is reputed to ruin barrels by highly skilled/experienced champion shooters who would know.

[@treece1]

Every other fourum I've er read about using CLR says to fill it up and let sit, but I'll take this advice and get this stuff. Barsoil?

[@aussieman3582]

I use disel injector fuel additive for deep clean. Works well.

[@ArkansasBadBoy]

Been using Kroil as a primary for some time and never gave Free-All a try. I have an older model 12 fv (stainless) that I'll try it on.

[@thewatcher9778]

so whats your say on those stainless or nickle bore brushed im starting to see more and more of also those "Tornado" bore brushes

[@jimcastillo8950]

Great video, has the 3rd part come out yet? thanks

[@4570Govt]

Has anyone ever considered using the foaming oven cleaner for bore cleaning? Not a chemist, but it sure cleaned all the baked on hard carbon on the oven racks I just got in the oven I purchased for dedicated used to bake on cast bullet coatings in bulk

[@treece1]

Sir,. Who is your primary barrel of choice?

[@Anon.Emouse]

Free All is not available where I am in Australia so I've been pouring over the MSDS and SDS for any penetrating fluids that I can get. None of them have the same ingredients as Free All. For now the best product I've used to date is the Bore Tech C4 carbon eliminator. It does a great job. I also started testing the Slip 2000 carbon remover. No conclusive results with that yet.

[@kalgoorliebushwrecks470]

Any more updates on the slp2000

[@carfvallrightsreservedwith6649]

Try this DIY concoction......50% Mineral Spirits, 25% ATF, 25% WD40.

[@rockylavigna5977]

I had very good success with Rem 40x my barrel was a complete mess and I thought it was ruined, tried many different solvents that were useless, 40 x with a new brush several applications the stubborn carbon broke loose, my experience, regards

[@timfarley6493]

Can Free-All be used on carbon steel barrels?

[@rkba4923]

I don't want a completely clean barrel. Getting most of it is ok with me. Most important is the rifle still accurate.

[@UnCoolDad]

Where is part 3 mentioned at the end of the video?

[@mickroberts5166]

Why the abrasives when you can use CLR and similar to remove carbon without removing steel? Last stubborn deposits are removed with the CLR and a brush ... very effective but the idea is to let the chemicals do the work instead of brushes and abrasives

[@jasonliu3202]

Sorry, I don't see the third video. Did you remove it or not published yet?

[@Johnny-jr2lq]

Yes I’m definitely getting MAJOR VALUE I’m considering spending $260 dollars at Bore Tech in cleaning products for all my pistols and rifles in all the calibers I shoot. That’s a lot of money to keep my firearms running good and keeping them clean.

[@Ouwkackemann]

What did he use to clean out the copper?

[@jimlane1467]

I’m dealing with a lot of carbon in at 270 I brushed it I will try creole too

[@philipperez6422]

Will free all damage the barrel exterior finish?

[@rob1135]

Keith, great info as usual. Do you think Kroil would be a good substitute for Free-All?

[@winninginthewind]

I honestly don't know. I've used Kroil for years as a post-cleaning treatment, but never for cleaning. I guess I can give it a try when I get another barrel dirty. I cleaned everything I have doing this series.

[@chrisgunsandguitars1403]

CLR is basically fine with stainless barrels. With other types of metal barrels….use at your own risk. Free-All may be a good product, but I can’t see it being any better than Kroil. I use nylon brushes because they can be reversed in the barrel without damage (although I rarely do that), but mostly to eliminate false positives for copper. Cleaning a barrel very thoroughly is fine. Just remember that it will probably take 5 shots to get the barrel to shoot well again as most clean/cold barrels don’t shoot to last point of aim. Lots of factory ammo is $3-$5 a round these days so each shooter has to decide what is best for them.

[@anthonybarraballtheflash7055]

CLR is the softening agent....soak and then brush...then thorroclean it.....looks like a mirror after wards....amazing stuff.

[@RogerSnell]

I'm doing the same thing with CLR and getting the same amazing results. I've also tried everything else mentioned with no good results.

[@anthonybarraballtheflash7055]

@John Smith its a product named thorroclean

[@ronaldmontgomery8446]

Turtle wax chrome polish? The blackest patch I have ever seen, so I used a nylon brush and a lot of that wax. I did it 3 times and finely a white patch. I cleaned out all of the wax I hope. Do you have a remark about this?

