Can leading from cast bullets be permanent or extremely difficult to completely remov

[Danm55]

Just wondering about leading. Can it be difficult to conpletely remove? I loaded a box of 8x50 austrian and i was worried they didnt have enough lube on em.

[Bazoo]

Leading isn’t hard to remove at all, provided one understands it and the methods to remove it. The choreboy technique is the best I’ve used for scrubbing it out, but shooting good loads that don’t lead is the easiest and most fun method I’ve found.

[MarkP]

In my opinion copper fouling is much more difficult to remove. I got a little carried away shooting prairie dogs with my 6-284. That was a mess to get that cleaned out.

[405grain]

If you're worried that there's not enough lube on the boolits get a small brush and paint some alox or 45-45-10 on the exposed part of the boolits ahead of the case. Let it dry on so it will be like a tumble lube. It might work, and it can't hurt, so nothing to loose.

[swOhioMatt]

Alox on the exposed bullet would be my recommendation too.

Please expand on “choreboy” method of removal. What lead removal methods are folks using when they push their pb bullets too far?

[Land Owner]

Some have shot gas checked boolits, every 10 or so rounds, in the attempt to clear lead fouling, if any, during shooting. "Getting the lead out" back home is well documented on this site and "Chore Boy" (copper wool), as previously commented, is excellent.

[lar45]

Get some chore boy-copper wool, copper scrubber pads... pull or cut some off, wrap around a bronze brush and scrub the Dickenson out of the barrel. Switch to a solvent stacked patch occasionally to get it cleaned out and check your progress.

With a good fit and good lube I have pushed plain based bullets past 2000fps in my 35 Whelen with no leading.

[Bazoo]

Choreboy is a name brand copper pot scrubbers. I use o cedar brand. I cut a strip to fit around a brush several times. Then I insert by pulling in the bore through the breech. Get it as tight as you can and then pull it and push it back and forth and it scours out the lead. I generally do it with a little hoppes. I generally don’t do it actually, unless I have a problem gun I’m working with. All the guns I have currently don’t require it.

[rintinglen]

Make sure when buying your copper scouring pads that they are in fact copper and not copper plated steel. The steel can scratch the bore, leading to more leading in the future.

What I do is first I soak the bore with Kroil, an excellent penetrating oil. I let it sit for several hours or over night, then I take a tight fitting patch and force the patch through the bore. If the leading is not too bad, a few passes passes will remove it. However, if the bore is really heavily leaded--like a .357 Dan Wesson I once bought, that's where the choreboy technique come into its own. That gun had been extensively fired with the old Winchester super x, soft-lead, ammo and was heavily leaded from throat to muzzle. No wonder "It don't shoot worth a darn."

I spent hours over a week scrubbing out strips of lead. At the time I had not heard of Kroil, and Hoppe's did little or nothing. But one of the old timers at Dave Ransberger's gun shop educated me on the choreboy technique. I gave it a try and in an hour I could see the rifling. 45 years later I still keep that one on standby in case of need.

[waksupi]

Another way to remove the leading, is to shoot some low velocity bullets.

[gwpercle]

Do a search on the term ... Lewis Lead Remover ... that my friend is the absolute best ... if your into best ... way / tool to use to get the lead out a rifle barrel !
Gary

[Bazoo]

I generally start with the choreboy technique if I have any leading whatsoever. When I do it, I use hoppes or something like remoil more for lubricating and washing out the debris than for its cleaning properties. The fact that hoppes or remoil also gets on any powder fouling and helps remove that is a bonus.

[oley55]

Another way to remove the leading, is to shoot some low velocity bullets.

Some years ago in the mid 1980's and way before fine forums like this existed, I had read/heard somewhere about 'shooting the lead out'. I however do not recall any mention of low velocity for this practice. Before I knew better and read about proper bullet fit I had been shooting some commercially reloaded cast bullets in my 44mag Ruger Redhawk and generated some serious leading issues. I decided to try shooting the lead out with some Federal 180gr jacketed hollow points. Today I don't recall that those efforts were more than marginally successful, but I do know that particular SS Redhawk developed cracks in the barrel some months later and needed a trip back to Ruger for a new barrel. In the years since I have convinced myself that blasting those jacketed bullets into/through that leading contributed to/caused the failure of that barrel.

Right, wrong or just plain non-sensical, I will never try 'shooting the lead out' ever again. Especially since the use of a good penetrating lubricant followed by chore-boy or brass wool wrapped around a smaller caliber bore brush is so easy and effective.

[Drew P]

Has anyone tried using bees wax on the chore boy and maybe warming barrel to liquefy the wax? It seems to pry under lead on molds better than anything else.

[stubshaft]

Choreboy and Kroil! I've never had leading that these would not remove.

[waksupi]

Some years ago in the mid 1980's and way before fine forums like this existed, I had read/heard somewhere about 'shooting the lead out'. I however do not recall any mention of low velocity for this practice. Before I knew better and read about proper bullet fit I had been shooting some commercially reloaded cast bullets in my 44mag Ruger Redhawk and generated some serious leading issues. I decided to try shooting the lead out with some Federal 180gr jacketed hollow points. Today I don't recall that those efforts were more than marginally successful, but I do know that particular SS Redhawk developed cracks in the barrel some months later and needed a trip back to Ruger for a new barrel. In the years since I have convinced myself that blasting those jacketed bullets into/through that leading contributed to/caused the failure of that barrel.

