Smith & Wesson cleaning nightmare, HELP!

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Postman

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Yesterday I took out the new 4" 686 Plus. I ran 100 rounds of CCI Blazer 158 gr .38 LRN and 50 rounds of Remington 125 gr .357 SJHP through the gun. It shoots like a dream and man that thing is loud. I was expecting some heavy recoil from the .357 but it was very manageable. Firing double action or single action I was getting 2" groups at 50 feet and a bit under that at at 21 feet.

Then I took the gun home to clean it. The appearance of silver spray paint on my fingers should have hinted at the job I faced. I spent an hour on the barrel and cylinder and maybe half an hour on the frame. I was getting nowhere with the Hoppes #9 and the Break Freeso I let it sit for eight hours to loosen everything up and worked on it some more. Most of the lead is out of the barrel except for a few stuborn peices just ahead of the forcing cone and a bit at the end of the chambers and most of the discoloration is off the outside of the cylinder.

Is this normal? Should I be spending four hours scrubing a gun? If so it sucks. Would firing either FMJ or semi jacketed bullets leave less lead in the barrel and on the frame? How do I get that last bit of lead out of the barrel?
 
I have that gun in the 6 inch version.
What I use is Nitro bore solvent to clean it.
First I hose it down then I take a nylon brush and start scrubbing the whole gun down real good then I run a copper brush soaked with the bore solvent down the barrel and cylinder a few times, then I start with the patches with G-96 on them, and to finish a little Rigg grease on cylinder crane.
A Tornado brush should take care of any left over lead in your barrel.
Yes if you shoot fmj rounds after the lead it will clean most of the lead out.




There will be a slight discolorationon the front of the cylinder its normal, it will clean up with some fliz metal polish.

Hope that helps!

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ACCEPT NOTHING LESS THAN FULL VICTORY!"

General Dwight D. Eisenhower-- June 6,1944
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http://www.homestead.com/gunrights/Guns_and_Gunrights.html



[This message has been edited by Kimber Man (edited October 20, 1999).]
 
Postman. I believe Hoppe's makes a cleaning cloth for that purpose. I went to look for the proper name, but the stuff on the cloth has mostly dissolved the writing on the package. I think it was called Quick Clean, or something to that effect. It will clean that residue off the front of the cylinder in nothing flat. As for leading, cut a patch from the cloth, and it will take care of that too.
One warning though. Don't use it on blueing. It'll take it right off.
Paul B.
 
There's a product called RB-17 which is an
amonia gel which cleans lead out really well.
Also to get the lead out of the( top of ) forcing cone I use a brass plunger tube made to go in a
toilet ( yeah I know ) I sharpen one end on a
grinder to look like a knife and this takes
most of the lead from the forcing cone and then I use the Kleen bore leadaway cloth
to get the rest of the junk off. The leadaway
cloth leaves the cylinder face looking new.
It usually tages 45min to an hour to get the
revolver in inspection order. Check out the
RB 17 at http://www.rb-treasures.com
ALso several people have added an additional
lock to the crane/frame to lock it up better. This works great to reduce leading.
This was done to my PPC gun and cleanup was cut in half. Also th bulets you were shooting
may have not had enough tin or antimony in
it or the timeing on your new Smith may be
off. Hope this helps.


[This message has been edited by bobo (edited October 20, 1999).]

[This message has been edited by bobo (edited October 20, 1999).]
 
For lead, I suggest the tried and true Lewis Lead Remover. The other evening I found enough lead to strip-mine from the chambers of my old Colt's Police Positive Special, not to mention the forcing cone. Using the Lewis required some persistence, but not an excessive amount of time. The work was harmless to the gun and very thorough. For anyone without a Lewis Lead Remover, I'd guess that Brownells still sells them.

As for the burn marks on the front of the cylinder, picky though I am, I personally don't mind them and leave them be.
 
Whatever you do, DO NOT shoot FMJ bullets after shooting lead in the mistaken belief that it will aid in removing lead from the bore. I have read in several publications and had confirmed by my gunsmith that this practice will cause a very hard layer of lead in the rifling. This is very difficult to remove.

I generally shoot the FMJ stuff first, then shoot lead afterwards. I remove the lead mostly with Shooter's choice followed by Lead Out patches on a tight jag.
 
Chad Young,

I generally shoot 200 rounds of cast bullets each range session, and always finish with 3 to 6 jacketed bullets. It easily cuts my clean up time in half.

I've heard the argument about the jacketed bullet burnishing the lead into the barrel wall. I haven't found this to be the case in my experience.

I think there are too many variables to make a "blanket" statement one way or the other.

Like:

How smooth is the bore?

How hard are the cast bullets?

How much lead fouling was in there before the jacketed chasers?

Was that really lead fouling or was it lube and powder?

I could go on, but you get the idea. Do what works best for you.

Good Luck...

Joe




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Go NRA


[This message has been edited by JoeHatley (edited October 21, 1999).]
 
Joe is correct, there are a lot of variables, but so is Chad. Jacketed bullets will not remove lead deposits. The lead has to go somewhere. It goes onto the barrel and will eventually build up.

If you can afford one of the electronic cleaners, like Outers Foul Out, these are the best. As several others have noted, the old Lewis lead remover is also very good, and a lot cheaper.

Jim
 
The Lewis Lead Remover is one of the best tools to have for removing lead from the forcing cone.

To clean the lead from the bore, take an old bronze brush (should be worn out) and wrap some copper Choir Boy (soapless copper scouring pad) around the brush. Run it through your barrel and it'll take the lead right out. It's certainly easier than scrubbing all day.

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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
For leading, I just fill up the bore with Hoppes #9 soaked swabs and let it sit overnight. For carbon on the face of the cylinder, Flitz metal polish takes the carbon rings right off.
 
I use a little FLITZ on a toothbrush, followed by a brass wire brush, if needed. I put some on a patch to clean the barrel after shooting some powder solvent down it. I don't know if this decrases barrel life, but I could imagine that it would take many decades to see appreciable wear.
 
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