[@AlecksACe]

I use JB or Iosso on nylon brush (without any patch) and it cleans all carbon out of that barrel. I've tried with the patch with much less success. You can try with a paste on nylon patch and compare yourself.

[@donalddepew9605]

Works for me also.

[@crvnmrhd]

A patch around a nylon brush works the best.

[@advmotorrad]

fre oil or kroil? please mention

[@AccuSol-ERN]

You mean I am not supposed to shoot a bazillion rounds through my PRS rifle until accuracy drops off and then blame the cartridge for being a "barrel burner"........hahaha.

[@mopardoctor9966]

Nothing removes the carbon ring in the throat area better than Free All.

[@David-ge2rk]

Your videos and knowledge are commendable, well done! I use a Canadian product " 1st Choice" which is a water based chemical that works extremely well and is non-corrosive. A video on this product and your results would be welcome.

[@michaelstinson5317]

What is Free All? Can't find it online.

[@jumperstartful]

What about brake cleaner. I'm new but thought that brake cleaner might work.

[@jimo680]

Hello! and thanks, again.....what are your thoughts on stainless brushes vs. bronze? Also, the Hoppes 'tornado' stainless brush vs bronze?

[@winninginthewind]

I would never, ever, use a stainless brush on a barrel that I liked. There is no good reason to use stainless brushes, in my opinion.

[@jimo680]

@@winninginthewind Much Thanks!! Can't believe gunshop owners are promoting the stainless tornado brushes with no clue as to the damage being done....Sincere Thanks.

[@larryduck7255]

I never mix solvents and clean my barrel. It can hurt the metal

[@curtisjones5197]

Keith, you have a very practical and down to earth approach to your explanations. I’ve searched for pt.3 and cant seem to find it. Is it out yet?

[@winninginthewind]

The series didn't drive enough interest to justify doing a third one.

[@curtisjones5197]

Well if you should find yourself with nothing to do. A pt3 might helpful for some us. Thanks

[@curtisjones5197]

Well if you should find yourself with nothing to do. A pt3 might helpful for some us. Thanks

[@curtisjones5197]

Well if you should find yourself with nothing to do. A pt3 might helpful for some us. Thanks

[@curtisjones5197]

Well if you should find yourself with nothing to do. A pt3 might helpful for some us. Thanks

[@dirklabuschagne473]

Great video!! Add a link for free-All please

[@winninginthewind]

Added, Thanks!

[@ericrumpel3105]

have you ever tried Kroil soaking?

[@charlesrhea6810]

I’ve used used Kriol for years and have been very impressed with the results. I have not confirmed with bore scope yet but will soon. I routinely clean initially at the range with Hoppes or Bore Tech Eliminator or Butches (whatever I have available to clean carbon etc) . Repeat if necessary until patches are clean . Then I will soak the barrel overnight or so . Then repatch with Kroil . Run a brush, brass seems more effective, one way only, just a few strokes. You won’t believe how much junk you will get from what appeared to be a clean barrel. No question about safety of Kroil to the barrel.

[@xenomorph1317]

Is a bit of hard carbon harmful for accuracy? For instance, a have a bit of carbon in the grooves but not on the lands. The carbon in the grooves is lower then the projectile’s path, meaning it won’t touch the projectile…

[@nigeldork]

hmm still looking for a method to get burnt 22lr powder build-up out of an aluminium sight base extension tube

[@PhoenixCanadian]

What’s the final assessment on the best way to remove hard carbon from a chrome lined rifle barrel? Every effort still produces black patches and my bore scope shows a lot of carbon in the grooves. The rifle is an AR15-SP1 and was purchased used with a 1973 manufacturing date. The rifle has sentimental value so I’m trying to keep it as original as possible. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[@winninginthewind]

Hard carbon is a challenge. Ultimately, I am only able to remove it mechanically, with a brush or something like JB bore paste.

[@larrythompson5617]

Wouldn't regular barrell cleaning have prevented this? Also, after I dirty a brass brush I clean it in Isopropyl Alcohol to remove dirt and carbon then use over again. I have had brushes last years. Could not find Free-All at all online.

[@winninginthewind]

To a certain extent, yes, frequent cleaning would have prevented the build-up. The point of the video is to demonstrate the effectiveness of different methods for removal once it gets there.

[@xxstr8jacketxx]

A lot of F class shooters use CLR so there's something to using it for sure.

