Remove leading

[Wilson]

About two months ago I spent an hour removing all the leading from a 9mm Storm Lake barrel. Since I've been shooting my own bullets I don't have near that problem, but I've still got 3,000 bullets from a commercial caster that gave me the serious leading mentioned above. I'd like to shoot these bullets up but don't want to spend an hour cleaning the barrel again.
Thanks.

[wiljen]

You could try LLA on em and see if the leading was partially due to lack of lube, or melt em and make bullets that fit your bore. One of those two things is probably the best bet.

The best ways to remove lead also tend to be pretty toxic. Mercury will clean it out quickly, a vinegar solution will create soluble lead acetate in water - you then have toxic waste to dispose of.

[GrizzLeeBear]

Melt them down and make good boolits out of them.

The quickest way I have found to remove leading is with a small piece of a copper "Chor Boy" pad wrapped around a bronze brush. You can find copper Chor Boy pads in the cleaner isle of most grocery stores.

[docone31]

I use two methods.
First, I shoot some jacketeds down the barrel. Second, when I get to a place where I can clean, I use ChoreBoy copper pads. I cut one down and wrap it around my bore brush. Lots of Hoppes #9, and scrub a dub.
I have always gotten shiney bores. I do love that squeak.
I then swab the bore with a tight patch.
I only use my castings when I shoot boolitts.
I have never shot swaged lead, so I do not know the issues there.

[beagle]

I've always used bronze wool on a copper brush with Ed's Red. Takes even the nastiest stuff out in a couple of good, tight swipes./beagle

[EDK]

+1 on the choreboy and old brush.

0 on the Lewis Lead Remover. I keep breaking the threaded brass end of the rubber thingie. They are $5 and the instructions ain't worth a d---! (BROWNELLS bought this product line, IIRC)

** BEST ANSWER: Get some gas checked 357 boolits and load them light in your 9 mm brass. Veral Smith at Lead Bullet Technology suggests a few lightly loaded gas check boolits to remove lead and it works! I practice for Cowboy Action Shooting with Original Size VAQUEROS/BISLEY VAQUEROS...the last 5 through each gun are LYMAN 358156 at 38 special velocities. Same trick on the 44s.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[HABCAN]

FWIW the guys in our show group found that a cylinderfull of balloon-buster 'blanks' (loaded with seed tapioca) was super dandy for cleaning lead out of a barrel, LOL.

[Molly]

One or two shots of a load with Cream of Wheat will clean almost anything out of a bore. Simply can't be beat for quick, easy, cheap and thorough.

[Cloudpeak]

Anybody know if oatmeal would work in place of cream of wheat? The oatmeal might have to take a few spins around in the blender to make it similar in texture to COW.

Cloudpeak

[HeavyMetal]

I tell ya I hate wasting boolits but if the 3000 you got left are from that batch that leaded so badly a few months ago I only see two choice's for you:

1 sell them to someone using very light 38 spec loads.

2. use them as a lead souce! You have gotten on the right track as your alloy is not as bad as the commercial stuff so use the "store boughts" as WW metal and work your alloy as you usually do!

Personally? I'd melt and start over!

[Jimlakeside]

Birchwood casey http://www.birchwoodcasey.com/sport/index.html makes a lead remover and polishing cloth that I find works very well. It takes a little brushing, but leaves the bore really shining.

[jonk]

Well you need to determine why they leaded first. Hardness/velocity issue? Bullet fit issue? Lube issue?

You could probably correct the first with a different load and the latter with a tumble in LLA or JPW; the issue of bullet fit would require re-smelting I'd think.

[kir_kenix]

If you cant figure out how to stop the leading, I've allways been a big fan of 50/50 Kroils/Hoppes #9, and finishing with butches bore polish. This combo always cuts thru the worst leading (or copper for that matter) fouling and leaves my bore very very shiny and clean. I try to not even use a brass brush, just keep pushing patches (and sometimes let it soak over night to let the kroils do its job) thru the bore until its squeaky clean.

The Choreboy and an old brush works well too. Blue wonder is really good too, but I believe it is an amonia based product, so be careful not to mix it with anything. I've also been using tool & machine penetrating oil (claims to creep into .000001 voids) to soak my bores for a few days, then run a few patches down the bore. Its suprising how much comes out after a good soaking of kroils or a good penetrating oil.

