Cleaning Barrel - Lead

[ron brooks]

I have a M1917 that started off with a dirty barrel. I have used a 4 ounce bottle of Shooter's Choice and wore out a brass brush. Then I got a bottle and started using Butch'e bore cleaner. Seemed I finally got all the cooper fouling out, but it still looked like I had fouling so have now cut up two RIG lead removal cloths, wound strips arounda new brass brush and ran them through the barrel. Well, the lead removal clothes are still coming out pretty dirty. Should I keep doing this until they come out clean? Will they ever not come out black? is there an easier way to do this?

Thanks,

Ron

[imashooter2]

Outers Foul Out. Better living through chemistry.

[omgb]

Assuming that you do not have access to the Foul-Out machine ........ try this: After coating the bore with "Sweets 7.62" and after following their directions to the letter (it's not that hard really but one must do as they say or it takes longer) dry the bore carefully. Now take a patch soaked with Kroil and throughly wet the bore. Let it sit 30 minutes. Repeat. Now use a tight patch to dry the bore. Then run more dry patchs through until clean ...maybe 5-10. That should do it. Sweets really is aggressive on copper and will get the last of it. Kroil gets down under anything that is soldered to the bore and will lift it. The Outer's machine is faster but this is just as effective. Occasionally one must alternate between Sweet's, Kroil and a very aggressive bore solvent like Ed's Red. It seems that fouling gets layed down in layers and is made worse by improper or incomplete cleaning that traps dirt under more copperf ouling in alternating layers. It's a real bear to get out the first time but once it's clean, it stays that way provided you do your part.

[The Double D]

Don't want to spend the money on the Outer Foulout try this. I have built two of these and they work. actually it its the same thing as the Foulout except cheaper.

http://ca.geocities.com/snidey@rogers.com/borecleaner.html

[David R]

It took 8 hours with the home made foul out to clean my 1917. You wouldn't believe the junk that came out of the barrel. It actually slugged .001 bigger when I was done. It also had pits in it that I didin't even know about.

First I got green and black foam. Every 1/2 hour I changed the solution. Black flakes, and chunks of stuff kept coming out. The gun does shoot better now.

David

[garandsrus]

Ron,

Here's the one I built: electronic bore cleaner (http://www.frfrogspad.com/copclean.pdf)

It works very well.

John

[Char-Gar]

I have never tried an electronic cleaner, but Sweets 7.62 is light years ahead of Shooter's Choice for removing copper fouling.

[Ricochet]

Oh, for the days when you could just buy a bottle of mercury, plug the bore, pour it full of mercury, and drain it back in the bottle after 1/2 hour or so...

[ron brooks]

Thanks for the thoughts. Actually somewhere back at teh "home place" down south I have a whole bottle of mercury, unless my nephews have "taken charge" of it. Problem is it's 600 miles away. I got it about 25 years ago for cleaning pistol barrels. Never did use it. I really appreciate the electronic bore cleaning plans. I'll see what I can come up with on putting one together. That ought to take care of the problem.

Thanks again,

Ron

[montana_charlie]

Ammonia is the 'universal' recommendation for these devices. And it works well...on copper.
Sodium carbonate dissolved in water will pull rust.

What is the recommendation for making a cleaning solution to pull lead?
CM

[David R]

I used one part white viniger (vinager?) one part amonia and two parts water. Worked for me.

David

[montana_charlie]

Well, after some research, it turns out that lead acetate solution is what is needed to pull lead away from a steel bore.

It appears that one way to get lead acetate solution is to make it. This website tells you how...
http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2005/2005-05-20/feature1/

Or, you can buy it from this guy...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lead-acetate-trihydrate-ACS-500g-CS_W0QQitemZ300023262331QQihZ020QQcategoryZ104233Q QrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

(BTW, in one article I read on building a home-made Foul Out, it was mentioned that using vinegar will etch steel...if that matters to you.)
CM

[robertbank]

Wrap some 100% copper Chor Boy pad material around an old brass brush and you will have the lead out of your barrel in about five minutes. Fastest way of removing lead out of a barrel I know of. Just make sure the pads are 100% copper.

