my lead rocketship, I want him gone!!!

[castblaster]

I have a new S&W 629-6. I want to shoot pb boolits out of it. so i cast, load,shoot and get throat leading. next i start measuring, the barrel will take a .417 pin guage but not a .418. the .417 will go in muzzle and out forcing cone, so maybe no thread constriction. the cylinder throat will take a .427 pin guage but not a .428. so now a .431 throat reamer is in the mail. the barrel slugs at .430. so maybe i have future leading under control. the little rocketship in the lands is my main trouble. for the past three days I've been trying to get him out with bore cleaner(three diff kinds),brush,chore boy,very tight patches,eds red and elbow grease. when i let the bore cleaners soak 2 to 3 hours i get very small grey stain on the patches. I shoot lots of lead boolits 30-30 micro-grove 9mm 40s&w 45acp 38 357 30-06 I've cleaned lots of lead out of guns before,but this little rocketship seams burnished in or something. doing the load development i shot j-word and boolits back and forth(this was my first 44mag you know), so i got him ironed in real good. any suggestions on the next move?

pics are coming soon from iphone

[castblaster]

http://tapatalk.com/mu/45069121-c993-8658.jpghttp://tapatalk.com/mu/45069121-c9a7-a9ac.jpghttp://tapatalk.com/mu/45069121-c9b8-493f.jpghttp://tapatalk.com/mu/45069121-c9ca-59c4.jpghttp://tapatalk.com/mu/45069121-c9da-6026.jpg

[462]

Interesting that Chore Boy won't remove the lead.

Try an overnight Kroil soak.

[Mal Paso]

The Lewis Lead Remover from Brownel's has a forcing cone tool included. Sounds like you're on the right track with the reamer. .431 boolits should shoot well.

[Iron Mike Golf]

1. Have you tried a bore paste like JB?
2. Maybe you got lead soldered to copper. Were any of the solvents you tried a copper solvent?

[shoot1forme]

Mix up a solution of half hydrogen peroxide and half white vinegar. Brush the barrel thoroughly while it's dry with a bronz brush to help the oxidation of the lead take place. Plug one end of your barrel with something (a cork cut to fit would do) and pour the solution into the barrel. Let soak for anywhere between 10 to 30 min. You will notice the solution foaming and turning a dark gray color. Pour the mixture out and brush the barrel a few times. Repeat as necessary until the barrel is lead free and like new. Finish with your usual cleaning method.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

This may be a stretch...But an easy one,
Try shooting some gas checked boolits sized to .431
some folks hear claim a gas check can scrape out Lead fouling.
I was very skeptical of this til.....one instance where it worked for me.
Jon

[Cadillo]

I have tried every different lead removal poduct I could locate and they simply do little to nothing. Then one day in desperation I tried Breakfree CLP. A short soak with CLP and a litlle elbow grease with a Chore Boy wrapped bore brush does the trick. All other chemicals are a waste of my time.

Beware! Vinegar and Hydrogen Peroxide will ruin a carbon steel barrel while you are there looking at it. I know, because I ruined a P220 barrel with it. I wouldn't dare to use it again even on stainless.

[94Doug]

Since it is a stainless pistol, I'd try a lead removal cloth. That is if that is still offered out there on the market.

Doug

[castblaster]

This is what I triedhttp://tapatalk.com/mu/45069121-043f-ad3c.jpg

This is what I will try nexthttp://tapatalk.com/mu/45069121-047c-37d3.jpg
Thanks for the ideas, this forum is great. I've been a lurker here for about two years, and learned a lot

When I get my cylinder throats reamed I can try to shoot it out.

[stubshaft]

Could have had lead adhering to copper fouling.