Right, wrong or just plain non-sensical, I will never try 'shooting the lead out' ever again. Especially since the use of a good penetrating lubricant followed by chore-boy or brass wool wrapped around a smaller caliber bore brush is so easy and effective.
I think I got that from Felix, who knew more about this game than anyone here. I wouldn't try it with jacketed bullets.

[Velosa]

I'm another believer in Kroil and Choreboy!

[oley55]

I think I got that from Felix, who knew more about this game than anyone here. I wouldn't try it with jacketed bullets.

Didn’t mean to come across as contrary, but rather an opportunity to relay my personal although unverified experience and conclusion. Offered only so folks can at a minimum think a bit more about stuff in advance. Best regards and highest respects..

[murf205]

I found the real copper chore boy stuff at Lowes. Be careful and take a magnet with you. The steel stuff will scuff and scratch the barrel of older revolvers and pistols pretty easily with aggressive use. A dose of Ballistol left over night will soften up the lead a lot also. Be gentile, the lands and grooves in those barrels is hallowed ground!

[Rapier]

I get over a hundred barrels a year in to clean. You can make yourself a Foul Out for pennies. They take lead and copper out to bare steel, just oil after and done.
I have a home made Foul Out in my “cleaning” drawer in my shop, right now, it lives there. When I started this process, it was a Nickel Foul Out, now it is near a dollar.

[yeahbub]

The Lewis Lead Remover or copper wool Chore Boy method are effective methods and the addition of some penetrating oil is a good improvement over doing it dry. I did happen on a better option and no longer go that route. At some point in my bullseye pursuits I took note of what the BP cartridge rifle shooters were doing to compensate for boolit designs that had marginal lube capacity for the long barrels they were shooting them out of. Leading and hard BP fouling were a problem for some. They dealt with this by seating the boolit on a card wad and a lube cookie so everything was in a snug column in the case. Powder gasses pushing the card wad and forcing lube out against the barrel wall as the boolit was going up the bore, thus anointing the bore with a film of lube that kept the fouling soft for the next shot. I tried that in various (smokeless) pistol and rifle calibers, reducing the load appropriately to compensate for reduced volume in the case and the result was pleasantly mild ammo, a generous lube star on the muzzle and leading disappeared. Thereafter, I kept a box of "cleaning rounds" on hand for after the matches. After 5 or 6 of those, all that was left in the bore was boolit lube. All I needed to get a clean barrel was a couple patches and a squirt of solvent. It took all the "sweat equity" out of cleaning and was much more pleasant.

[jimb16]

I use bronze wool on a tight patch. Its more aggressive than copper wool but still won't hurt the barrel. You can see chunks of lead sticking to it when you take it out of the barrel if your leading is bad.

[John Boy]

Dan, cases available
for sale …. https://www.rccbrass.com/product/257-weatherby-magnum/

[45_Colt]

I get over a hundred barrels a year in to clean. You can make yourself a Foul Out for pennies. They take lead and copper out to bare steel, just oil after and done.
I have a home made Foul Out in my “cleaning” drawer in my shop, right now, it lives there. When I started this process, it was a Nickel Foul Out, now it is near a dollar.

The Foul Out setups do work nicely. May take a while but no real labor involved. What are you using for solutions, as they have been discontinued by Outers.

45_Colt

[pjh421]

I bought an original Foul Out in 1995. I think there was a Foul Out 3, which used different cleaning solutions (and cost more). In 2005 I bought a gallon of lead acetate for my Foul Out and have barely used any. I'd be interested in learning what people are using with their electroplating units as I will eventually need to replenish the Cop Out solution (copper acetate). I suppose I could just google it but I enjoy hearing from actual cast boolit shooters. These units work quite well and I don't like wanging on a cleaning rod when its not necessary.

[Hanzy4200]

Some chore boy and a old bush. A little elbow grease and time to think about proper sizing.

[JSnover]

Another way to remove the leading, is to shoot some low velocity bullets.

Never thought of that.

What I've done was just slug the bore from the muzzle end. I couldn't feel anything but there were slivers of lead on the base of the boolit (which in this case would have been the leading edge) when it dropped out.
I actually like the low-velocity idea better, as I really don't like taking hammers and cleaning rods to my barrels.

[Rickf1985]

Can someone tell me exactly what the Foul Out is? I Googled it and I came up with a cleaning spray but no mention of lead removal.

[45_Colt]

Can someone tell me exactly what the Foul Out is? I Googled it and I came up with a cleaning spray but no mention of lead removal.

It is a electrical device and solutions that does a reverse plating, from the bore onto a stainless steel rod. The bore is plugged with a rubber stopper. The metal rod with o-rings is inserted into the bore (barrel is upright). Then either a copper removal or lead removal solution is dribbled into the bore.

The control box is connected to the rod and the firearm and turned on. Over time the copper or lead is moved from the bore to the rod, thus cleaning the bore.

45_Colt