Turpentine For Removing Leading

[joeb33050]

Someone somewhere mentioned this and I meant to get back to him but now can't find the post.
Kroil is "sticky" on a tight patch and gets the lead out. It seems to me that turpentine is also sticky, and I've been thinking of trying it. Will turpentine on a tight patch get the lead out?
How is it for cleaning?
Thanks;
joe brennan

[Bass Ackward]

Watch it on your finish. I can't clean without making some mess, so I wouldn't risk it. And I don't have any plastic to even try a guess there.

[Bret4207]

Real turps is a by product of pitch or resin from a pine species. I have a feeling it would be no more effective than any other solvent. Seems to me what a liquid solvent is doing is getting between the lead and the barrel and letting it lift away. In a sense it's lubricating that action. The only "liquid" I know that actually removes leading would be mercury. I suppose some acids would work too.

I've had much better luck with 4/0 steel wool or JB compund for bad leading.

[9.3X62AL]

I concur with Bret's idea. My usual bit for dealing with leaded barrels is to let the bore soak over night with Hoppe's, then run a snug-fitting patch on a jag down the barrel. A large percentage of the lead comes out that way--not all, but a good portion of it. Next comes the Chore Boy on a played-out bore brush, dipped in Hoppe's. No leading can survive this onslaught. Just a new bore brush soaked in Hoppe's will eventually get the leading, but it takes a while. The Chore Boy trick would have been nice to know when I did a lot of bore leading in times past.

[montana_charlie]

You fellas are truly behind the times. Why, it was over a month ago that 'the best way in the world' to remove leading was discussed on the Shiloh forum.

It requires a very tight-fitting patch on a brass jag, and a very stout rod.
The patch/jag combination should be fat enough to be a fairly snug fit in the chamber...and requires pounding the end of the rod on the floor, or with a mallet, to drive it through the bore. Most soak the patch with Kroil for the chore.

If you can get the patch in the chamber, it will pass through the bore if you get enough horsepower behind it. But your rod has to be tough enough to take the punishment.

It is said to be "butt-ugly to watch" and is almost enough to make grown men faint. But the 'big guys' on the Shiloh forum swear by the method.

One word of encouragement...
Those guys own and shoot those very expensive rifles. You can bet they wouldn't do anything to them that they thought might damage those babies...
CM

[44man]

Been doing that forever! I have to beat the rod through with my palm but it will strip out the lead. I never have much to deal with, sometimes none at all but a tight patch works. Try Butch's triple twill patches, they grab everything.
Kroil or any good solvent over night really helps too.

[Ricochet]

They're talking about a tight fit in the chamber with a "straight" case. I think I'd really have to pound to do that with, say, my .300 Weatherby Magnum.
:mrgreen:

[montana_charlie]

They're talking about a tight fit in the chamber with a "straight" case. I think I'd really have to pound to do that with, say, my .300 Weatherby Magnum.
Uhhh...you would be right about that, Ricochet. We can get so wrapped up in our own little world we forget that some continents are shaped differently. A bottle-necked outfit would require some 'adjustment' to the procedure.

Dan Theodore's complete instructions are found in the third post at...
http://www.shilohrifle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8804&highlight=&sid=3bd89393e3017abb591a8b2b0fc6573b
CM

[9.3X62AL]

Charlie--

Sounds like my method, Steroids Added Version. :) My own preference is to run boolits in such a way as to avoid these sorts of gymnastics, but I'll file this away just the same.

My last encounter with Pounding Rife Bores involved a Speer 75 grain J-word that got stuck about 3" up the barrel due to a squib. From this interlude I gathered how much force is exerted by a WW SR primer--and the sorts of forces we are messing around with while reloading.

[montana_charlie]

Kroil or any good solvent over night really helps too.I tend to agree that long soaks with Kroil are beneficial. But it's my impression (without getting into a chemistry debate) that it is more of a penetrating oil than a solvent. Sure, it can probably dissolve some things, just like water can, and diesel fuel does. But I don't think it dissolves lead.

I think a long soak allows it to penetrate under the lead...so that a patch passsing through can carry it away.

But, the one time I really had a leaded bore it took many repeats of soaking and patching to get it all out.

I admit to using a bronze brush during that fight, but it was a brush wrapped with a Kroil-soaked patch. The intent was to 'score' the surface of the lead with the bristles to make more openings for the Kroil to get in through.

While doing that, the patch would show a spiral of dark grey (matching the brush)...which told me there was still lead in there. My (moderately tight) dry patches would come out clean-looking when I ran enough through to 'polish the lead smooth', so the Kroiled patches told me the real story.

