lead "solvent" ???

[XWrench3]

so now that i am off and shooting with lots of lead projectiles [smilie=w:, is there any commercial solvents out there that really disolve lead? or am i just going to have to scrub it out? i can and do at the moment, scrub it out, but if i can buy something that will either get under the lead and allow it to lift off, or disolve it making cleaning much easier, i would be interested. homemade recipes i guess would be ok also, as long as mixing the stuff will not disolve my hands as well!

[lurch]

Kroil and a tight patch. Wet the bore down, let it sit a few minutes and go at it with a tight patch on a jag soaked in Kroil.

Several other effective ways exist, but that's what I use when I get a little lead left behind. Very little scrubbing is involved.

[lavenatti]

A 50/50 mix of white vinegar and 3% hydrogen peroxide will "dissolve" lead into a black substance and it'll wash right out. Kind of a toxic way to go.

[Bret4207]

4/0 steel wool and a little powder solvent, diesel, ATF, most any grease cutting agent will do fine. No damage to the barrel either. Chore Boy scrubbing pads work too if the steel on steel bothers you.

[zomby woof]

Here we go again.

CHORE-BOY copper scrubbing pad. Wrap some around a worn brush and shave the lead away in a few strokes.

[wiljen]

A 50/50 mix of white vinegar and 3% hydrogen peroxide will "dissolve" lead into a black substance and it'll wash right out. Kind of a toxic way to go.

Yep, forms Lead Acetate which will absorb through the skin and is federally regulated as far as disposal is concerned. (EPA) If you use this, be sure you have a safe way to dispose of it and be sure to wash your barrel in bonami and plenty of water to neutralize the acid when done. Some of the places that recycle lead based paint will take the mix when you are finished but check your local folks first.


Mercury will also dissolve lead and can be reused many times before saturating it. Again disposal is a problem and it is rather toxic to play with.

[chboats]

For hand guns I use the Lewis lead remover. 5 minutes and the lead is gone. Rifles I use the copper Chore-Boy if the leading is bad but I try very hard to avoid that. The Lewis lead removers are available from Brownell's. The best thing ever invented for a hand gun.

Carl

[Dframe]

Nothing is faster or more effective on a pistols bore than a Lewis Lead Remover. I've been using them for decades and Jerry Kuhnhausen ( a far more credible authority than me)recommends them.

[Shiloh]

A 50/50 mix of white vinegar and 3% hydrogen peroxide will "dissolve" lead into a black substance and it'll wash right out. Kind of a toxic way to go.

A very toxic way to go. I think lead acetate is the result. Possibly absorbs through the skin. Be very careful.

Shiloh

[mdi]

A 50/50 mix of white vinegar and 3% hydrogen peroxide will "dissolve" lead into a black substance and it'll wash right out. Kind of a toxic way to go.

BUT DON'T LEAVE IT IN YOUR BARREL FOR MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES! I soaked the bbl. of my Dan Wesson H44 about 4 hours (got busy on another project) and the mixture pitted the bore. I was sick when I found the pitting, and immediately filled the bbl. with Kroil. Next day I dried the bbl. and saw light pitting on what was a perfect bore. I haven't had a chance to shoot her yet, but the damage is visable...:groner:

[XWrench3]

i have been using the copper chore boy method. it works, but i figured i would ask. if there is an easier way, it might be worthwhile. the lead acetate (vinigar / peroxide) does not intrest me at all! i got little kids, and i am not willing to risk their health. no matter how easy it might make it. i saw a couple of solvents in midways line up that say they disolve lead, and wondered about their effectiveness. i guess i will just stick to the chore boy scrubber and scrub it out. most of this is in rifles, and one revolver. the semi-auto hand guns dont seem to mind the lead. of course i am loading those pretty easy anyway. just enough to reliably cycle them.

[ScottJ]

I tried the Shooters Choice lead solvet hoping it would work on lead like their copper one does on j-word residue.

Not quite as well I'm afraid.

[saskgunowner101]

A 50/50 mix of white vinegar and 3% hydrogen peroxide will "dissolve" lead into a black substance and it'll wash right out. Kind of a toxic way to go.

Would this brew clean up a bullet mold in short order?(sorry for the hi-jack)

[ScottJ]

Oh and as an aside I hope to get me an Outers Foul Out one of these days.

[sniper7369]

Oh and as an aside I hope to get me an Outers Foul Out one of these days.

You can make your own for about 10 bucks. Hook up a 9 volt battery to a steel rod that is insulated from the barrel, fill with ammonia, vinegar, and water and let it percolate for about 20 minutes. Patch it out after with some Ed's Red or CLP and it's done.

[prickett]

Oh and as an aside I hope to get me an Outers Foul Out one of these days.

WISE move! Thankfully I have one as I seek to find the right bullet size/lube.

[Edubya]

Would this brew clean up a bullet mold in short order?(sorry for the hi-jack)

Do you mean the preservatives that coat the mould? Just use hot water and dish detergent, then use brake cleaner (outdoors). If that isn't clean enough do it again and maybe use a toothbrush with the detergent.
EW

[mroliver77]

If I am getting leading I am doing something wrong! I do not have a gun right now that I have a leading problem with. I am not bragging, it is just not that hard to shoot lead without leading the barrel. When I have had problems the chore boy worked very well for me.A pal and I bought a couple boxes of commercial boolits one time and had much leading problems with them. After half a dozen cylinders the gun was leaded enough to affect accuracy. We would shoot a couple cyl full of my boolits with felix lube and 99% of the leading would be gone. Ended up using blue dot and a foam wad under boolit and most leading disappeared. I have a 38spcl astra surplus revolver that hates hard alloy. Go to a softer alloy and it stays perfectly clean. Harder boolits and it wants slowwww powder to ease leading. Most of my cast shooters rarely get the barrel scrubbed.
Jay

[mpmarty]

My rifles seldom get lead in the bore. I used to worry about it but now I just shove a dry patch through it and take a peek with a bore light. No problems. My pistols (10mm and 45acp) do sometimes accumulate a bit of lead. Chore boy does the deed on them quite nicely.

