Cleaning Out the Lead

Ganderite

Ganderite

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Farm south of North Bay
Being confined to quarter 24/7 has created time for my own “To-Do” list.

I recently learned about a good (and cheap) borescope on Amazaon.ca. For $66 delivered I can now look into my barrels. (Teslong Borescope)

The first cabinet I looked into was the 357 revolvers. They all had some leading. (I shoot 98% lead bullets in handguns). Some were very badly leaded, although the casual look through the barrel did not show the lead.
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So I bought some dedicated “Lead Remover” (Shooter’s Choice). Clearly my usual brush and chemicals were not doing the job (regular WipeOut). I have just finished cleaning 18 revolvers and am about to start on some 9mm pistols. Each step of cleaning each revolver was checked with the borescope, so I can see what works.

The firsts step was to use a wet patch to wet the bore with the Lead Remover. I let it sit for 30 minutes and then patched the bore. Not much lead came out. So I put a patch in with some JB paste. This got lead. I don’t know if the LeadRemover made it easier to get it out, but the JB got the job done.

Some barrels looked a bit copper-washed in the borescope, so I used a patch with copper remover (Sweets) to get the copper out.

It took about a third of the bottle of Lead Remover to clean 18 revolvers.

I will stop shooting hot loads with lead bullets. Already bought some CamPros.
 
It has a focus feature, so I can adjust for the bore size.

It takes a while to understand what you are looking at.

I takes pictures or videos.

it is so easy to plug in and use that I could do it.

It is cheaper on Amazon.ca than it is in US $ on ebay. $66 Cdn vs 65 USD. A real bargain.

The fact that i can take pictures means I can record pictures of new rifles throat areas and follow the throat erosion.

I really like it.
 
I apply a wet patch of the lead solvent, then run a bronze brush down the barrel, repeat this 3 or 4 times and then patch out the barrel with 3 or 4 wet followed by the same dry, depending on how much lead is in the bore and the surface of the bore will regulated how many times the procedure has to be repeated. I just scrubbed a new to me barrel tonight, it took a lot more effort then any other barrel I have cleaned.
 
EHG said:
I always wondered if shooting jacketed bullets would remove the lead fouling.
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You could shoot jacketed bullets by the hundreds and the lead would not come out. I am right now using lead out by wipeout it works but takes many applications.
 
Come on guys. Just buy yourself a package of 100% Copper Chor Boy pads from the kitchen section of Safeways. Wrap a few strands around a copper/beonze bore brush and the lead will be out in a few strokes. This method is way better than chemicals or the Lewis Lead Remover and quicker too.

Ganderite you know better than to exceed 1100 fps or there about using hard cast lead bullets in the .357Mag. I run water quenched WW alloy bullets through my 9MM all day long at 1150 fps with nary a hint of leading. I size them .357. For the .357Mag bullets sized .358 work well with no leading. I don;t shoot a lot of lighter lead bullets through my .357mag but I have gone uo to 1200 fps with no leading, again with water quenched bullets.

Take Care

Bob
ps Make sure the pads qre 100% Copper. You don't want copper coated pads.
 
Another great way to remove lead is to blast it out with cream of wheat. Use a minimal powder charge, and fill the case full of cream of wheat or cornmeal. You want a bit of compression seating a lead bullet. I have tested severely leaded pistol barrels, and 6 of these loads got all the lead out. No downside that I can see. In a bottleneck cartridge you run the risk of a case separation, but I have never had one as long as I used a minimal load. Can't be any more abrasive than hundreds of bore brush strokes
 
Canuck44 said:
Come on guys. Just buy yourself a package of 100% Copper Chor Boy pads from the kitchen section of Safeways. Wrap a few strands around a copper/beonze bore brush and the lead will be out in a few strokes. This method is way better than chemicals or the Lewis Lead Remover and quicker too.

Ganderite you know better than to exceed 1100 fps or there about using hard cast lead bullets in the .357Mag. I run water quenched WW alloy bullets through my 9MM all day long at 1150 fps with nary a hint of leading. I size them .357. For the .357Mag bullets sized .358 work well with no leading. I don;t shoot a lot of lighter lead bullets through my .357mag but I have gone up to 1200 fps with no leading, again with water quenched bullets.

Take Care

Bob
ps Make sure the pads qre 100% Copper. You don't want copper coated pads.
Click to expand...

I did not exceed 1000 fps very often. I will check my cabinet of 38 Spls revolvers. If they have little or no lead then I know it is a velocity issue. The 9mms I have done so far have less lead than the 357s, so that suggests it is related to velocity. My 9mm loads are around 900fps.

Thanks for the reminder of the ChorBoy. I happen to have a package of it on my bench. i was using it to take the excess wax off hulls loaded with wax slugs.

One thing I did notice was the variation in the quality of the finish inside the barrels. The best barrel, so far, has been a 9mm Lone Wolf 9mm conversion barrel.

Ruger, Colt and Smith have all been about the same - mediocre. The Glock barrels look very good. I wonder if they are hammer forged? (No machine marks.)
 
