stainless steel / cast

[XWrench3]

is a stainless steel more prone to leading than a regular barrel? i have spent over an hour trying to get all of it out of my s&w 629 with all kinds of stuff, and it just keeps coming out black with one of those lead removal cloths (i figure that has the final word). this is one barrel that will get fire lapped as soon as i get some abrasive paste!

[skeet1]

XWrench3,
In my own experience I don't think there is a difference. At one time I owned a 629 and shot the Lyman 429244 with WW296 and didn't have any problems. I own a Model 66 now and again have not had any problem. I think the key to all revolvers is to shoot a large enough diameter bullet. My 629 I sized .431 which was slightly larger than my cyl. throats. I do the same by sizing slightly larger with my .357 mag. 66. Check your throat size and your bullet diameter.

Skeet1

[Shuz]

Shoot at least five boolits with gas checks on them thru your leaded bbl. This has always removed minor leading for me. Next shoot plain based cast boolits that are at least .431 and hardness of Bhn 11 and see if you get any leading. Slower powders like 2400, H-110/WW296 and WC820 work best for me to remove any leading and to keep it from forming.

Others will suggest that you measure your throats and slug your bbl and get the "right" dimensions for your gun. They are not wrong.

However,I quit wringing my hankey over the "right" dimensions and shoot .431 dimensioned boolits in all my .44 mag revolvers. If I get a little leading, and I do sometimes, especially with boolits that have been scalped to remove the gas check shank and thus have diminished lube carrying capacity I simply shoot 5 gas checked boolits thru them as mentioned above, and the bbl is clean.

[Onty]

Shoot at least five boolits with gas checks on them thru your leaded bbl. This has always removed minor leading for me....

I agree. However, the last thing I'll do is to fire jacketed bullet. Apparently, this removes some lead also, but I've heard from old dogs that this could create imbedding process, especially when full power magnum loads are used, forcing the lead into barrel and creating some sort of very shallow dimple. I have no conformation for this, but I am not going to “test” this theory on my guns.

As for how to prevent leading, our shooting group used nothing but straight WW, but we always used the best lube we can get. Lately, we located local producer of boolit lube and so far zero leading in any firearm; from 38 to 45, from mild to full throttle. I have so much trust in this lube that I took one stick and roll in it any boolit I purchase from outside source, even sized an lubed ones.

As for sized dia of the boolit, I always use the largest I can get through cylinder. However, it’s always a good idea to check cylinder. Its cambers should be at least .001” larger than barrel groove. As far as I know, S&W is pretty good in keeping chambers OK, about .430-.431" if I remembered correctly. Ruger 45 is well known to have undrersize chambers, some as low as .448”. Also, pay attention to barrel constriction in thread area. I bet that the most of the leading starts there and continues 2-3” further toward muzzle. See this very informative article: http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech_notes/archive_tech_notes.htm/59 . Warning; I wouldn’t open chambers the way it’s shown. One has to be quite skilled in order to do this properly. Leave this to a good smith or get proper reamer. Good luck.

[fredj338]

Machined SS can leave a rougher surface inside a bbl. You could jsut try shooting 100 or so jacketed rounds, then clean well & go to lead. The firng of jakceted after lead to "clean" the bbl. is old shooters tale. It gets the big stuff & just irons lead int the corners of the rifling. Best to just clean it out w/ Lead Wipeaway cloth or CHoreboy copper wool.

[putteral]

Get this. It is the best and easiest for removing lead. I could not believe it until I tried it. Makes Chore Boy obsolete.
http://www.frontiermetalcleaner.com/

[runfiverun]

some high antimonial boolits will smooth out a ss bbl pretty quick too.
i have 3 ss bbls and all 2 have never,ever seen a j-word and i have no leading in any of them heck maybe they all filled in with lead.
and they just like the slipperyness of it, it shure ain't hurt the accuracy none. maybe i should clean them and see what happens.
a lap job might be in order.