Take Care

Bob

[DPD]

There is a stainless steel pad like material consisting of tightly wound spirals
and it is in the form of a pad. To clean the bore of lead, you wrap some of the
material around the appropriate size brass bore brush and scrub the bore free of
lead. I can testify that it works great, but I've always been paranoid that the stuff
would scuff or scratch the bore like stainless steel bore brushes are said to do.
I've never noticed a deterioration in accuracy or observed any scratches in the bore( although they could be microscopic).
This material is made for bore cleaning, but I haven't bought any since the 70's,
and can't recall the name of the stuff. A pad of it will last for years. Maybe the brass cleaning brush acts as a cushion between this stuff and the bore so that
the steel of the bore is protected from goughing or scratches.
The post by robertbank regarding the use of copper Chor Boy is based on the
same principle and no doubt works the same way.
Another lead removal tool I used to use consisted of a copper screen cloth in
circular form that fit over a truncated cone of aluminum close to bore diameter that
was screwed onto a cleaning rod and pushed or pulled through the bore to scrub
out the lead deposits. It worked OK, but was more time consuming than the
curly - q stuff wrapped around the bore brush.
Just as a side bar, leading only occurred when I shot swaged lead in my target
pistols. Properly sized cast bullets never caused the problem.
Don

[versifier]

I have had really good luck with RIG #44 solvent, especially with stainless steel. The lead comes out in sheets and chunks on the patches.

[felix]

I, too, was paranoid for quite some time about using brush materials using steel as a component. I like the spiral brushs, but only use them in a push through motion starting at the chamber end. If they leave micro scratches length wise throughout the barrel, I can care less. After all, the scratches can hold lube. I have brand new barrels that have been rifled with buttons, and you can readily see with the naked eye the chatter marks which are very deep and probably will never be worn out in a lifetime of shooting. And, fortunately, the specific barrel I am talking about does not seem to hurt offhand beer can accuracy at 100 yards. ... felix

[robertbank]

My question is why would you use a steel pad when the 100% copper varieties like Chor Boy are available that will do the same job and not scratch your barrel. Sorry but running steel pads down the inside of a barrel just doesn't give me a warm feeling.

From what I have experienced most of the chemical bore cleaners that are said to remove lead come under the heading of Snake Oil. Seems to me most of the lead comes out with scrubbing of the wire brush or the aforementioned copper pads.

Take Care

Bob

[felix]

Copper is fine, Bob. ... felix

[DPD]

The difference between the copper Choir Boy and SS pad is that the stainless
spirals are very thin with razor sharp edges . You can picture how these hundreds
of curly "razors" being pulled down the bore will cut away at the imbedded lead
and other deposits. A good pre-soaking with Rig 44 would serve to soften and
hasten the removal of the deposits. This ss pad material is made for lead removal
from gun bores- it's not an over-the-counter pots and pan scrubber. I only wish I
could recall the name of the product. I don't have senior moments anymore, they
are senior days, weeks, etc.
Don

[ron brooks]

DPD,

Cylinder and Slide sales something like what you are talking about. You can order it from Midway. It is called "deleading wool".

Ron

[DPD]

Hey Ron!
Thanks for shaking my brain cobwebs around abit!
Don

[nighthunter]

Has anyone ever tried using a piece of one of the green 3M cleaning pads placed over a bore brush? I use one to wipe off the occassional lead build up on my molds when casting and have never had any damage to a mold. I don't see why it wouldn't work to clean a barrel.
Nighthunter

[Phil]

DO NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Use a green (or any other color) Scotch Brite pad in the bore of a firearm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers,

Phil

[KYCaster]

Scotch Bright WILL REMOVE METAL. It takes lots of rubbing to see the effects, but you can eventually ruin a mold.

The "lead wipe cloths" that do such a great job are much worse than Scotch Bright. They take those stubborn specks of lead right off the mold......also take the vent lines right off the mold.

Don't ask me how I know all this. [smilie=1:

Jerry