Suppressed, big chucks of carbon in the chamber

204 AR

204 AR

Well-known member
Twice in the last 5 or 6 months I've had an issue, when I try to chamber a round it won't seat. Both times were at home, (thank goodness) and a day after firing a few shots.

Bore cam would show a single blob (for lack of a better term) of carbon or soot in the chamber. This last time right in the throat, and it didn't brush out easily without doing a full clean with solvent.

There's not much to do about it other than check first I guess, but it sure would wreck a hunt if you went out without knowing it. I mean I'm used to filthy brass, but this is a different beast and I can't wrap my head around how it gets there. A live round was chambered immediately after the last shot, and extracted later. I can only assume as the rifle is stood up, gunk drains out of the can? Or maybe some gunk from the last cleaning falls out of the gas port?

Two different rifles, first time was a 6x6.8 using 8208, this time was a 243 using h4350. Same suppressor, Sico Harvester. Shortish barrels, 18 and 20".
 
The backpressure created by suppressors causes lots of gunk in the chambers.

I've noticed over the years that certain brands of lube makes it worse. What works well is i use old-school Breakfree CLP. I spray a little shot in the chamber every time I go out. At the end of the night I make sure to eject the round, never leave it loaded, the gunk seems to want to glue it shut! I take a chamber brush and spin it in the chamber a little every 15-20 rounds, only using CLP liberally. I deep clean the bolt about every 40 rounds. I haven't cleaned the bore all season, I dont clean bores until accuracy falls off on all my rifles.

My ARs get ran hard and I'm yet to have any issues with FTF, FTE or any malfunctioning.
 
Originally Posted By: Kino MThe backpressure created by suppressors causes lots of gunk in the chambers.

I've noticed over the years that certain brands of lube makes it worse. What works well is i use old-school Breakfree CLP. I spray a little shot in the chamber every time I go out. At the end of the night I make sure to eject the round, never leave it loaded, the gunk seems to want to glue it shut! I take a chamber brush and spin it in the chamber a little every 15-20 rounds, only using CLP liberally. I deep clean the bolt about every 40 rounds. I haven't cleaned the bore all season, I dont clean bores until accuracy falls off on all my rifles.

My ARs get ran hard and I'm yet to have any issues with FTF, FTE or any malfunctioning.

I use clp also, but I've never heard anyone advise oiling a chamber before. Do you mop it out? CLP on a brush may have removed this chunk, but it was pretty stubborn.

I do agree those rounds can practically weld themselves in there if left very long, especially both my 243's. They have pretty tight chambers; I even use a small base die because my Lapua brass was almost sticking.

Bottom line is I'm going to have to check it and clean if necessary before going out to hunt. I'd just like to know where that chunk of gunk came from.
 
Spray a little and rock on, doesn't hurt a thing. Now if you was low crawling through a desert with blowing sand,dust and debris for uncle, running it wet is not a great idea but for 98% of hunters running things wet is a good thing.
 
Originally Posted By: Kino MSpray a little and rock on, doesn't hurt a thing. Now if you was low crawling through a desert with blowing sand,dust and debris for uncle, running it wet is not a great idea but for 98% of hunters running things wet is a good thing.

I was at SHOT show in Florida years ago and attended the media day shoot. I was at the Leiter Wise llc bay and they were having problems with a full auto sbr and they did just that. Hosed down the BCG with some sort of lube, slung the excess off and stuffed it back in the upper. Ran like a top after that.
 
In my previous profession I was fortunate enough to attend armorer training taught by Colt for the M4 platform. The guy from Colt taught us that the bolt carrier groups for M4 platforms loved to be “wet”, and that even dripping wet was fine for them.
 
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