...and demonetized! 😂

An alternative method taught to me by a military armorer that is good on blued parts. Fill a large utility sink or kitchen sink with the hottest water you can stand. A) Cover drain grills or any area that small parts can fall into. B) Add a hefty amount of Dawn dishwashing soap. C) Throw the entire broken down gun into the sink. D) Thoroughly scrub everything. It takes about 3 passes with a bore brush and a barrel brush respectively. Smaller parts anout once with the "toothbrush". E) Ensuring all parts are secure, drain the sink. F) Refill the sink with super hot water and make sure all parts are rinsed. The Dawn breaks down any carbon or oil buildup. The hot water serves two purposes; it helps with the soiling buildup and, this is the biggest point, when you take the pieces out, the high heat helps them dry quicker. Oil everything. While every other unit struggled for hours to pass an armory inspection, we turned our weapons in and were able to walk away to the shock of the armorers. Our weaponswere as clean as if they just came from the manufacturer prior to firing. Still use this method on my AR to this day.

I started using CLR a few weeks ago after watching one of your other videos. I had horrible accuracy issues with my rifle. After one time my accuracy snapped right back. Thanks for the advice.

Have used CLR for at least 30 years, cleaning house and janitorial work off and on. Great stuff. Would never have thought to scrub a barrel or parts with it. Thank you very much for the idea! You have a new subscriber.

Hey Eric, I recently found this page “ like yesterday” and I’ve been following you on Texasbarndominiums but I enjoy this more. Thanks for the vids. Big fan.

I used some CLR I had after seeing your previous video and also ordered the patch-out. Shot the next day and had a .26MOA group with ES 10 and SD 3.6.... thank you sir.... I take what you say to the bank

‘May all your groups, be one hole.’, for me that’s the classic! It’s old school, I miss it already! Great video, gonna use this added to my cleaning regimen from now on! Thank you!

AMAZING, absolutely amazing ! I have a barrel that just wouldn't let go of the icky barrel smeg, and now I'm victories. Ram-rod a tornado brush & CLR, then jag a few times, then repeat. Beautiful results !

Wow! I’m adding that to my cleaning routine now! Thanks for another awesome video, Erik.

timing is perfect, was just researching CLR after seeing it on your bench

Great work Eric! I try this recently after you mentioned it in a previous post! Amazing how it strips the carbon out, and... best groups yet out of the 338 Edge!

Thanks for these videos, the time & effort that goes into them is appreciated.

Dude! I feel like I need to add you to my Christmas Card list. This works amazing, absolutely amazing! Thanks so much for taking the time to post this. You're the man!

I love your channel. I am not a match shooter and was never in the military. Your content really helps an old varmint hunter like me. Thanks for showing us tips and tricks

Just tried CLR on my 1911 pistol barrels... WOWZA!... best carbon removal I have ever experienced! Thank you Mr. Cortina... absolutely love your educational youtube channel.

Lol I’m a mechanic an shoot a ton of long range. I dropped a alternator in that stuff that wasn’t charging over night rinsed it with water put it back on the truck an been driving it for 2 years now haha

Do not get it near anything blued. Any finish that is a rust oxidized type finish. It will be gone quickly! That is the R of CLR.

Agreed. I have been a massive fan of clr for years. Great on stainless, caution with factory coatings. ie pistol slides etc etc, it can take it back to bare steel. Absolutely great on stainless barrels just be sure that's all its on.

I've heard about using CLR. I was afraid of using it until I was this video. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to give it a try. I have learned the hard way that carbon fouling really sucks!

Along the same lines, Zmax engine treatment works wonders on keeping stainless barrels clean. On a clean barrel, saturate the inside and then heat the barrel with a heat gun. While still hot, saturate again, and apply more heat (about 200F). Then just let it cool. Patch out the excess. This penetrates into the barrel and helps prevent the carbon from getting a hold. Works wonders on engine valves, so I tried it on one of my guns. It cleans super easy. Some of the best gun products aren't even marketed as such.

Thanks Erik. New drinking game...every time Erik says carbon...take a drink. Great info lately, keep it going. Would really enjoy some more F-class loading and shooting. Enjoyed the PRS stuff.