[castblaster]

I did shoot jword first then lead then back and forth. when i cleaned with copper sol. patches came out blue or green at first then less and less color. i took a mild steel rod and can scratch the rocket shaped patch but not the stainless, so sure its fouling. what blend of ironed on lead+copper I dony know. I think the rocket shaped paches are from skid then turning of under sized boolits. the patches are in all five grooves

[XWrench3]

i have also used the hydrogen peroxide / vinegar mix thing. it does work, but if you are not carefull, it will pit the barrel. so i would only use it on a patch running it back and fourth. as soon as you are done, make sure you dry the bore and oil it. also be aware that the residue is extremely poisonous. as far as a lead removing cloth, they do work. but be aware that they will continually come out black, even when there is nothing in the bore. it simply polishes the bore, and the black is from the stainless being polished off from the bore. i know, i did this for a long time, thinking there was still lead in the bore. an eye loupe, 5-10 power, will be your best friend when it comes to finding lead in a barrel. i use that excluseivly for checking. nothing else works as well. but be aware, you may not like what you see. a smooth barrel to the naked eye will show every tiny imperfection when you look at it thru a loupe.

[41mag]

My very first excursion into shooting true blue cast boolits was with my Ruger RH in 41mag. I got some heavy boolits from a fellow from a forum I don't even remember now. I followed his instructions to the letter, cleaning it, miked the throats and everything. Used his recommended load, down to the tee.

First cylinder of 6, with the last round I literally had lead strings hanging out the muzzle and nothing to be seen of lands and grooves inside.

I used the copper screen thingy, along with several other suggestions and after about 6 hours of scraping I finially got down to the lands, but could not get anything much more than a shallow indention in the grooves. What I finally ended up doing was taking a piece of silver solder rod and filing an edge on it, then bending it to just less than a 90 degree angle right at the tip so I could use it as a scraper. I tried it on the grip area in several places to make sure it wouldn't scratch the metal which it didn't. I used it to more or less plane the lead out of the grooves. With a little bit of a bend in the lenght of it I could get some pretty decent pressure on it and it simply shave it out one groove at a time. The only reason I used the silver solder rod was it actually fit the groove width to a tee.

While that was WAY more extreme that what you have, it might work out for you. If not you might give a brass brazing rod a try. With just a bit of an edge filed on it, it will shave lead pretty easily, and once you get it started it should come out pretty quick, and not hurt your SS barrel.

hope this helps,

[castblaster]

I have some brass rod I'll give it a go. Thanks

[mdi]

Mix up a solution of half hydrogen peroxide and half white vinegar. Brush the barrel thoroughly while it's dry with a bronz brush to help the oxidation of the lead take place. Plug one end of your barrel with something (a cork cut to fit would do) and pour the solution into the barrel. Let soak for anywhere between 10 to 30 min. You will notice the solution foaming and turning a dark gray color. Pour the mixture out and brush the barrel a few times. Repeat as necessary until the barrel is lead free and like new. Finish with your usual cleaning method.

Yep it works. But don't leave the solution in for longer than a few minutes. I pitted a barrel of my Dan Wesson by leaving the solution in for several hours...:oops:

[Wally]

I have a Ruger SS .357 Blackhawk..the cylinder throads are .358" --the barrel is just under that--it leads up easily. I have polished it with Fritz...still leads up. If I use GC bullets--no leading. The gun will even lead up with mild .38 Spl loads. I use a jag tip with a cloth patch and a one inck patch of aluminum flyscreen--cleans it out in just a few passes. The ulitmate solution is an Outer Foul Out...

My Brother has a GP-100..SS same deal...must have something to do w/SS...???

I will shoot so many shot and clean it out with the flyscreen patch...takes just seconds...much faster than a Lewis Lead remover.

[noylj]

1) Foul-Out III
2) Mercury
3) Soak in Hoppe's #9 or Kroil. Let sit for about a week.

I have used them all and #1 is the best, #2 is the quickest, and #3 also can clean out the rest of the gun.

[Tag]

It's not a SS thing, I have security six same thing. I use Pro Shot and chore boy with bronze brush. Just bought a 158 GC mold to try and see if it will cure it. I think I will stock up on aluminum fly screen. thanks for the tip Wally.

[GabbyM]

After you get the throats reamed their’s a good chance that little bit of lead fouling will shoot right out.

