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Carbon or something else?

The tiny cracks at the beginning of your lands are a symptom of (maybe!) shooting a bit too fast, not letting the barrel cool enough, so watch for that in the future and maybe it won't progress very much/ fast. The barrel is definitely not ruined, thats for sure! When that checking/cracking gets up into the lands is when you will probably start to lose accuracy. As it stands now, it should shoot as well as it ever did. Try not to let it get as bad as it was at the beginning of this!
Cheers,
crkckr
I'll have a talk with him about that very issue
 
WapitiBob, those little black lines are not carbon, they are cracks in the barrel! They might be filled with carbon but they are cracks none the less. This barrel is not long for the world, although it might still be shooting pretty well for the time being... but it's just a matter of time. Some folks call it heat checking and it can be caused by over heating the barrel and sometimes by a hot round, like my .22 CHeetah. 22-250 is another one that does this to barrels, sometimes after very few rounds (as in 200 or so). Any overbore cartridge can fall victim to it. Once it's like that, there's nothing that I'm aware of that can stop it, it will only continue to get worse. I should probably try fo get pics of my CHeetah, it looks like my gravel driveway! Time to start saving for a new barrel!
Cheers,
crkckr
 
What are you guys looking at in his pictures that you're saying is checking and cracking? The pictures aren't clear enough to show anything like that... At least on my cell screen.

OP, did you use a bronze brush prior to using the wipeout? Wipeout is my favorite. I find it works the fastest for me when I first clean with a bronze brush and hoppes 9, then wipe that out, then use wipeout. I'm not sure why, but it is slower when I've tried not using a brush and hoppes prior.

Yes, I'd recommend putting one of those mirrors in your scope so the throat can be adequately examined. I really doubt there's been any damage done unless you've shot a lot of rounds really fast, or shot a lot of rounds then left your gun laying in the rain for a few days.
 
Once it starts it's oretty much impossible to stop. Your right, a bit of heat checking (in the vid, Tac-o, that WapitiBob posted in #44) shouldn't affect accuracy until it starts to look lumpy or starts losing little pieces of lands!

Tac-o, look at the picture in #40, at the very beginning of the lands you can see tiny heat checks, or cracks. They are very small and are unlikely to have any effect on accuracy until they get a whole lot worse!
Cheers,
crkckr
 
Once it starts it's oretty much impossible to stop. Your right, a bit of heat checking (in the vid, Tac-o, that WapitiBob posted in #44) shouldn't affect accuracy until it starts to look lumpy or starts losing little pieces of lands!

Tac-o, look at the picture in #40, at the very beginning of the lands you can see tiny heat checks, or cracks. They are very small and are unlikely to have any effect on accuracy until they get a whole lot worse!
Cheers,
crkckr

I got ya. I was referring to @tribb 's pictures in post #36.
 
I just saw this thread so forgive me if I repeat some of the tips already mentioned. As already stated, there is a lot of carbon in that barrel. I used to be in the "don't clean it until your groups open up" crowd but changed my tune last year. For anyone reading this, if that method works for you, by all means continue to use it. I'm going to offer a different cleaning method that works for me. I have a few rifles that shoot great without cleaning but I've had a 28 Nosler for about 8 years that I couldn't develop a load for. I sent it back to the original gunsmith and had 2 others look at it but they all said it looked fine. The last GS said the barrel looked good but it was filthy. 🤔 How could it be filthy when I cleaned the heck out of it and the patches came out clean? So I bought a Teslong borescope and looked at the barrel. It was black and cracked for the first 3 inches of the barrel. I had used Hoppes, Sweets 7.62, Boretech, Wipeout, CLR, etc. on this barrel and the patches always came out clean. I ran across a video with Erik Cortina talking about using IOSSO. I've always heard not to use abrasive pastes but I figured I would try it since I was going to rebarrel the rifle anyway. I used it on a bronze brush and it looked like black mud coming out of the barrel. Took the rifle to the range and holy cr@p! What a difference. The rifle went from shooting 3" groups at 100 with horrible ES to shooting .3" at 100. After researching more about cleaning, I have found that IOSSO will not harm your barrel. Neither will bronze brushes, using a drill or reversing mid-stroke. A lot of these statements have been around since I was born and maybe had some merit at some time but not now. Top F Class shooters use some of these methods (minus the reverse stroke).

So, long story short, I use IOSSO on most of my rifles now. How often depends on the rifle and powder used but as a rule, pretty much after every shooting session. I also use bronze brushes :eek:. I have talked a couple of my PRS buddies into using it and it's helped their rifles as well.

I have attached a video of the throat of my 28 Nosler after shooting only 24 rounds. I'm using R33 which is a very dirty powder but you can see the difference in cleaning. Carbon cleaner used was Bore Tech C4. Give IOSSO a try and report back on your results.

 
I say after a lot of scrubbing in the throat area that 'we always try for that little black ring at the edge of the throat'....and a lot of the time that 'little black ring' is a shadow on the very clean chamber....
I do this......almost every time...til I catch the correct angle with the borescope.....
 
What are you guys looking at in his pictures that you're saying is checking and cracking? The pictures aren't clear enough to show anything like that... At least on my cell screen.

OP, did you use a bronze brush prior to using the wipeout? Wipeout is my favorite. I find it works the fastest for me when I first clean with a bronze brush and hoppes 9, then wipe that out, then use wipeout. I'm not sure why, but it is slower when I've tried not using a brush and hoppes prior.

Yes, I'd recommend putting one of those mirrors in your scope so the throat can be adequately examined. I really doubt there's been any damage done unless you've shot a lot of rounds really fast, or shot a lot of rounds then left your gun laying in the rain for a few days.
No brushs bronze etc. have been used on this barrel by myself. Got the mirrors but don't know which one to use . Does it matter which ? One appears to have less angle than the others! 30° compared to 45°?
 
I say after a lot of scrubbing in the throat area that 'we always try for that little black ring at the edge of the throat'....and a lot of the time that 'little black ring' is a shadow on the very clean chamber....
I do this......almost every time...til I catch the correct angle with the borescope.....
That's interesting I'll check it out!
 
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