Thank you Eric. Lovin the channels.

Thank you for sharing CLR cleaner I never thought of using this clear on your barrels . I’ll have to give them a try

I know this is an older video, but I appreciate the info. I’m gonna give it a try. I recently learned that CLR is great for getting carbon off of exhaust tips so this makes a lot of sense.

Yes!! CLR!! I have been using this stuff for 2 years and any time I tell guys to try it, they look at me like I have no idea what I am talking about

I recently viewed a video using CLR in a sonic cleaner of sorts cleaning an aluminum fuel valve shut off. The results were fantastic.

@Erik Cortina - Pro Shooter Sir I truly appreciate you taking the time to answer questions

CLR is amazing stuff! I use it on auto parts all the time. Wasnt sure how safe it would be on barrels... but now I know!

Works great for titanium suppressor parts too. I usually cut mine with 50/50 distilled water.

Thanks for the info. CLR has been deemed a carcinogenic agent so heed that warning about the gloves. Thanks for another great tip!

Works fast. No need to let it sit. Get it in scrub with brush patch out with 99% alcohol. Patch dry. One damp patch of Remclean and another dry patch.... Done! Blued cromo barrel no issues.... Back to 1/2 MOA... THANK YOU ERIC.....

Extra points for the "band camp" joke...

I have been using CLR to remove carbon from my breaks and barrels without any adverse effects for the past few years good to see someone of Erick Cortina's pedigree else uses it also.

I tried lemishine and water in an ultrasonic cleaner and was amazed at how well it worked on a stainless muzzle brake. Very fast, zero scrubbing. Cheers!

Works great on suppressors as well...takes lead right off baffles... works especially well on dirty 22 cans

I would like to thank you for your excellent advice. I am not referring to CLR because I feel that I cannot use it on my blued chrome moly barrel - but rather for advice to use Teslong borescope as a cleaning assessment tool. Based on the borescope it turns out that my normal cleaning regime already removes all the carbon for me - but I found had a big problem with copper fouling. So I did an overnight soak using “Wipe Out” foam which turned all that copper to very dark inky blue liquid residue. It looks great now. Thanks again!

LOVE your videos. Practical, experience-based and straightforward. Thanks.

Pro shooter solves cleaning issues with this one easy trick, overpriced gun cleaning product companies hate him!

Works great on nitride as well brother. Good info/video!

great video Erik!

Good thing you said to follow with 92% alcohol... Gotta have something to neutralize the acid in the CLR... or you will develop pits in the metal. cheaper the metal, the more likely to pit.

Thanks Erik! Im going to try it on my old blued steel factory Savage barrel.

Going to have to try that with the brake on my 6.5 and AR.

Thanks for the great tip Eric TC

I tried it on my brake. It cleaned the crap out of it however it did slightly discolor the polished finish. Few passes across some 1000 grit wet or dry sand paper (wet) and the finish was restored. I found coating the muzzle of my stainless 1911 with a couple coats of One Shot helps stops the carbon tracing. I applied a couple coats to my brake. Haven’t put it to the test yet.

I am stunned. If this works that great in barrels then no more Iosso is needed unless you have a copper mine barrel. Thanks for your insight.

People keep asking and I’m happy to share the story. I’m thinking when Erik and I get together at Nationals I will tell the story.

Erik I have a used rifle with a muzzle break much like yours in stainless. Even though the prior owner did pretty good cleaning the barrel I don't think he ever cleaned the muzzle break. I will try CLR as you did but since the muzzle break is welded to the barrel. I will have to hang it over the cup and use CLR like you did. Thanks for the tip!

If you shoot a revolver you know how the carbon builds up around the forcing cone and on the outside of the cylinder and cylinder face. The CLR wipes the cylinder clean with little effort. Unbelievable. Wet a patch and it wipes away.

I ran this through my Bergara HMR Pro's barrel yesterday afternoon. Ran 3 wet patches from breech to bore using a bore guide and let set for about 15 minutes. The 3 wet patches were black as all get out. Patched it out and then used a bore solvent on a patch. Noticed an increase in filth from the wet patch of bore solvent showing that this did a good job. Scrubbed the barrel about 10 passes and patched it dry. Finished with a patch of alcohol and then a few more dry patches. This will now be my cleaning regiment. My break is blued steel, so I quickly wiped it down after the CLR patches inside and out. Probably should have taken it off, but its a pain to time right. Break looks fine after 24 hours too. Thanks man!