[Molly]

Anybody know if oatmeal would work in place of cream of wheat? The oatmeal might have to take a few spins around in the blender to make it similar in texture to COW. Cloudpeak

Why bother? Yeah, they MIGHT work, but how are you going to control particle size uniformly? Why not just buy & use the Cream Of Wheat?

[Larry Gibson]

Soak 'em in Coleman fuel for a couple hours to wash the commercial lube off. Let them dry and simply relube with what you use on your own bullets. they should not lead then. I do this all the time with commercial cast bullets. Works well. 3,000 bullets is worth the minimal effort.

Larry Gibson

[Cloudpeak]

I loaded up some 9mm COW loads for my CZ Compact. 3.0 grains of W231 and 3.0 grains of COW loaded to a COAL of 1.03" using the Lee 105 gr. SWC I use in this pistol. I shot around 150 rounds of SWC lubed with LLA through the pistol and got the usual light leading. Eight rounds of the COW loads pretty well slicked the barrel up.

Previous to that, I tried my normal 3.5 gr W231 with 2.0 gr of COW and it worked, as well, but pressures were higher than my normal 3.5gr/ 105 SWC loads (a pretty mild load) that I shoot in this pistol based on where the empties landed so I backed the powder charge down a bit.

Cloudpeak

[Bad Karma]

I use a Lewis Lead Remover, 5 minutes I'm done.

[pps]

+1 on the Lewis Lead remover (chore boy works great too)

Here is a bore leaded from swagged that got shaved during handloading (did not bell cases enough)

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/pps_2006/leading.jpg

Here is the tool after one pass. One pass was all it took to clean tha bore squeeky clean.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/pps_2006/Lewisleadremover.jpg

[Molly]

Hi Cloudpeak

> I loaded up some 9mm COW loads for my CZ Compact. 3.0 grains of W231 and 3.0 grains of COW loaded to a COAL of 1.03" using the Lee 105 gr. SWC I use in this pistol. I shot around 150 rounds of SWC lubed with LLA through the pistol and got the usual light leading. Eight rounds of the COW loads pretty well slicked the barrel up.

> Previous to that, I tried my normal 3.5 gr W231 with 2.0 gr of COW and it worked, as well, but pressures were higher than my normal 3.5gr/ 105 SWC loads (a pretty mild load) that I shoot in this pistol based on where the empties landed so I backed the powder charge down a bit.

I haven't personally used CoW in handgun rounds, but from what others have said, your experience is pretty typical. The big things to remember is that 1) Yes, CoW will increase your pressures, and 2) CoW should never just be added to an existing load, especially if it's a bit warm to begin with. 3) Add the Cow to a light to moderate load, and work up with CoW as part of the system.

[Bret4207]

4/0 steel wool works as well as the Chore Boy or Lewis system.

[straight-shooter]

4/0 steel wool works as well as the Chore Boy or Lewis system.

:shock:

Steel on a stainless steel barrel.... not me man. Copper chore boy on a stainless steel barrel is more like it.

[pps]

:shock:

Steel on a stainless steel barrel.... not me man. Copper chore boy on a stainless steel barrel is more like it.

+1 the thought of steel wool in a barrel is about as pleasing as the thought of nails on a chalk board or the sound of my wife trying to drive a stick shift.

Just sends a shiver down my spine.

[Heavy lead]

Think you guys will find that steel wool is much softer than barrel steel. I use it and never have had a problem with it.

[SpaceGlocker]

black powder shooters trick....only way I clean my barrels:

Make a mixture of ½ white vinegar and ½ hydrogen peroxide, put a cork in bottom of barrel and fill to the top....let stand 10 minutes and pour out. Run a patch in there and you will get all the lead and fouling out....run some more till they are clean....make sure to keep this off your blueing it is not friendly to that....works best on SS lined or solid SS barrels best. Much easier than scrubbing with any of the above!

[unclebill]

i am a professional window washer and i have a source for 4/0 brass wool
i use it daily on tempered glass that will sometimes be scratched by 4/0 steel wool.
i wrap it around an old shotgun brush.
it works a treat!
if any of you need some maybe i will pick some up extra.