[44man]

The lead remover cloth is abrasive. The black you are getting is STEEL.
When you stop getting black you have a .50 caliber! :bigsmyl2:

[joeb33050]

is a stainless steel more prone to leading than a regular barrel? i have spent over an hour trying to get all of it out of my s&w 629 with all kinds of stuff, and it just keeps coming out black with one of those lead removal cloths (i figure that has the final word). this is one barrel that will get fire lapped as soon as i get some abrasive paste!

A TIGHT lead away patch or cloth will take out the lead quick-look at the patch and see the lead.
If there's no lead on a TIGHT patch, there's no lead.
A lead away patch or cloth will come out of the bore BLACK, ALWAYS, with a clean bore.
joe b.

[XWrench3]

A lead away patch or cloth will come out of the bore BLACK, ALWAYS, with a clean bore.
joe b.

great, so i spent half the day trying to ruin the barrel, instead of cleaning it. i wondered why the bore looked so clean, but the cloth kept coming out black. my eyes dont work that well, and looking through an eye loop, i can only see the first inch and a half or so. i guess i am glad i stopped after 1/2 of the cloth to try other ways. i put a rubber plug in the muzzle, and filled the barrel full of hoppes, figuring that soaking for 24 hours might get underneath the lead, and loosen it up enough to come out in chunks. i wonder if i have any rifling left. if not, i guess i will have to buy a bunch of shot capsuls and make a really short shotgun out of it. it is way to small to be a boat anchor.

[XWrench3]

The lead remover cloth is abrasive. The black you are getting is STEEL.

i know i am not the sharpest tool in the shed, unless you call a ball peen hammer sharp, but it is stainless, why, if ii am removing "steel" wouldnt it be silver (as in stainless steel) in color?

[jdgabbard]

i know i am not the sharpest tool in the shed, unless you call a ball peen hammer sharp, but it is stainless, why, if ii am removing "steel" wouldnt it be silver (as in stainless steel) in color?

Stainless Steel is very high in carbon content. Carbon is black.

I can't verify this, but it makes sense to me.

[Bret4207]

Any leading I've ever removed has been silverish, not black. Some fouling is black but if you aren't getting foreign material then stop cleaning.

I never did like stainless guns.

[BBA]

Does anyone recall if zinc bullets were used for cleaning out lead? I thought Dillon products were selling zinc bullets for that purpose. How well would they work?

[ghh3rd]

Get this. It is the best and easiest for removing lead. I could not believe it until I tried it. Makes Chore Boy obsolete.
http://www.frontiermetalcleaner.com/

It works, fast! Just wrap some strands around your brass brush until it fits tightly, swipe it through the barrel a few times, leads gone.

[Oldtimer]

I use a copper pot scrubber pad that you can buy in the grocery store. Saw this in one of Bill Wilson's books. Unroll the thing, and cut a square off. Roll it around a brass brush till you get the right fit. Use it dry, then follow up with patches and solvent. These things have sharp edges on the strands of metal, as does the pad mentioned above. Dont have to worry about the different color crud, as it is used dry. (Again, as per Bill Wilson). Been shooting cast a lot of years, and this is the best I've found. Easy to find too. Bob

[mold maker]

Is this the same thing sold by Midway to remove rust but leave the blueing????
If so it sure worked on an abused shot gun for a friend.
My bench will never be without it.

[cajun shooter]

That metal cleaner appears to be the plain metal version of chore boy. A lot of local stores here have both the copper and metal chore boy in stock. Bret, if you live in humid climate such as Louisiana you would like stainless. The problem that I found was that Police Officers thought that they were rust proof and didn't need cleaning. A stainless gun can rust over a period of time. I even had men cleaning the guns in the home dishwasher. Try soaking the bbl in Kroil overnite and then clean.