Good information thanks Erik

Just a tip for you Erik! Do not leave CLR on your hands for extended times. Just saying! Don't ask who did it or how I know!🤣🤭

Just tried it after getting my Borescope (Teslong Semi Rigid) and that'll explain why my 22-250 lost the handle. Oh my the copper and carbon... Spent a couple hours making it better... Seemed almost copper plated bore was achieved... This system works amazingly well..

As many are, awaiting for the replacement for youtube! Eric best content available! Keep it up.

Thanks Erik

You could probably have just rinsed the brake off at the tap and gotten most of the carbon off after the CLR soak. We've used it to clean lime from the pans under some bunny cages and rust from plumbing fixtures (city water and the toilet is NASTY!). I think the "demonetizer" was actually showing the barrel of your rifle.

That stuff flat out works Erik! What powder are you running in your 284 shehane?

Eric, you are the hardest worker on You Tube right now. Collaborating with Jerry and Matt, video recording competitions that does create distraction for a competitor that shoots at your level. Sharing your "secret tips" to help the shooting community. After watching you for some time I know you will just say something short and laugh it off and move on because you are too busy to waste your time on something you have little or no control over. Myself however can say what you tube is doing to gun related content creators is not only wrong it is unconstitutional which also makes it illegal. I see down the road a mass action law suit for damages against channels that have been discriminated against by You tube and the like. I like the new Keep em centered idea. Thanks for all your hard work! Mike B

I started using it long ago with my sonic cleaner for brass, it runs great, but it didn’t occur to me using it to clean the gun 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 nice tip.

Well..... CLR is not the end all of cleaners. If you are stainless, it's OK, however, and it's a big however, the R stands for Rust, and you know what bluing is, that's right it's Rust. It may clean your barrel nicely, but it will also remove bluing down to bare metal in a second. Do not use if you have and blue steel that might be exposed to CLR. Yes, I've done that and will remove your blue finish wherever it touches. I don't use it even on my stainless weapons as I might forget and also use it on the blue steel ones.

The great thing about CLR is it works faster in the barrel than anything I ever tried period. And then alcohol will rinse it out with a couple of patches.

I have been cleaning my muzzle breaks with CLR for a few years already great stuff, like Erik said I had only use it on SS muzzle breaks.

Calcium, Lime, and RUST remover.... what is BLUING? It is a controled "rust". Now, think about that for a moment.

Gunsmiths buddy of mine showed me how well it works

I take everything Eric says as gospel, till I dropped my MDT carbon steel brake in the CLR for 2 hr . When I removed & washed the brake it had a black brown rust film all over . Took 30 min scrubbing with tooth brush & soap & water to clean it up .

I use to have mates in short range bench rest and full bore 1000 metres who were using CLR in the early 90s here in Australia.

I did have some concerns about CLR but I'll give it a try. I've had great luck with a product called "Free All". It's in a spray can so I just give the barrel a shot, soak a couple patches and run them out the barrel.

No experience with stainless but it will etch regular steel if left submerged for a couple days.

Great video... I was hoping that you would do this video. I have an extra MPA muzzle brake nut in nitrate finish that I am going to test in the CLR when I return from vacation. I will report the results...

Nice info thanks keep them small and centered.😃

Man I thought I watched all your videos I don’t know how I missed this one!!!!!! I’ll be doing this tomorrow thanks man I appreciate you making these for us

I didn’t have Evaporust on hand but I did have CLR and used it to remove a little surface rust from an older Stanley needle nose pliers made from boron vanadium steel alloy. Several hours soaking and brass wire brushing did the job.

Great video and info Erik, thanks. Would CLR work on cleaning brass as well??

I may try this on the face of my stainless revolver cylinders and on the frame at the top strap above the forcing cone. Thanks!

Great stuff mate I’ll get some .

thanks now I gotta go check every gun barrel after you planted that in my head. Simple things work better sometimes

Wow! I'm learning about gun cleaning from you Erik. Thank you very much. Boy, I really had no idea about what to do with my barrels. It makes sense; How could carbon in your rifling help you? Of course, it doesn't help at all!