[saskgunowner101]

Do you mean the preservatives that coat the mould? Just use hot water and dish detergent, then use brake cleaner (outdoors). If that isn't clean enough do it again and maybe use a toothbrush with the detergent.
EW

I meant for if/when lead was smeared on the vents or the sprue plate......for a gentle cleaning to remove lead without scratching the mold.

[Ron]

Xwrench are you saying that because you are using cast lead projectiles that it necessary follows that you are going to experience leading of your barrel? Makes me wonder why you would want to use them.

If this is so then you have not done the job right. Slug your barrel for size and size your projectiles to one or two thou over. This, with a good lubricant should eliminate most leading.

[XWrench3]

Xwrench are you saying that because you are using cast lead projectiles that it necessary follows that you are going to experience leading of your barrel? Makes me wonder why you would want to use them.

If this is so then you have not done the job right. Slug your barrel for size and size your projectiles to one or two thou over. This, with a good lubricant should eliminate most leading.
__________________


actually, i have not done all that much shooting with lead projectiles yet, certainly less than 1000 of them total through all of my guns. so i am still learning. some of the guns, i have figured out at least one load that works well, with minimum leading. others, i am still in the learning stages of. i have lots of cast boolits laying around right now. many i have different alloys in the same boolit, some w/gas checks, and some without. so as i go through the process for each rifle / pistol, figuring out what does, and does not work, certainly i will have some leading issues. anyone who thinks they dont is either very lucky, or very foolish. i am trying to work up at least 2 loads for each gun. a real low speed plinking round, and something that while is not smoking hot, at least gets the barrel warmed up good. in a perfect world, there would be no lead transfer no matter what. but that isnt going to happen anytime soon. i am also trying to do this as cheaply as possible. using mostly wheel weight alloy, straight up when possible. i will figure all of this out. it may take a while, but it will happen.

[MtGun44]

Xwrench3,

You sound like you think that wheel weight alloy is somehow inferior. This is absolutely
not true for the overwhelming majority of pistol boolits and a significant chunk of rifle
boolits. Please do not fall for the 'harder is better' BS that the commercial boolit casters
have been talking up for decades. It is not necessary to go harder than air cooled wheel
wt alloy to shoot full magnum velocities in .44 mag and .357 mag - and of course, what
works for these will work for slower and less intense calibers.

Fit your boolits to your bores (or throats in revolvers), use good designs with lots of lube
capacity and unless you have an unusual problem (they do crop up, most often a rough
bore or a constriction where the barrel screws into the frame on a revolver) you should
have minimal to no leading, if any - it scrubs out in under 1 minute with just a brass brush,
what I think of as normal cleaning.

This doesn't mean you won't ever get leading, but now that I know what to do - I haven't
used my Foul Out to remove lead in >10 years. Before I understood what to do, I had to use
it seveal time per year on various different guns because they were really loaded up with
lead. It was MY fault due to my ignorance at that time.

[fourdollarbill]

I use the chore boy or Oh cedar brand copper scrubber method and it works great. BUT yesterday I found a new way. At the range I noticed some leading while working up a load of hp38 and lsw's in a 357mag. I loaded the cylinder with 6 158gr gas checked bullets and after two shots the barrel lands and grooves were spotless. I would assume it is because that load was pretty warm and the bullet bumped up and scraped the walls clean. I will never shoot lead again without sending two gas checked bullets down the tube at the end.

[XWrench3]

You sound like you think that wheel weight alloy is somehow inferior. This is absolutely
not true for the overwhelming majority of pistol boolits and a significant chunk of rifle
boolits.

not necisarily inferior. in all reality if i could find a good, CHEAP, source for soft lead, i would soften up the alloy a bit. the one thing i did do after shooting once was to slug the bores on everything. i shoot at least .001" larger than the groove diameter. in the case of my microgroove, even bigger. i do notice that gas checks do help. i am not sure if it a scraping action, or if it is just sheilding the hot gasses from cutting and melting the lead. i shot a bunch of those the other day, but i havent cleaned the guns yet, so i am not sure how it is doing leading wise. should be much better, but we will see.

[Freischütz]

I've had good luck with the 50/50 white vinegar/hydrogen peroxide method. I never left it in a barrel over five minutes.

[StanDahl]

If I am getting leading I am doing something wrong! I do not have a gun right now that I have a leading problem with. I am not bragging, it is just not that hard to shoot lead without leading the barrel...Most of my cast shooters rarely get the barrel scrubbed.
Jay

I finished shooting a CMP match the other weekend, and I was using an 1891 Argentine Mauser with cast bullets (Fat 30's). Another guy shooting a Garand assumed that I'd have a big clean-up ahead of me after the match. I showed him my shiny bore, marred only by a few granules of powder. There was no need to clean the bore with more than a patch or two. He was amazed. His only experience with cast bullets was with a .357 and he actually had slivers of lead coming out the end of the barrel. He figured it was always that way with cast bullets. +1 on the Chore Boy, btw.