Dumb Question?

[metweezer]

I clean my handguns after every range visit and have never seen anything too bad in the barrel. My dumb question is What does copper fouling or leading look like in the barrel?
Thanks, Steve

[wallenba]

Well...it's one of those "you'll know it when you see it" kind of things. The copper fouling will be streaks in the grooves of copper color. It may stop and start, might not be in each groove. It could start at the leade or appear only at the muzzle, or anywhere in between. Just depends on the firearm. Leading will appear as a build up of gray metal where it should not be. It can actually pile up near the forcing cone of a revolver. It takes a good eye (young) and good lighting to see sometimes. It might come out easy, it might be stubborn. Again, just depends.

[XWrench3]

lead fouling is easy to see. it is little smears of lead in the bore, if your eyes do not work so well, a good eye loupe will help immensely. copper fouling, i have never seen in a pistol. and to be honest, i don't know if anyone could see anything in a rifle bore. it is just to small and dark in there. i have had a little show up on the cleaning patches from time to time, but it is not a lot. more in rifles, than pistols.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

it must be my eyes,
there is no way I have ever seen copper fouling...only on a patch soaked in copper remover.

I also have a hard time seeing lead fouling in revolvers,
revolvers is where I mostly get leading.
But you can surely feel it when using a brass jag and patch on the cleaning rod.
when I can feel it,
I put a very thin layer of 0000 steel wool over the patch, over the brass jag,
cleans out the lead easily.
then run a clean patch w/o steel wool after,
if not smooth as silk, try some more 0000 steel wool over that patch.
Jon

[btroj]

Runa dry patch down the arrel, hold it up to a light, and look thru the barrel. Leading is pretty easy to see as clumps , for me at least, usually in the throat.
Copper fouling is visible as a copper wash near the muzzle.
JonB has a good poit too- leading is pretty easy to feel with a snug, dry patch on a jag.

[WHITETAIL]

What I do isuse a strong light, and
you can see lead bildup if it is there.
If you think you have copper in your barrel.
Get some copper out at the gun store.
Wet a patch, and run it down the barrel.
Let it sit for about 5 min. then run another wet patch
down the barrel.
Wait another 5 min. and run a dry patch down.
If there is any copper in there it will be green on the dry patch.:guntootsmiley:

[mdi]

For revolvers (if you don't have a bore light) put a small piece of white paper on the recoil shield. Shine a bright light on the paper and look down the bbl. from the muzzle. Streaks of lead will usually show up as lines a little darker/duller than the bore. At least it works for this old guy...