I've been using WC846 a lot recently and it seems to build up some crud in the bore. After about 100 rounds it starts to affect accuracy and I have to scrub it out with a brush. The usual solvents don't seem to touch it.

I've read that 846 had too much calcium carbonate and would plug up gas guns, so it was reformulated to 844. So if the crud in the bore has a limestone component, would vinegar work to remove it easier? Would vinegar cause any damage to the bore? I'm thinking a few patches of vinegar followed by a more typical cleaning routine.... Thoughts?

Vinegar would dissolve limestone but it is also active on steel and blueing. If you left it in the bore long enough to remove the limestone you would remove the blueing and micro pit the bore. My advice is to clean your gun with a brush and shit can the 843. I'm still trying to figure out what combo of propellant and primer would produce calcium carbonate?

Years ago a friend + I had gone to a garden party lunch.While helping ourselves to food in the line he dropped a drop of oil + vinegar salad dressing on his Colt Mustang + the bluing disappeared immediately. (I have no idea why he had his pistol out in the food line.)

Pistol in food line ? That's in case the sous vide wasn't hot enough !

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe calcium carbonate is added during production to help the powder flow more uniformly through the automated equipment.

Yeah my friend was a bit of a card. He told me about when he went down to British Honduras before it became Belize to have supper in the King George Hotel. Some scotsman whose drink was not to his fancy began to berate the waiter with his cane + proclaimed that this was the only way to keep the wog niggers in their place. Ah,coloninalism.

They are still the same basic powder out of the box. 844 will have less calcium carbonate than 846 but it is still there. I wonder if you have a bad lot. I have been using 846 in three different AR15 rifles for about 10 years now when I run out of 844 and I don't see a great difference in cleanup. The last 5 years have been suppressed so everything gets mondo dirty no matter the powder.

CaCO3 (calcium carbonate) has this reaction:

CaCO3 + heat -> CaO + CO2

I can't imagine your fouling is calcium carbonate at this point. CaO when mixed with water becomes mortar.

Vinegar will cause your bore to rust if not removed.

The first, I would try a carbonated water. If it is really CaCO3, it can help. Will be much more gently to the barrel than vinegar.

Don't forget to degrease barrel inside, so it will not be blocked by some oil etc. Dry and oil barrel immediately after procedure.

Jiri

I would imagine incomplete combustion allows the calcium carbonate buildup.

Calcium carbonate is added to neutralize the decomposition products which may be acidic.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
I have been using 846 in three different AR15 rifles for about 10 years now...

Do you get fouling problems? How do you clean? Most of my rifles I just use wipe out, and it's just a few patches. The 846 requires scrubbing for me.

I shoot with a suppressor so everything I have gets really gunked up after a long session or PD hunting.

I find it easy to clean the same day but another story when I let it sit for any length of time. That sort of makes some sense given I live in a very humid climate.

This article says to use CLR, which last time I looked was phosphoric acid:

http://primalrights.com/librar...tion-barrel-cleaning

That might work well on suppressors, brakes, and maybe a stainless barrel, but I'm sure it would strip the blueing off of CrMo and eat aluminum.

The last time I drank some bicarbonate of sodia it worked well on my indigestion, but I didn;t mix it wit vinegar, damn I glad I wasn;t eating a salad with vinegar and oil at the time..

Am I missing something, this stuff if oK for human consumption and melts steel!!