Dear fellow AR15 Enthusiast!

This is my first post and I hope I won´t appear as a total noob, but guys I need your professional opinion and expertise:
I recently cleaned my 7” AR15 barrel (Ballistic Advantage) for the first time.

When it came to clean to the tricky barrel extension, I thought maybe I could use a conventional cheap brush to get to all the corners and hard to reach areas.
So like every cheap brush the bristles are held together with a ferrule made out of soft aluminium (yes I tested it, it is aluminium).
I thought the barrel extension finish would be more durable and could easily take any kind, and especially soft aluminium “touches”. (Yes I just touched the areas, no hard scrubbing or any aggressive behavior)
But: I quickly realised that the aluminium left scratches in that area.
Since cheap soft and thin aluminium wouldn´t be a threat to a hard AR15 rifle barrel I didn´t think much of it and thought maybe later I could get rid of the small aluminium scratches.
Please advise me:

1.Is there any possibility to get rid of the scratches?
2.Do they affect the barrel, the bullet, the ballistic. etc. in any way?
3.I wanted to get the barrel ceracoated in the first place because it´s too shiny for my taste.
Is it advisable to get the barrel extension area ceracoated as well or is this a bad idea? I mean the area was and is factory nickel-boron coated in the first place though, so ceracoting wouldn´t be a big thing or am I mistaken here?


Barrel Data:
-AR15 Ballistic Advantage 7,5” barrel.
-Extra-strong 4150 chrome-moly-vanadium steel alloy
-Nickel-boron coated barrel extension
-Tough black QPQ Corrosion Resistant Finish All NFA rules

Really looking forward to your repy and thank you very much!
Sincerely
Luke

https://flic.kr/p/2oyV9pt
https://flic.kr/p/2oyV9pJ
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https://flic.kr/ps/42gNcN

Those shouldn't be "scratches" in the barrel extension, just aluminum you've deposited from the brush.  Given the brush ferrule is softer than the barrel steel, its naturally what's going to happen.

Same thing happens with brass and copper.

Best bet is to use some gun or honing oil liberally applied with a q-tip to soak on top of the aluminum spots, then gently hit it with a brass brush.  Should take it right off.

Or you can just shoot it, its not a big deal and it'll probably remove that in very short order.

You're not going to ceratoke the barrel extension or the chamber, its got critical tolerances and all that.

Why did you remove the barrel from the upper to clean it?

This.  It's like the graphite from a pencil, it should wipe off with a little work if it bothers you.  No harm done.

Dear fellows!

Thanks for your swift responses.

I tried to treat the aluminum scratches like you guys advised me to:

-Wipe it of somehow: no change
-Gun oil and q-tp: no change
-Acetone and q-tp: no change
-Gently hit with a brash brush: no change

So apparently the soft aluminum ferrule really scratched the barrel extension and are no deposits or residues…

BUT: only the finish of the barrel extension am I right?
- Still how is that possible if the finish of the barrel extension is nickel-boron coated? Shouldn’t it be way sturdier?

- I mean if appears like I “wrote with a white pen on a black paper” right?
The steel itself is unharmed?

- Still worried: Do the scratches affect the barrel, the bullet, the ballistic. etc. in any way?


Thank you guys.

Not going to impact accuracy or function

As said, they are not scratches but what many, myself included, call painting.  The aluminum rubs off on the steel but it does not just wipe off like some have said, not from my experience.  It can be a real bitch to remove but the good news is, it’s cosmetic only.  In a place like the barrel extension, leave it alone.

 That’s why I won’t use aluminum cleaning rods.  Drag an aluminum cleaning rod across a nicely blued barrel and you’ll spend the next few days trying to rub off the aluminum deposit left behind.  I shudder to think what running an aluminum cleaning rod up and down your barrel dozens of times might do, even if it is only cosmetic.  And shooting aluminum bullets through my barrels?  “Special” coating or not, they are not going to pollute my barrels.

Guys it´s very relieving to hear that the “scratches” are only cosmetic, thank god for that and thank you so much for sharing your experiences, thoughts and tips with me!

Speaking of: @Big-Bore: May I ask you how you finally got rid of the aluminium painting marks in the end?

As already covered, it’s just small amounts of aluminum smeared on the steel.  With where that’s at, I’d just leave it alone.  It’s not super accessible and you’ll likely end up just adding more marks with whatever tool you use trying to remove it.  I understand being OCD, but you’re wasting time and energy trying to “fix” something that doesn’t matter and won’t have any affect on function.

As an aside, don’t worry about getting the inside of the extension perfectly clean.  A simple AR chamber brush will sweep away anything that could become problematic.  More people damage their guns trying to overclean shit than they would if they’d just wipe it down to a “good enough” level and move on with life.

I thought oxidizing the marks with Aluma-Black would do the job but was afraid it would damage the bluing if left on too long, soooooo, no affect at all.  I finally got it off with a soft cloth, CLP/Kroil 50-50 mix, and literally a couple of hours of rubbing.  

The worst I ever had was when the highly polished blued barrel of my .416 Rigby scraped across the aluminum edge of the gun case.  I almost went so ballistic trying to get that off I could have gone into orbit.  I bet I spent at least three hours rubbing before that 3 inch mark all came off.

Thank you so much for your expertise and lived experiences! It feels good to know that there are folks out there who understand certain concerns which would be considered ludicrous for others^^

Guys you won´t believe my story:

Just as I wanted to leave the aluminium marks alone since you guys said they are just a cosmetic obstacles and won´t affect anything but my eye;)
Speaking of the same:
Today I went into my garage and my eyes caught a special cleaning fluid I bought some time ago.
Since I already gave up my “project alu stains” I thought by myself, just give it a try.

Put on some gloves wrapped a the brush ferrule in duct tape (yes I learned) and just tried the strange fluid.

Guys you won´t believe me: With just the two to three soft brushes with no effort at all, the aluminium stains were gone in a heartbeat!  Residue-free!

I still can´t believe it!

The special cleaner is an Austrian one since I write you guys from overseas,  but I will try to translate what it says on the bottle the best way I can;)

It´s a strong alkaline cleaner which contains sodium hydroxide and should be mixed 1:10 with water but I applied it undiluted, though.

Here are the pictures of my now stain-free barrel extension, the special cleaner and the organic real hair brush who got literally “melted” by the substance (!)
https://flic.kr/p/2oDgqwY
https://flic.kr/p/2oDhV7F
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https://flic.kr/p/2oDcExj

@ Big-Bore: Bro next time no more hour long rubbing workouts for you;)

Thanks for posting this, OP.  

Good to know that there is something that will clean off alum deposits.