jonk
03-16-2009, 09:23 AM
One thing I've often read here but never had a chance to try was wrapping a worn brush with OOOO steel wool to remove leading. Well this weekend I tried it.
I have a Krag rifle that I got from CMP last August. One of the 'unsafe to shoot' ones- but that was bunk. A quick once over at the store and headspace check by my smith, who also looked at the lug under high magnification for cracks dispensed that.
Nice bore, not 100% but shiny, strong rifling, muzzle gauges 2.5- hardly mint but strong overall.
Bore gauges .309 so my .311 and .310 sized bullets should be fine. WQWW with a bit of tin added. 18 gr of 4759.
50/50 lube, works in my long Swiss guns so the barrel length shouldn't be an issue.... but.
I got leading. Couldn't really scrub it out with just a brush. So I tried the steel wool routine. Voila! Lead is gone! I wouldn't want to do that every time but it sure worked.
I also think it uncovered a new layer of gunk that I thought I had gotten out- probably cupro-nickel fouling from way back. So it's now soaking for a few weeks with Ed's Red in the bore and will be cleaned some more. This was probably the source of my leading to start with or at least contributed to it.
FWIW after cleaning the first 20 shots or so went into a 3" group at 100 yards, then they started to wander as things leaded up.
Once I am satisfied that it is REALLY clean, I think I'll try a slightly harder alloy and maybe a filler as an extra gas check.
I just wanted to thank everyone for recommending the steel wool though... really did the trick. :)
I have a Krag rifle that I got from CMP last August. One of the 'unsafe to shoot' ones- but that was bunk. A quick once over at the store and headspace check by my smith, who also looked at the lug under high magnification for cracks dispensed that.
Nice bore, not 100% but shiny, strong rifling, muzzle gauges 2.5- hardly mint but strong overall.
Bore gauges .309 so my .311 and .310 sized bullets should be fine. WQWW with a bit of tin added. 18 gr of 4759.
50/50 lube, works in my long Swiss guns so the barrel length shouldn't be an issue.... but.
I got leading. Couldn't really scrub it out with just a brush. So I tried the steel wool routine. Voila! Lead is gone! I wouldn't want to do that every time but it sure worked.
I also think it uncovered a new layer of gunk that I thought I had gotten out- probably cupro-nickel fouling from way back. So it's now soaking for a few weeks with Ed's Red in the bore and will be cleaned some more. This was probably the source of my leading to start with or at least contributed to it.
FWIW after cleaning the first 20 shots or so went into a 3" group at 100 yards, then they started to wander as things leaded up.
Once I am satisfied that it is REALLY clean, I think I'll try a slightly harder alloy and maybe a filler as an extra gas check.
I just wanted to thank everyone for recommending the steel wool though... really did the trick. :)