Fantastic results, thanks for sharing my friend. I'm going to give this a try on my Oculus SS baffles. After a few hours in the wet tumbler with SS pins & Simple Green (full strength,) I'm not too impressed. It did well with my DA Mask SS baffles though. The Oculus baffles are stubborn little devils! Thanks again for the CLR demo.

I use it all the time and it works great. I always soak my titanium suppressor in it that is cerakoted black and it doesn’t hurt the cerakote at all. Good stuff and another great video.

Look at all those chickens. That’s the only thing I could think of when he kept saying look at the carbon. 😂

Do NOT leave CLR on carbon steel for more than a few minutes at a time. CLR will attack the carbon in the carbon steel. No issues with stainless steel. It is an awesome carbon cutter.

great video thanks !

The bottle specifically says dont use with brass but I can say it does very well cleaning cases too

Lemishine and CLR are fine for stainless, but shouldn't be used with anything else. The citric acid can turn nitride pink, and can strip bluing.

I have a cerakoted wrench that was just a test piece when I was trying to figure out cerakote. I'll dump the wrench in a bottle this weekend to test. (Heat cure FDE)

I like it "keepm centered".

Reminds me of when an air guard unit used simple green to clean landing gear and it worked great until they discovered cracking because of hydrogen embrittlement caused by the simple green on nonferrous metal. Since, they have made an aerospace formula.

I use a Dremel with a medium stone and rod extension to remove the carbon from my barrels but will try clr to help with the pesky little scratch marks LOL clr great idea thanks erik PS people I DONT REALLY USE A DREMEL. lol

I don’t know how it compares but I use motor oil. It absorbs carbon fouling. Maybe it isn’t as fast. I can take the bolt carrier group out of my AR, remove the bolt, and then stand the bolt carrier upright in a plastic container. Put motor oil on and in the carrier. Come back next day and there will be a pool of jet black motor oil in the plastic pan. Wipe as much off as possible and good to go. Same thing with bolt.

New F-class event title sponsor: CLR Household cleaner!

Hmmm, I'm thinking for using on the breech plug on my muzzleloader ?

I’ve been using this on non-alum parts of my rimfire suppressor. It doesn’t dissolve the lead but by the time it interacts with the carbon the lead is so much more softened/brittle that it flakes off relatively easily. The heavy deposits take a bit more work but much less than untreated parts. The titanium parts stay in for hours or overnite. The ss parts I take out a bit sooner as they will take on a little browning that scrubs right off with a toothbrush and #9. The cerakote finish doesn’t just come right off but it’s aging is accelerated. I don’t really care, it’s a suppressor, not a piano. The package cautions against exposure to aluminum and any acid will damage bluing. I’ve been using the same jar of clr since I first filled it. It’s dark and full of nasty sediment but the parts still seem to bubble vigorously as soon as they go in. CLR = carbon and lead remover 😉. If I had an ultrasonic cleaner I’d set the jar in the bath for a bit after the parts had soaked. I think all but the worst might rinse right off.

Shit I thought you were joking, I gave you a comment about the clr a couple weeks ago, but didn't want to ask too much if it was a joke. I have a lot of contractor friends well I'm just going to say I know a lot of people that will screw with people for a joke. Always think it's funny even if I'm at the ass end of it. But now I think I'm going to try it, great work and greatly appreciated!!

CLR will etch hardned steel, tread lightly

Thanks for posting eric. Have you ever tried it in an ultrasonic cleaner? Shotgun gas pistons are notorious for carbon buildup ill give it a try

Awesome! I have a blued barrel that needs re bluing. Should work good for that.

Mr Cortina, thanks

@Erik Cortina - Pro Shooter I was curious on your thoughts on Ed’s Red home made gun cleaner & lube. I’ll definitely be trying the CLR on my Krieger M110 barrel I’m just gonna have to be careful around the hand guard upper and lower. Aero M5E1 set cerakote FDE

I might try that in my Ultrasonic Cleaner see if it does even better

That’s amazing, hopes it works that well with carbon steel barrel.