In my experience four ought steel wool works better than Chore boy.

I’ve had revolvers and pistols that had been shooing those awful hard cast lubed with hard lube commercial bullets of old. Thought I had the bores cleaned out. Then after shooting boolits lubed with Felix lube the rifling all of a sudden showed sharper corners and appeared deeper.

I’ve still got a few hundred hard lubed bullets in 44 and 9mm I’m trying to shoot up. Guns will lead up pretty bad then I just shoot a few of my boolits and they clean up. Even in the 9mm firing full power loads at 1,140 fps. Getting the lead fouling out of the cyinder throats of my 44 seams the hardest.

Seams the trick to the hard lubed bullets is to slow fire them as rapid fire seams to solder the lead to the bore. That could just be in my mind though.

[PbHurler]

Castblaster,
I'm not convinced these are leading streaks. I also purchased, this year, a N.I.B. (from dealer)4" S&W 629-6(without full underlug). All GROOVES in my piece show the same ?tooling / polishing? marks. In fact I noticed these marks while cleaning the gun prior to ever firing it. The barrel has a very polished look to it. The gun shoots very well with no leading issues. I'm not sure what these marks are or if they are a product of lack of quality control or what. I own several variations of 29's 629's etc.. and none of the other pieces show anything like these marks. I wouldn't get too agressive trying to remove them; I'd look at alloy, fit etc. in regards to your leading issues.

[castblaster]

I'm no longer convinced that is lead or copper. Starting to think it's erosion or flame cutting. When I push a soft bullet thru it leaves marks on it. Tried to call S&W but They were closed till Monday. Now i have the throats oped up I shoot pb acww boolits with unique about 800 fps sized .431 mild leading with flame cutting on boolits And at 1000+fps more leading with more flame cutting Boolits shot into 55gal. Drum of water.

[Love Life]

Castblaster,
I'm not convinced these are leading streaks. I also purchased, this year, a N.I.B. (from dealer)4" S&W 629-6(without full underlug). All GROOVES in my piece show the same ?tooling / polishing? marks. In fact I noticed these marks while cleaning the gun prior to ever firing it. The barrel has a very polished look to it. The gun shoots very well with no leading issues. I'm not sure what these marks are or if they are a product of lack of quality control or what. I own several variations of 29's 629's etc.. and none of the other pieces show anything like these marks. I wouldn't get too agressive trying to remove them; I'd look at alloy, fit etc. in regards to your leading issues.

Agree 100%. I bought a NIB S@W 327 trr8 performance center pistol in april of this year. This is the 8 shot 38/357 pistol with the scandium frame. This is a performance center pistol. I bought the gun off of gunbroker and didn't get to inspect the barrel until it arrived in California. Upon inspection of the barrel before shooting I had THE EXACT SAME THING IN ALL OF MY GROOVES!! I inspected it as much as I could and it did not appear to be leading. Extreme scrubbing with chore boy did nothing. So it is not leading and more than likely what is stated above. I have shot about 5,000 rounds of 38 special loaded with Lyman 358477 and more than a thousand 357 Magnums loaded full bore with the same boolit. I have had absolutely no leading and those marks are still there. They do not affect accuracy in my gun.

Be careful when trying to scrub it out because it is probably the base metal.

[HenryC460]

If that's made out of lead, then shooting a couple of cylinders full of jacketed boolits over it should remove the lead. I get a little bit of lead around me forcing cone that probably does not harm and is impossible to clean off. When I shoot a box of factory ammo, it just goes away.

Maybe your rocketship has a bad streak of copper under it, and if you blast the lead off, you can get at it with copper solvent.

[castblaster]

took it to a local gunsmith yesterday and he said that it looked like like something got under the button when the rifling was being made and smeared. told me i should send it in to S&W. so thats what i am going to try. I'll post again when i know more. thanks all for the help and suggestions.

[PbHurler]

Yes, please keep us informed once you hear from Smith & Wesson. I'd surely like to hear their response.