[@scott3708]

Takes effort, and several bronze brushes, CRL did nothing for me, Otis foaming bore cleaner loosened then followed up with free all and KG1&2. The KG products did the trick for me.

[@timothym2241]

Does the complete stripping of carbon improve accuracy?

[@winninginthewind]

The goal is to prevent it from becoming a problem. It doesn't have to be squeaky clean to shoot well, but once it gets bad enough, accuracy will fall off.

[@jordonvizer9638]

what is this free All? I googled it and checked my local gun shop and can only find brake free unless you are talking about free all the automotive penetrating oil

[@oldschooljack3479]

It's the penetrating oil you get at the auto parts store.

[@ronbadhd3170]

I use carburetor and choke cleaner,it's designed to remove carbon. But is bad for plastics.

[@randyjohnson1598]

I can't find Free-All bore cleaner ! Do you have a link to it ?

[@tomreynolds6466]

It’s not a bore cleaner. It’s a spray oil you find in an automotive store.

[@winninginthewind]

I added a link to the description

[@TeamAbitibiAngler]

how ofter do you clean that much ???

[@winninginthewind]

I clean about every 150-200 rounds, but heavy cleaning as shown only happens twice or three times during a barrel's life. It all depends on the powder and cartridge. I let the barrel tell me what it needs.

[@phillipmcmillan1595]

17 wsm hard to get spent case out, used Winchester 25 grain ammo need help A

[@winninginthewind]

Find a gunsmith. They can help you.

[@Ouwkackemann]

Freeol???

[@jaywright2276]

how do you get rid of carbon rings

[@winninginthewind]

Free-All does and amazing job with a bronze brush.

[@jaywright2276]

I agree I got it out with brush and accelerator and it’s gone

[@stephenkrampert3430]

Anyone ever try Gibbs the red colored oil

[@wolverinekut]

🔥💯👍

[@clays7741]

No Sweets?

[@winninginthewind]

Nope. I've used it in the past. Works about as good as any other ammonia based cleaner.

[@sahmadi1000]

Bronze brushes are a problem by themself. Bronze is mostly copper so you are adding a new variable. Your patch could come out green because of the bronze. I wish there was a hard enough brush that was unbiased.

[@davidl.579]

Try this stuff called " zap ox" metal cleaner works on nasty injection molds and you dont need gloves.

[@tommyroberts867]

Several big name shooters are using CLR

[@TheDude1764]

Yep. Haven’t had the need to do it yet, but I’m going to trust Erik Cortina and Speedy over randos in the comments here. I don’t want to try CLR on my blued barrels, but I’d do it with a stainless one.

[@garyjohns4711]

BORE TEK (CARBON) REMOVER

[@treece1]

No kidding, I'll never use CLR again. If you get any of that junk on bluing it's toast

[@mickroberts5166]

LOL its safe only on stainless barrels although I have been using it on carbon barrels for years as well ... you just need to be very careful

[@treece1]

Which I ain't.

[@beestoe993]

I sure wouldn't use CLR in my bore. All that acid in it is a great rust accelerator.

[@tommccormick3622]

Fyi. Don’t get clr on blue finish

[@remoman]

All polish goes black when you rub metal. That's not carbon, it's the rubbed polish.

[@johnthomas460]

I have only been using Balistol with no issues.

[@jerrysmith9935]

Hey guys there's a combustion chamber cleaner made by yamaha that will disolve any carbon to liquid form any yamaha dealer can get it you'll throw away all your other stuff

[@goosecouple]

Have you tried kerosene?

[@winninginthewind]

Great jet fuel, but didn't do much about carbon, neither did Ed's Red.

[@jonl8539]

Your process for all products should have been the same using a brush with one product is not a good way to test every product shoul be used the same

[@robinepps7274]

Well I wasted $8 on that "Free All" crap!

[@kajhelin6822]

Since the plan is to clean the barrel to the clean metal I would look at using an electrolysis type of cleaning. Outers Foul Out was a well known product. frfrogspad.com ->borecleaners->electronic fouling removal. I would ask a local chemicals supplier to mix the fluids described and use a variable power supply from ebay to get the very low current in order to not etch the bore. Patching the bore with acetone first should get rid of any grease acting as a barrier and slowing down the process.

[@trimmin420]

how does free all react to polymer frames and black slides? will it mess them up if it gets on there or no?

[@MrConceito]

It discolored my black nitride finish after leaving it for 30 minutes. Less so if cut 1:1 with water but still softened up the carbon.