The Creedmoor Forum

Bob, don't know anything about your racing.
What class is that?
I see an assortment of different cars there.

.  I did my normal cleaning and there were signs of build up so I think I'll definitely need to keep an eye on it


Bob its my opinion that even with a brand new barrel from the very first shots the hard carbon build up starts.. we clean them with solvents the best we can but theres some left behind.. then we shoot some more.. and clean it again and again theirs a little more stacked on top of what was there.. this cycle continues over and over to the point we have to change are load a little to compensate for the build up we dont really realize is in there.. gun still shooting good but changes to the load are having to be made to keep up with it and finally the hard carbon builds up so much you cant keep up with it.. its toast.. well probably not as you have seen now.. now that you cleaned it like you did it doesnt suprise me a bit that the load you had early in its life shot well.. with mine im going to continue doing my normal cleaning for 3 or 400 rounds and then im going to strip it back down again to bare metal.. after seeing that all that fire cracking can come out of there and how well the barrel looks after a 1000+ rounds im not sure that carbon doesnt act as a protectant to the steel.. but as we know their comes a time it has to come out or screw a new pipe on.. all my opinion.. but i firmly believe it.. lol

.........  I am trying to adjust my cleaning regiment to see if I can maintain a level of carbon versus needing to take back to bare metal. 

The past week has been busy but wanted to get the 6mm CM back out and see how it shot after the cleaning regiment that Grant proposed.  I was at the first race of the season over the weekend, got home Sunday night and then headed to the Benchrest practice sessions that we have on Monday morning.  This week was going to 600  yards, which I thought would be a good test.

I shot 30 rounds total.  The first 10 were sighters/foulers.  I then started shooting 5 shot groups.  I finished with a few extra sighters to check on some wind changes.  The first 5 shot group was 4.5".  The second group was 2" and the last group was 1 7/8"  For the practices, the pit just uses a ruler....so 1/16 is the most resolution they will provide.   I used a load that I had good results early in the barrel's like which was RL-23 and Bart's Infinity 105g bullets.  It appears that the barrel will still shoot well.  I did my normal cleaning and there were signs of build up so I think I'll definitely need to keep an eye on it.

I attached a photo from the race.....my little beast ran well....set fast time of day for both days.

Randy, it is not much of a spectator sport....so I have not seen one televised.  That being said, they do stream the Nationals from the SCCA website which is run the week after Labor Day weekend.  Also, there are some other events that you might find on-line such as the Good-Guys series and the Optima Challenge series.  Both are gaining a higher level of visibility....but not on any broadcast stations.