[44man]

great, so i spent half the day trying to ruin the barrel, instead of cleaning it. i wondered why the bore looked so clean, but the cloth kept coming out black. my eyes dont work that well, and looking through an eye loop, i can only see the first inch and a half or so. i guess i am glad i stopped after 1/2 of the cloth to try other ways. i put a rubber plug in the muzzle, and filled the barrel full of hoppes, figuring that soaking for 24 hours might get underneath the lead, and loosen it up enough to come out in chunks. i wonder if i have any rifling left. if not, i guess i will have to buy a bunch of shot capsuls and make a really short shotgun out of it. it is way to small to be a boat anchor.
Don't worry, it is a very mild abrasive. If anything you made the bore smoother and better for cast.
The stuff is not much worse then JB bore paste.

[felix]

Just shoot low speed boolits, slower the better. I call them chaser rounds. The obnoxious lead gone after about 5 shots. Using filler material, like grits, will take at most 3 shots to clean a revolter. ... felix

[Onty]

I personally use Choreboy copper wool and works fine. However, in article written sveral yeras ago about leading in barrels, Ross Seyfried stated that some small amount of leading is actually beneficial for accuracy. Cant’t find this article, but if I remembered correctly, he is talking about uniformly spreaded film throughout the barrel. In his test, perfectly clean barrels didn’t have accuracy as good as those after some fouling shots. BTW, I don’t think that’s just coincidence these folks http://www.castbulletassoc.org/ call their publication “Fouling Shot”.

In other words, I see no point of getting squkee clean barrel. Getting rid of powder and primer residues and leading: absolutely. Getting perfectly white cloth after pulling it thru barrel, I am not going so far. I just make sure that barrel is reasonable clean and well oiled, and of cours, oil removed prior to shooting.

BTW, if you shoot any SA, slight film of STP or similar heavy oil, on each end of cylinder (ratchet and front cylinder extention) before shooting helps thremendosly by cushioning slamming effect between cylinder and frame, and extending its life span considerably. This is especially benefitial when shooting heavier loads.

[XWrench3]

and of cours, oil removed prior to shooting.

i see this all the time. i have never removed the oil from a barrel before i shoot. in any of my guns, 22 rimfire up to 300 win mag and 45/70. if i had a super thick coat of something really heavy, i could see it. but with standard light coating of light oil, i do not see where it hurts anything. with one exception, the shotgun that had pure STP in the barrel, for 20 years, that, i did clean out first.

[geargnasher]

I think that is more for J-word stuff, especially for the chambers. I've been experimenting recently with a light dab of Felix lube smeared on a patch and pushed through the barrel before shooting to eliminate the fouling shot, the idea being I can take this gun hunting and know for sure how it will shoot first shot and still not worry too much about moisture condensing and rusting my barrel over the course of a week-long hunt.

So far, the "prelube" procedure is getting the first couple of shots much closer to the following groups than either a dry or lightly oiled bore did before. Almost no difference out to 100 yards, haven't had time to check extensively or conclusively at 200 or 500 yet.

Gear

[Southern Son]

i know i am not the sharpest tool in the shed, unless you call a ball peen hammer sharp, but it is stainless, why, if ii am removing "steel" wouldnt it be silver (as in stainless steel) in color?

If you get a small bit of that cloth and rub it on the outside of the revolver (somewhere with NO leading or carbon fouling), the cloth will still turn black. When I bought some of that cloth, the bloke who sold it to me said that no matter how clean the barrel, the cloth will come out black.

[S.R.Custom]

...is a stainless steel more prone to leading than a regular barrel?

To answer the original question, yes. I don't have my reference materials in front of me, but as I recall, stainless steel has a coeficient of friction about twice that of carbon steel. No way around it, that's the nature of the material. So all else being equal, a SS barrel will lead more than a regular one.

As to your real problem, I offer this advice: If after de-leading and pushing a few solvent patches down the bore the barrel looks clean, for all intents and purposes, it is clean. You will gain nothing in the way of accuracy or reduced fouling by obsessing over the color of a patch.