CLR is not friendly to surface finishes and coatings. It's fine on bare stainless.
But if your rifle barrel is blued, nitrided, etc. - it can and will damage the finish, if you let CLR soak on it (or if you are trying to remove carbon from a crown or muzzle device).
I always only USE it on the inside of the barrel KT so I don,t have a problem at All !Thxs RJ
I don't normally use it to clean inside my barrels, but I use it for stubborn carbon buildup on crowns.
It is something to keep in mind, in case you spill some or plan on cleaning suppressors, muzzle brakes or crowns.
Great Joe - Thxs for that Info ! One thing in there " CLR " use at your own Risk ?? Please Explain ! Thxs
Cheers Jim
It’s probably all that’s needed. People are just trying to get away from the “abrasives” but I think it’s really the only thing that works to get the bad carbon out. And I bet you would have to do a lot of rubbing with it to get the bore dimensions to change a measurable amount.It was so much simpler back in the 60's... Hoppes #9 and JB Bore Cleaning Paste, maybe Sweets 7.62 occasionally. Bore scopes? Well we heard there was such a thing.
It’s probably all that’s needed. People are just trying to get away from the “abrasives” but I think it’s really the only thing that works to get the bad carbon out. And I bet you would have to do a lot of rubbing with it to get the bore dimensions to change a measurable amount.
Some people say it will etch the inside of a ss barrel. I haven’t found this.
Joe
The are no steel abrasives in Hoppes #9, JB Bore Cleaning Paste or Sweets... even back in the 60's it was a myth that JB Bore Cleaning Paste was abrasive to the bore... you can't even remove bluing with it... Try it on a patch and rub on a blued barrel... for 5 or 10 minutes...
AS MOST ! prob KNOW ! Sweet's has Very HIGH AMMONIA in it ! RJ
The ammonia doesn't affect barrel steel though. But it cleans it so well, unless you oil it after using Sweets, chrome moly steel will easily rust. Sweets does not harm steel.
Realistically a bronze brush shouldn’t damage a harder steel barrel.
Same with a softer stainless brush on a martensitic stainless barrel.
Wipeout and nylon brushes. Will get any barrel clean. The trick is to give time to the Wipeout to do its job properly.
I would not use any stainless brush in any of my barrels...
People with firearms are often worried about what they heard or think could happen… but the metallurgy speaks for itself.