I got a borescope recently and had a look inside my tired old 6.5CM RPR barrel.
I'm pretty diligent about cleaning but not ridiculously so. The rifle gets cleaned before its stored for any length of time and I would estimate it never goes more than 100 rounds between cleaning.
At this point the barrel (stock) is probably getting close to end of life with ~2500 rounds through it and I have noticed the accuracy drop off. With 40.6 grains of H4350 it would send 140 Hornady BTHPs around 2650 and would make a cloverleaf at 200 but I cant get the same consistency any more.
With this in mind I figured I would check for the carbon ring and it seems to have one. The first picture is the "As Found" condition where the rifle was cleaned and put away and inspected recently when I acquired a borescope.
The second & third "As Left" pics are after cleaning (3 sessions) with Boretech carbon cleaner. I left a patch soaked in cleaner jammed into the throat area for an hour and then brushed with a slightly oversized nylon brush.
I think its *slightly* better but certainly not clean. With a standard rifle running a well used CHF barrel is it unrealistic to expect to get rid of it all?
My thought process is get rid of the carbon ring (as best I can) then shoot it to see if I still have issues (the gun was never picky until the last couple of hundred rounds), if so then the barrel is toast and I'll replace it.
These suckers sure are hard to move.
I'm pretty diligent about cleaning but not ridiculously so. The rifle gets cleaned before its stored for any length of time and I would estimate it never goes more than 100 rounds between cleaning.
At this point the barrel (stock) is probably getting close to end of life with ~2500 rounds through it and I have noticed the accuracy drop off. With 40.6 grains of H4350 it would send 140 Hornady BTHPs around 2650 and would make a cloverleaf at 200 but I cant get the same consistency any more.
With this in mind I figured I would check for the carbon ring and it seems to have one. The first picture is the "As Found" condition where the rifle was cleaned and put away and inspected recently when I acquired a borescope.
The second & third "As Left" pics are after cleaning (3 sessions) with Boretech carbon cleaner. I left a patch soaked in cleaner jammed into the throat area for an hour and then brushed with a slightly oversized nylon brush.
I think its *slightly* better but certainly not clean. With a standard rifle running a well used CHF barrel is it unrealistic to expect to get rid of it all?
My thought process is get rid of the carbon ring (as best I can) then shoot it to see if I still have issues (the gun was never picky until the last couple of hundred rounds), if so then the barrel is toast and I'll replace it.
These suckers sure are hard to move.
