The CL ring......

[Bill Calfee]

The CL ring......


CYA accuracy fool friends:


Since we've been discussing "safe" cleaning rods, maybe we need to discuss how to actually clean a bore when a safe cleaning rod becomes available....


The combustion lead ring:


This is a fascinating subject....


First of all, the CL ring does cause a deterioration in accuracy....


But when?


CYA accuracy fool friends:


The CL ring starts forming from the first round fired through a 100% clean leade......


Therefore, if the build up of the CL ring causes inaccuracy, which it does, then the first group fired through a perfectly clean, CL free chamber should be the best....


Then successive groups should be larger and larger as the CL ring builds up...


But it doesn't work that way.......


Once the bore is waxed, a barrel will shoot tighter and tighter groups for several rounds until at some point the CL ring builds up enough that accuracy starts falling off.


And what is so amazing, the tightest groups may come right before the CL ring gets too big..


So a most interesting question needs to be posed:


When you clean your bore should you completely remove the CL ring?




More later on about this most interesting subject at which time I'll give you Mike Mullins' take on the CL ring...


And in my book under the title "Ring around the collar" I explore how to manage the CL ring for best accuracy.


The NASCAR race is getting ready to start...


Your self appointed Internet cleaning rod expert fool friend, Bill Calfee


____________________


PS:

An aside:

I was talking to Bruce Doster awhile back....

He asked me if he was doing something wrong when he cleaned Paladin, because he found he has better accuracy if he doesn't completely remove the CL ring.....but should he go ahead and completely remove it anyway when he cleans?

I said, "No, keep cleaning Paladin just like you're doing."

 

[Bill Calfee]

Mike Mullins

Mike Mullins


Mike Mullins


CYA accuracy fool friends:


Mike Mullins is a genius......


Things in the abstract that I can only dream about, Mike actually does...


He had a unique way of dealing with the CL ring...


Mike understood that the CL ring caused a deterioration in accuracy.....


He also understood that this deterioration only came when the CL ring reached a certain volume..


So he groomed his CL ring so as to keep it at the correct volume for best accuracy.


He called it keeping the CL ring slicked over.


He did this by using a common plastic soda straw in the chamber, and had a method of actually polishing the CL ring so as to slick it over which caused it to take many rounds before it started increasing in volume again.


Therefore...........


Do we really want to remove 100% of the CL ring every time we clean our bores?


Bruce Doster and Paladin don't believe so.


Neither did Mike Mullins....


By the way, Mike Mullins holds the official ARA 2500 record set on July 17th, 2004......using his slicked over chamber


Your pistol fool friend, BC

 

[Lawrence Beasley]

The CL Ring

Dear Mr. Calfee: I hope that you will beat this CL Ring subject to death. I believe it is one of the least understood factors that contributes to gilt edge accuracy. I am sure that your readers have hundreds of questions on the subject so please lead us out of the wilderness. Thanks Lawrence Beasley

 

[Bill Calfee]

Friend LB

Dear Mr. Calfee: I hope that you will beat this CL Ring subject to death. I believe it is one of the least understood factors that contributes to gilt edge accuracy. I am sure that your readers have hundreds of questions on the subject so please lead us out of the wilderness. Thanks Lawrence Beasley

__________________________



Friend LB:


I highlighted one of your comments in bold orange.


LB, you're exactly right with that comment.....the CL ring is one of the least understood factors that contribute to waxed, lead bullet rimfire accuracy.


This is one subject that I'm very careful about what I say, because there's some dirty little secrets involved that would start the self appointed Internet CL ring experts howling if I mentioned them.


Likewise the self appointed Internet chambering experts would start howling, too.


I devote a chapter in my book to this subject, too, a somewhat guarded chapter by the way.


Mike Mullins would never reveal to me how he kept his CL ring "slicked over", as he termed it...


But he knew, just like I do, that the 22 LR cartridge is different from any other cartridge in the world when it comes to producing killer accuracy.


And controlling the volume of the CL ring without completely removing it every time one cleans, produces the best accuracy.


I'll post, from time to time, what I think I can get away with without making the self appointed Internet experts howl..


Your self appointed Internet CL ring expert fool friend, BC

 

[Bill Calfee]

A dichotomy....

A dichotomy....


CYA accuracy fool friends:


The CL ring buildup is a dichotomy of sorts...


Yes, the CL buildup will cause an accuracy drop off...


And yes, the CL ring starts to build with the first round fired in a 100% clean chamber/leade..


So at first glance one would think the first rounds fired would be the most accurate, then get worse and worse as the CL continues to build...


But................


It doesn't work that way.......which is the dichotomy....


See, the 22LR cartridge is unique in that the case is straight sided and the bullet is the same diameter as the case, but for years chambers for it were tapered..


Which never made sense to me.......why put a straight sided case in a tapered chamber...


(By the way, some schmidts still cut tapered chambers even for RFBR guns......which blows my mind)


Anyway, I developed my straight sided chambers back at the beginning of contemporary RFBR over 30 years ago.



So here's what we're up against:


A chamber has to be large enough so the wax isn't removed from the bullet when inserted into it...


But...........


If the chamber is too large accuracy falls off because the cartridge never takes a set in the chamber exactly the same way each round...


So the chamber has to be a compromise....


Here's where the CL ring comes in as an asset instead of a liability...


When properly controlled in volume, like Mike Mullins figured out how to do, the CL buildup fills in the gap in the compromised chamber between being too small and too large....


This is the fascinating dichotomy, something detrimental to accuracy turned into an asset for accuracy...


And like friend Lawrence Beasley stated, probably the least understood of all the factors that contribute to killer rimfire accuracy.


Your self appointed Internet CL ring expert fool friend, BC