Wish I had known then about the pound-a-patch method...
CM

[Ricochet]

My last encounter with Pounding Rife Bores involved a Speer 75 grain J-word that got stuck about 3" up the barrel due to a squib. From this interlude I gathered how much force is exerted by a WW SR primer--and the sorts of forces we are messing around with while reloading.
It's amazing how much force it can take to pound through a stuck hard cast bullet, or a patch "lost" in the bore.

[joeb33050]

A "Lead Away" patch, from Kleen Bore, tight on top of a patch on a worn or small brush.
Kroil on a tight patch. The patch will squeal as it goes through the barrel. YOU MUST OIL THE BORE AFTER KROIL OR IT WILL LEAD!!!!!!! No waiting, it comes out!!
Either of these have cleaned any lead from my guns for the past ~10~ years.
In olden days I've removed lead with 000, that's 3 0 steel wool, but the two methods above do it for me now.
Now, no gun shop I can find sells Kroil, Kroil is squeaky or whatever it is that allows it to grab the lead.
I'm thinking turpentine is squeaky too, and somebody here said it was good for getting the lead out. I want to know if turpentine substitutes for Kroil to de-lead.
I had lead last week. The Lead Away patch took out a LOT of lead, quick.
joe brennan

[44man]

True, you are compressing the patch or bullet. That makes it tighter. Use a large hammer, a rod that fits the bore close and it won't deform as much. A light hammer and a lot of pounding makes good rivets! [smilie=1:

[joeb33050]

[QUOTE=9.3X62AL;227081]Charlie--

Sounds like my method, Steroids Added Version. :) My own preference is to run boolits in such a way as to avoid these sorts of gymnastics, but I'll file this away just the same.
QUOTE]

I'm finding that softer bullets and IMR4198 will lead, and harder bullets don't. Last Wed vs today.
In the world of the experimenter, leaded bores happen. I have loads that shoot and don't lead, but those dang experiments!!
joe brennan

[9.3X62AL]

[QUOTE=joeb33050;227150
In the world of the experimenter, leaded bores happen. I have loads that shoot and don't lead, but those dang experiments!!
joe brennan[/QUOTE]

Hear that, Joe! I'm not real demanding of my cast boolit loads, most run about 1500-1700 FPS in most rifle calibers--and few exceed 1200 FPS in handguns. Once in a while, I'll take a flyer on the 357 Magnum and act like Douglas Wesson--but less and less frequently as time goes on.

[mtgrs737]

For handguns I use a lewis lead remover, I would think that if your bore was close to the same size as a 357, 41, 44, 45 cal. then it should work for a rifle as the rubber sleeve would expand to fit. Some of you machinists here could make up some simmilar tips to use on any rifle cal. as the rubber is surgical tubing that can be bought at any large hardware store. The lewis removers are now being marketed by Brownells, which is good as they are a source for the bronze patches for replacements or make your own tips.

[trk]

I have 2 Lewis lead removers - .357 and 44/45.

Works great in the .357 handi-rifle too.

Tight fitting with brass/bronze screen rips out the lead.

[PatMarlin]

Choreboy and Ballistol.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive found nothing that works better then standard penetrating oil left in the barrel over night. I will loose most stuborn leading and works as well as any gun cleaning solvent at loosening lead.. If i dont have time for that its jb bore paste.

[IcerUSA]

I believe that turpentine was used many years ago for copper remover, shooting buddy of mine(71 years old) said that his dad used to use it when he cleaned his weapons, them old farmers didn't have lots of money back then and used stuff around the farm that worked for them. :)

[Paul B]

Watch it on your finish. I can't clean without making some mess, so I wouldn't risk it. And I don't have any plastic to even try a guess there.

There is a way around this problem. I use the leg from a pair of old jeans that have worn out. I place that over the stock, and then place a plastic bag over the jeans. I tie it in place with some twine. Then, I tie the bore guide in place so it doesn't slip out.
This works to protect the stock of several very expensive rifles that I have. Give it a try.
Paul B.

[DonH]

FWIW:
On the Shiloh forum Dan Theodore would be talking about lead/tin bullets at black powder velocities. He certainly knows what it takes to operate his rifles "lead free" but is inveterate experimenter. He is on the cutting edge og lead bullet design, getting things to work which aren't supposed to. I think his background may be aerospace stuff.

Dan has fired grooveless dip-lubed bullets with BP successfully. That is without filling the barrel with either lead or BP fouling, and with accuracy.