Serious leading problem, need advice !!

[jsteed]

Recently bought a Marlin 1894 in .357 with hopes of shooting some cast. I had some various jacketed bullets so made up some hand loads to shoot the rifle. 158gr Hornady HP did pretty well, but I think it's capable of doing better. So I decide to give it a good cleaning (BTW the barrel was dirty when I received it). After a close look, it was heavily fouled with lead. Previous owner was shooting cast and didn't believe in cleaning is my guess.
Since yesterday I have spent no less than 6 hours trying to get the lead out !!
These are the products used thus far:
Hoppes Elite
Shooters Choice
Butches Brite Bore
Sweets #7
Kranoil
Kleen-bore lead free patches ( 2 pacs of 25 ea)
When I ran out of the Kleen-bore patches I stopped for today and left the bore wet with Kranoil. The last of the patches were still dark gray.
I can still see some lead just ahead of the chamber and I'd like to get it all without ending up with a smooth bore !!
No telling how many patches used. Bought the rifle with hopes of shooting some 125gr-158gr cast, but now having some second thoughts due to present experience.
Any advice? Or do I keep on scrubbing? Kranoil seems to help so decided to leave the barrel wet over night and go at it again tommorow. Thanks for feedback.

[Bullshop Junior]

Get a good bronze brush and put a little oil on it and then just scrub the snot out of it. If its real bad, get a one size bigger brush like a 375 cal or something.

[btroj]

Solvents won't do it, neither will patches. A bit of 0000 steel wool on a brush will remove it in short order. I like to use it dry, not solvent. A few strokes with that, a wet patch, a couple dry ones and done.

Physical means remove lead better than anything else.

[Love Life]

Copper chore boy wrapped around a cleaning brush will do the trick.

[454PB]

I suspect you may have some pitting. Shooting jacketed bullets should have removed any visible leading.

[tomme boy]

Chore Boy ans be careful of the crown if doing it from the muzzle. I would take the bolt out and do it from the receiver if I were to do it. After you think you are done, if you have some Kroil, wet the bore and leave it over night. Then go back at it with the chore Boy. It has to be tight fitting to work.

[Wayne Smith]

Yup, what Tommy Boy said. If you are cleaning from the muzzle definitely use a muzzle protector - a brass piece that fits in the bore and centers the cleaning rod. Kroil over night and chore boy wrapped around an old brush has done it for me several times. It is not unknown for me to do this over a couple of nights, too.

[Char-Gar]

Solvents won't do it, neither will patches. A bit of 0000 steel wool on a brush will remove it in short order. I like to use it dry, not solvent. A few strokes with that, a wet patch, a couple dry ones and done.

Physical means remove lead better than anything else.

Yep, that is the way it is done.

[dverna]

Mercury will dissolve lead. If you go that route - take the appropriate precautions.

Don Verna

[DrCaveman]

I recently got my first case of bad leading
Looked here for the advice, tried lots of stuff, and didn't seem to be getting anywhere

However, chore boy and PERSISTENCE were what got it out

Gotta try the 0000 steel wool trick next time

[Bullshop]

This may sound strange or maybe not if you think about it but I shoot out leading. No not with jacketed bullets. I use very soft cast bullets at very low pressure. First I swab the barrel with a good solvent that will act on lead. Let that set for a few hours then fire a round loaded with a soft cast boolit at very low pressure. I leave the solvent in the barrel and put no lube on the boolit. I repeat this process until the leading is gone then clean the barrel as you would normally.
It works for me when there is hard to remove leading in a barrel. This is the easiest process I have found.
I guess electrolysis would be easier but I have not tried that.

[Cherokee]

Copper chore boy or copper wool, or some of that stuff Midway sells always does the trick. It does take some scrubbing some time. Once clean, good boolits that fit the bore with good lube should work without leading. I shoot a bunch of 45 Colt with CB's during a SASS season but only clean the rifle and SA's once a year. Never any leading.

[GP100man]

I`ve had my share of leadin & this works !

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx110/GP100man/choreboyscrubber.jpg (http://s746.photobucket.com/user/GP100man/media/choreboyscrubber.jpg.html)

[btroj]

Gp100man, that is the ultimate enemy of leading. Destroys leading every time, quick and simple.

[Trinidad Bill]

I suspect you may have some pitting. Shooting jacketed bullets should have removed any visible leading.

I have experienced this work and...

Wipe Out (really works) and Lead Away patches (really works)...

[454PB]

I have also used Bullshop's method, it works and is safer than shooting high pressure jacketed bullets through leading. In this case however, the OP had already fired some jacketed rounds.

There have been times when I discovered leading after returning from shooting. In that case, I slugged the barrel (which is what shooting a lead slug at very low velocity does) and pushed all the visible leading out, then used solvent to finish the process.

[Trinidad Bill]

I have also used Bullshop's method, it works and is safer than shooting high pressure jacketed bullets through leading. In this case however, the OP had already fired some jacketed rounds.

There have been times when I discovered leading after returning from shooting. In that case, I slugged the barrel (which is what shooting a lead slug at very low velocity does) and pushed all the visible leading out, then used solvent to finish the process.

I am going to have to give this one and Bullshop's a try. Both great methods.

[Mlcompound]

Copper chore boy wrapped around a cleaning brush will do the trick.

My go to method before getting the leading eliminated completely.

[osteodoc08]

Copper chore boy for me, luckily I havent needed it in quite some time.