In " Modern Reloading " 2nd Edition by Richard Lee, Page 132,

He mentions using Lee Liquid Alox as a means of reducing leading and removing leading.
 
Ganderite said:
I did not exceed 1000 fps very often. I will check my cabinet of 38 Spls revolvers. If they have little or no lead then I know it is a velocity issue. The 9mms I have done so far have less lead than the 357s, so that suggests it is related to velocity. My 9mm loads are around 900fps.

Thanks for the reminder of the ChorBoy. I happen to have a package of it on my bench. i was using it to take the excess wax off hulls loaded with wax slugs.

One thing I did notice was the variation in the quality of the finish inside the barrels. The best barrel, so far, has been a 9mm Lone Wolf 9mm conversion barrel.

Ruger, Colt and Smith have all been about the same - mediocre. The Glock barrels look very good. I wonder if they are hammer forged? (No machine marks.)
Click to expand...


Sorry for the slight derail for a second but the new S&W revolvers have a different method of manufacturer for their 5R rifling. Do you have any of them to check? I have a 686 that looks amazing inside with the naked eye. Then again, so do all of my Colt revolvers that were made using traditional methods...
 
ryan said:
Another great way to remove lead is to blast it out with cream of wheat. Use a minimal powder charge, and fill the case full of cream of wheat or cornmeal. You want a bit of compression seating a lead bullet. I have tested severely leaded pistol barrels, and 6 of these loads got all the lead out. No downside that I can see. In a bottleneck cartridge you run the risk of a case separation, but I have never had one as long as I used a minimal load. Can't be any more abrasive than hundreds of bore brush strokes[/QUOTE]

Ryan, really. A copper bore brush isn't going to wear a steel barrel if you ran it down the bore a thousand times. Attach the brush to a steel rod and you might have a case but a polymer rod or even aluminum...not going to happen.

Take Care

Bob
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Ganderite said:
I did not exceed 1000 fps very often. I will check my cabinet of 38 Spls revolvers. If they have little or no lead then I know it is a velocity issue. The 9mms I have done so far have less lead than the 357s, so that suggests it is related to velocity. My 9mm loads are around 900fps.

Thanks for the reminder of the ChorBoy. I happen to have a package of it on my bench. i was using it to take the excess wax off hulls loaded with wax slugs.

One thing I did notice was the variation in the quality of the finish inside the barrels. The best barrel, so far, has been a 9mm Lone Wolf 9mm conversion barrel.

Ruger, Colt and Smith have all been about the same - mediocre. The Glock barrels look very good. I wonder if they are hammer forged? (No machine marks.)
Click to expand...

Most leading occurs from gas cutting due to using undersized lead bullets. Undersized to the diameter of the bore as you know. From my experience modern 38spl/.357mag revolvers are right on .357 so sizing cast bullets .358 ensures a tight fit, along with decent lube, either hard or soft. I prefer soft lube but have migrated to hard for the convenience and speed of my Star Lubricator. You get a rough barrel though and you likely we get leading due to the gas cutting. I have seen some pretty rough and worn revolver barrel shoot as accurately as one can hold but they do lead up over time.

r
I should add I don't water quench my 158 bullets I use in competition. With the 38spl pressures are quite low compared to the 9MM and the 357mag. The softer bullets help seal the bore, again reducing any chance of leading. The 9MM guns seem to be all over the place when it comes to bore diameter. This is especially true of the older European pistols. I load for a number of different 9MM pistols and long ago decided to size all my 9MM bullets .357. I can't remember the last time I experienced leading in any of my guns including those with polygonal rifling. My Tanfoglio .40cal barrel has polygonial rifling. It has never leaded. I have no experience with the Glock barrels. There is a thread on the Cast Bullet forum with pages of posts discussing the use of lead bullets in Glock barrels.

I have shot lead bullets in my rifles, 30-30, .303 Brit, 30-06 at velocities in excess of 2,300 fps. Most of my shooting though using lead bullets involves velocities around 1700 fps. My Longbranch has done 3 shot groups inside of 2" at 100 yards and my Husky 30-06 has regularly shot three shot groups all touching at 100 yards. My youngest has that rifle now. Over 1800 fps I use gas checks. No leading in those rifles at all. Both results quoted involve the use of a scope. The Longbranch will shoot with decent sights.

Here is my target using the Huquavarna(SP) Husky 30-06. Even ugly girls get lucky sometimes. LOL



Take Care

Bob
 
I am familiar with the Lewis tool. My buddy has one but we are avoiding each other right now.

I cleaned some 9mm pistols and 24 38 Spl revolvers using a bronze brush with the ChorBoy wrapped around it. It scrubbed the lead out quickly. if the bore showed any copper colour, I let it soak with Sweets for a half hour.

After the bore looked clean, I scrubbed it with a patch and JB paste, then a clean patch with some CLP.

Without a borescipe I could not see how much lead there was.

The barrel qualities were similar, except the Glock and Canik looked better.

My 686s are not new and I did not notice that the rifling looked any different.

A before and after picture:

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