Can't get the lead out!

Well I finally got it all out. I used a combination of suggestions to do it. First I did the boiling water down the barrel with a bronze brush. Then I used the Lewis Lead Remover which got a ton of the stuff out and last I used a .40 cal brush on my 9mm bore and that completed the job! Thanks for everyones tips.:)
 
Choreboy is the way to go. Some of the generic stuff is copper coated steel, the magnet check trick will tell you if that is the case. The lewis Lead Remover works just the same, but is more expensive. The lead removal cloth also removes other metal, I avoid them like the plauge. If you doubt it, go get one and rub a piece of brushed stainless or some such with it and see what happens. Shooting jacketed stuff down the barrel will look like it worked just fine, problem is it just knocked out some bits and pieces, while ironing smooth the rest of the lead, making THAT lead even more difficult to remove.
 
Just FWIW, hot water is the best cleaner for corrosive priming, but does zilch for lead. In this case, I am pretty sure the Lewis lead remover really did the job; anything else was window dressing.

Jim
 
I am curious about the hot water to remove the lead. Years ago the pipes in a neighbors house were made of lead and the hot water did not do anything to dissolve them. (My grandfather removed the lead pipes and melted them for sinkers.)

Seems if the lead pipes held water, water was not doing much of a job dissolving them.

I wonder if the combination of hot water and (Product XXX) worked because (Product XXX) really did most of the work? I have used water to clean the fouling out of black powder pistols.

For me, a chore-boy scrub pad wrapped around the cleaning brush allowed me to scrub the lead away. I also used a little bit of transmission oil with paint thinner in it.
 
For the last 30 years, whenever I shoot lead bullets, I always follow them with jacketed. I have yet to have a problem with that, and it has always made it possible to clean the gun effectively.
 
Running a brush with hoppe's on it when barrel is still hot/warm followed by patches has helped make a thourough cleaning easier when I get home with my 10/22 and on my single six I run jacketed mags through it and still do the hot clean at range. LRN are Lead Round Nose bullets. Hope this helps, Good Luck.
 
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For deposits which cannot be removed by conventional methods, I use either brass or aluminum screen. I'll take a brass jag, shim it with patches, the goal being to get the tightest fit possible without destroying the screen. This will strip out the lead in chunks when you get the right fit. Follow with a bronze brush/Hoppes as necessary
 
i heard that back before there was such a thing as toxic chemicals and elements:p, the best way to get out lead was to plug the chamber end and fill the bore with mercury overnight. Mercury is supposed to bind with the lead and pull it off the steel barrel?
 
The best though not easily accomplished option

2 corks to fit each end of the barrel and ~10 -15grams of Mercury. Cork one end, add Mercury, cork open end, hold corks in place and rock from one end to the other. About 6-10 oscillations and you're done. The Mercury can be used time and time again. Wash your hands thoroughly before and after. Wear rubber/vinyl gloves.
 
I might try that mercury idea on my fathers old 7mm Mauser. It has so much lead build up over the years that I simply gave up trying to get all the lead out. What did you use to plug the barrel with?
 
I just used one of the Hoppe's led away cloths cut into patches and it worked wonders, the first two patches came out black from a barrel that had been well (?) cleaned last Friday afternoon.
 
Mercury will work but is toxic in the extreme, extremely hard to both obtain and dispose of and is the devil incarnate to clean up if spilled.

I would think REAL hard about resorting to it's use.

Before I would d**k around with mercury, I would consider the Outer's Foul Out which works equally well on both lead AND copper fouling.

;)

Bruce
 
Mercury is a viable method to clean out bores that are hopelessly leaded. You just have to take the proper precautions, take your time, and be careful. Use gloves, goggles and have decent ventilation. Do the work over a baking sheet that has high sides (don't ever use it to cook of course). I find a silicone cork of the right size for your bore works well (they use them for powder coating to plug threaded holes and such). It doesn't take much mercury to fill a barrel, you can probably get thermostats from folks you know who put programmable ones in and didn't know what to do with the old ones. Just snip the end off (where they melt the bulb closed, there's usually a little ball there like you see on the tips of Christmas lights "but bigger". Pour it into a plastic "laboratory" jar. You can use it over and over.
 
Mercury is one option, but either Hoppe's or Outer's make a battery operated kit that uses a rod which is inserted into the barrel along with a chemical solution which removes the lead through electrolysis.

I've never used one, but I have heard they are quite effective, although I don't know how long the process takes. Seems to me they sold in the $19.95 range or thereabouts.
 
"either Hoppe's or Outer's make a battery operated kit that uses a rod which is inserted into the barrel along with a chemical solution which removes the lead through electrolysis. "

Yes, the Outer's Foul Out.

Bruce
 
Well since I have a vile of mercury from my chemistry days I might go ahead and use it if I can find a way to safely block both ends of the barrel. I checked out the Outer's Foul Out at Midway but at $108.00 (ouch) I think I'll see what I can do with mercury in a safe way.
 
I run lead semi wadcutters in my revolvers and I hate scrubbing lead.

As others have posted - the easiest way is to shoot a dozen rounds of jacketed ammo downrange before you leave. It's always done the trick for me.
 
I have never seen Mercury fail to clean a severely fouled barrel. Just be careful with the stuff and you'll be fine. The foul out kit really is great, but, expensive. If you get your hands on a lot of older guns (like being a C&R collector) you can certainly justify the cost, but, for one stubborn gun... Well.
 
Yup...we used Mercury back before we had an environment to worry about and humans couldn't be hurt by dumb old heavy metals. It works great.

For those of you shooting lead out with jacketed projectiles...sooner or later, you will do damage to the bore at the very least. In high pressure applications, the residue can cause pressure to exceed proof loads.

Naw...if you're happy doing it, go right ahead, just don't blame anyone but yourself when it happens.
 
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