[44man]

Once clean, do not fear shooting lead.
Whoever owned the gun before was not doing things right. Most likely boolits too small.

[Hickok]

I have some bronze wool from Brownell's that works well wrapped around a bore brush. Chore Boy seems hard to find in my area. What stores usually carry it?

My first and worse case of leading was a box of Winchester 158 SWC Lubbaloy .357 magnum cartridges, years ago right after I got out of high school. Nasty!

[rintinglen]

I have some bronze wool from Brownell's that works well wrapped around a bore brush. Chore Boy seems hard to find in my area. What stores usually carry it?

My first and worse case of leading was a box of Winchester 158 SWC Lubbaloy .357 magnum cartridges, years ago right after I got out of high school. Nasty!

Yeah buddy. Those Winchester bullets would lead a bore until you couldn't see the rifling in less than a hundred rounds. I filled the bore with mercury, let it set for the week end, dumped the mercury back in the jar, and then pushed the residue out with a tight fitting patch. Got my Dan Wesson back in service and never shot another one of those Luballoy lead-liners again.
Mild leading responds well to Kroil soaking and tight patches, heavy leading requires sterner measures.

[djgoings]

Chore Boy or Bronze wool. I would not use steel wool in any of my guns.

[Airborne Falcon]

Chore Boy or Bronze wool. I would not use steel wool in any of my guns.

You have to use fine steel wool, the kind you use to refinish furniture ... it's far less abrasive than your household garden variety brillo pad stuff.

But I agree, you gotta scrub that bore, preferably from the receiver/chamber to avoid nicking the crown.

Chore Boys can be found around here at our local Do it Best stores. There is a Do it Best store in every medium size town and up, is there not? They've got the best prices on them too.

[tomme boy]

Ace Hardware, Farm & Fleet, Fleet & Farm, Menards, Home Depot, privately owned hardware and grocery stores. These are some that have it my area. Just make sure that it is all copper. Some of the off brands are copper washed steel. It should say right on the package that it is all copper.

[Dan Cash]

For what it is worth, my method of de-leading is pure gum turpentine and a very tight patch. Wet the bore, wet the patch, secure the gun and drive the patch through the bore. May need a striking instrument to pound the patch through but the lead comes out. All of it in very few passes.

[jsteed]

Update:
After soaking in Kranoil overnight, I got several gray patches, so it helped. Didn't have any copper scrub pads, but was able to come up with 0000 steel wool and made several passes with that. Going to get some copper pads and see if I can finish it up tomorrow.
I believe I'll slug the barrel before I shoot any cast. Got alot of 158gr SWC that I was hoping to use (.3585-.359 dia.)
Thanks for all the feedback.

[Bullwolf]

Chore Boy® Copper Scrub pads seem to have disappeared from shelves where I have been looking.

I had only 1 of them left, and wanted more. I like them for cleaning pots and pans too as they don't seem to rust like SoS pads do. Someone on this site kindly mentioned that Amazon.com carries them.

I ordered a 2 pack of Chore Boy® Copper Scrubbers from Amazon.

http://site.unbeatablesale.com/img382/jnsn50851.gif

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RO5JC8/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They even showed up/shipped in the Chore Boy® logo box. I checked them with a magnet after receiving. The ones obtained from that link are the solid copper type that I was looking for.

I'm saving one pad just in case I have to remove any future leading, even though I rarely encounter leading anymore from my known loads. The last really bad incident of leading that I had to deal with was from an internet purchased 4 Inch Dan Wesson .357 barrel. Someone shipped it to me in such a badly leaded state, that I couldn't even see the rifling. That project did in my old Chore Boy pad, and put a dent in my Kroil supply as well.

Hopefully the amazon link will help anyone else who is having a hard time finding em.




- Bullwolf

[jetinteriorguy]

I've had a hard time finding the real copper Chore Boy pads as well. I finally found them at Wallgreens. I used a .30 cal brush and wrapped it around tightly, I found that if I tried a .38 brush the Chore Boy just got pushed off because it was too tight but stayed put on the smaller brush.

[dondiego]

The local grocer told me that Chore Boy pads are used in crack pipes and are often stolen so they keep them behind the counter! Weird.

[cwheel]

Over in the gunsmithing section, there is a sticky on this one. I noticed that one of the posters there suggested to use Cream of Wheat as a filler, clears any bore of leading. I loaded 5 rounds and gave it a try as I noticed some little flakes on leading that just wouldn't clean out. What it did was expose how much leading I had in this old 38-55 bore. The COW seamed to clean out about a third of it in the 5 shots. Loads were 22 gr. of 3031, ( 25% reduced to the normal powder charge ) shotgun card punched to 3/8" dia, and seat the normal 265 gr. GC boolit on top of 12gr. of COW. Just finished loading 20 more, take them out tomorrow and see what it does. If that doesn't work, I will go looking for a chore boy to clean down to the bare metal. Looking down the barrel, you could see bad spots about halfway down a 20" barrel. Might still be a bad spot in the bore that leaded up, we will see.
Chris

[btroj]

Best way to deal with leading is to not have any!

I have never seen leading that some chore boy or steel wool wouldn't rapidly remove.

[cwheel]

Tested the Cream of Wheat loads and had mixed results. Yes it did remove some leading after 20 rounds listed above, but didn't remove anywhere near all of it. Chore Boy pads on order at our little hardware store and see if I can finish it up. Not sure you would want to try this in .357 loads, not enough case. Signs of a little pressure on the primers, even with the 25% reduction in powder charge.
Chris