I need some "leading" help bad!

B

Blue Duck357

New member
My fault, I've been a bit lax in cleaning my model 65 (wet patch dry patch, ahh.. close enough). Then went to firearms qualification. Short story my gun ended up with 260+ rounds of the filthiest soft lead ammo you could imagine going through it.

I've been off today and went through 2 brass brushes, 1/2 a bottle of Hoppes #9, 1/2 bottle of Birchwood Casey Bore Scrubber, 3/4 bottle of Pro-Shot lead and powder solvent and nearly 500 patches!:mad: It's still terrible:eek: Lots of little flakes of lead, a few come off now and then (in 12 hours off and on cleaning), and still deep streaks of lead in the grooves!

X-mass time,tax time and house insurance due, so please no electric cleaner suggestions$, any other ideas?
 
Everyone is going to have their own sure fire way for this one. my revolvers develop terrible rings from shooting .38 in a .357 and I often shoot 500 rounds of lead semi wadcutters. I am a stickler for cleanlyness so it was very troubling to not be able to get them clean. I switched to a steal bore brush with only slight improvement. I have found two things that really help. Sweet's 7.62 bore cleaner. This is the harshest stuff that I know of and it smells terrible. I put some on a patch and slide it in each of the cylinders and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. It seams to take care of almost everyting. I also use copper pot scrubbers that I cut little sections off of and force through the barrell. The copper is softer than the steel so it will not hurt it but it does have sharp little edges to work out lead. Good luck.

P.S. I don't know about extended exposure of 7.62 to bluing and it is so harsh it cautions against leaving it in rifled surfaces for over 15 minutes.
 
Thanks Ajacobs,

I have actually used Sweets before on my rifles (none on hand at the moment:( ) For some reason I just assumed it was mainly for copper fouling and it would not be good on lead. I'm giving up tonight and will try to get some Sweets tommorow.

My cylinder is actually cleaning up pretty good, could not even chamber a .357 magnum round when I tried after the shoot.

Appreciate the suggestion, Blueduck
 
There is or was a tool called the lewis lead remover. Sorry, but I'm not real familiar with it. But, there is another that I am . I think it's a copy of the Lewis and sold by Hoppes. It consist of an expandable rubber arbor for a dedicated bore size, 1 for .357, another for .44 etc. They come with round brass screen "patches" with a small hole punched in the center. You run an empty cleaning rod through the barrel all the way to the cylinder window, then scew on the rubber with a screen sandwiched inbetween it and the rod, and pull the assembly out the barrel, disassemble and repeat the process, each time tightening a small nut on the rubber arbor to expand it. Whew! its easier to do than to type! You'll smile when you see all those little flakes of lead come out each time you pull through. It's about the cost of a handfull of bore brushes. No cast bullet shooter should be without one!

Hope this helps, Gunzo
 
IMO, the best solution to the leading problem, is don't let your bore get heavily leaded. Shoot a cylinder or two full of jacketed bullets before the bore accumulates too much lead.

Also, I finish every shooting session with at least two cylinders full of jacketed ammo.

I would never use a stainless steel brush in my bore. Brass and bronze brushes are softer than steel.

A "Lead Away'' cleaning cloth can be cut into patch-sized pieces for running through the bore with a jag tip.

Good luck in Getting the Lead Out!
 
I third the Lewis Lead Remover. I read thread after thread about barrel leading and don't understand the problem. The LLR is available from Brownells for less than $15. One pass through the barrel and it is clean (of lead). Try it, you will like it.
I have read about using pot scrubbers and all that. I am sure then work but the LLR is so easy and inexpensive why not just order one. By the way, they are caliber specific. I own three.
Don't be put off by the price of an electronic cleaner either. Just take a brazing rod, put a couple rubber washers on it to keep it from touching the barrel. solder two wires to alligator clips. Put a rubber stopper in your chamber (of a rifle), fill the bore with household ammonia. Stick brazing rod in barrel. Attach one alligator clip to brazing rod, attach second wire to front sight or whatever part of barrel or action is avilable. Attach wire to battery or wall wart. Ammonia will start bubbling. Leave for about 20 minutes. Monitor level of ammonia and keep it topped off. A rag tied around the muzzle end of the barrel is recommended to keep ammonia from boiling out onto gun and floor. After 20 minutes dump the ammonia from bore into the sink, it will be black with junk. Rod will be coated with more black junk. Clean with bore solvent afterwards. This is how we initially clean up mil surp rifles.
 
KLEEN-BORE CLOTH

Cut a patch, polish out bore, saturate with TetraLube (and don't dry-patch until JUST BEFORE the next firing).

Skip the steel brush, the harsh chemistry, try the patch and lube, and afterwards your bore (at least mine) will resist leading.

Or you can try the Lewis thingie.
 
Wow, a lot of great suggestions and I was going to order some grips from brownells so I'll just tack the led remover on. Even if the led remover does work I gotta do the electronic thing 444 mentioned just for my Yugo. It shoots great but fouls badly.

One question on the lewis, Can you use it in the cylinders as well as the barrel to remove that little ring of lead you get shooting 38's in a .357?

Many thanks, Blueduck
 
I'm telling you, a copper pot scrubber will clean that barrel in a matter of minutes. Just cut off a piece and wrap it around a bore brush, and you will kicking back in the lazy boy in less than 5. Soaking the barrel with some Birshwood Casey helps things along, but it is the easiest and cheapest thing there is.
 
BRASSO IS SO SMART !!!!!!!

Try his idea; it works great, and costs virtually nothing. Zips lead chunks out like a flash! Safe for all guns.

(My idea is great, too, but costs more, requires more care, although it can condition a bore enough to alleviate serious leading. Or ruin it.)
 
Lewis Lead Remover.

I have used the lewis lead remover and it does work very well.

I also condition my barrels like WESHOOT2 , this works extremly well IMHO.

w225641.jpg


Not a very good picture but gives you the Idea of the LLR.

Tony
 
leading

Treament-I've used the Lewis and Hoppes lead removers for removing lead and heavy carbon build-up adjacent to the top strap and forcing cone. Works like a charm.
Prevention-I use a hard lead Carroll 240 gr semiwadcutter in my 44 mag handloads sitting on top of 22.8 gr of Winch 296 powder. This is a very powerfull load to say the least. After 100 such rounds I fire 10-12 copper jacketed bullets down the barrel. Result no lead in my cylinder or barrel.
Herb
 
Brasso is absolutely right!

I haven't used my LLR since I found out about the Choregirl trick some years ago.
It costs less, and works better. ;)

Tom
 
A couple of thoughts on leading.
Use coated projectiles if possible.I use some locally made proj's and they are excellent.Also try to keep the fps as low as possible,around 700-750 is fine.Too fast and the rifling will strip lead off. Lower speed can also give better accuracy.
 
Just thought I'd update:

Got the Lewis Lead remover last night, one pull through got out more lead than all my previous efforts ("strings" of the stuff literally fell on my lap). Second pull it was clean. Why did I wait this long to get one of these things:(

Thanks for all the help, Blueduck
 
Blue Duck, I have to say, I told you so. They are great. Like I said before, other stuff works but for my money I can't see not buying one. One other thing, I hear people say, I quit using lead bullets. They lead my barrel to bad. Ok, it's their money, but when you can clean the lead out with one pass from the LLR who cares ? I never had a lot of problems with leading but it builds up after awhile. Two minutes later it is gone. I will stick with a lot of lead in my revolvers.
 
Leading

If you use lead bullets at high velocity you will get leading unless the lead is very hard. I will not put a lead in my gun unless the lead bullet head resisys scoring by my fingernail
Herb
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top