Removing lead from barrel

[highlander]

+ 1000 on using mercury nasty stuff. If you remember the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland his behavior was the results of mercury poisoning. Brass brushes,copper chore boy or bronze wool is significantly softer than barrel steel be it blue or stainless,you'll be hard pressed to do any damage to it.

 

[Gammon]

Marine supply stores would have bronze wool that should work as well.

I tried bronze wool and found Chore Boy to be more effective.

 

[thormx538]

Chore Boy.

I just cleaned two barrels this way the other day.

 

[swatgig]

Get one of these in the correct caliber.

 

[breyton490]

for the stainless barrel you can make a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar. submerge the stainless barrel in for 20 minutes and wipe out the lead.... Works better than any cleaner on the market. didn't seem to affect the coating on my m&p barrel, but not sure how it may affect what ever coatings your barrel has.

 

[mac1911]

Won't liquid mercury amalgam with the surface of the barrel?

Don't know but my dad would clean many the barrel with it. Lots of his friends brought there nasty revolvers to him.

As far as safety.... well he was very careful I was not allowed around it until in my late teens. I never seen him spill it or touch it with bare hands.

It's one of those things that I guess most are to stupid to handle it with out playing with it or eating it.

- - - Updated - - -

I'd worry more about being poisoned by the mercury than what happens to the barrel, seriously messing with mercury?

I spilled less than a gram in a lab when trying to set up a dropping mercury electrode for a polarography experiment 25 years ago. It closed the lab for a couple of days while a hazmat team cleaned the area.

Have you read what you need to do when you break on of these new efficient light bulbs...

 

[Stape]

Like others, a simple chore boy pad, just cut some strands from the pad and tinsel it around a cleaning brush. You don't have to scub the bejeezus out of it, just a few strokes has always worked for me. Maybe the forcing cone on a revolver along with the first inch or so might need a little more chore boy on the brush but still, it's not aggressive on the barrel.

You'll see flakes of lead coming out of the muzzle as you pass through. Then just follow through with hoppes soaked patches then dry till they come out clean. Five minute ordeal at best.

 

[Ranger007]

This!!! And if you're still doubtfull a couple patches of Butch's Bore Shine and done.

Few rounds of FMJ and all done!

 

[Warm_Garand]

for the stainless barrel you can make a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar. submerge the stainless barrel in for 20 minutes and wipe out the lead.... Works better than any cleaner on the market. didn't seem to affect the coating on my m&p barrel, but not sure how it may affect what ever coatings your barrel has.

This chemical reaction results in a VERY dangerous form of lead, which is no longer a (relatively safe) metal/solid, and which can be absorbed directly through the skin on contact--and which is perfectly soluble in water.

While this method does work, the chemical byproducts are extremely hazardous to human health. Know what you are doing, or you will pay a steep price.

Just my .02.

 

[sig shooter]

Ill stick with the chore boy, Im not playing with quick silver!

 

[peterthefish]

This chemical reaction results in a VERY dangerous form of lead, which is no longer a (relatively safe) metal/solid, and which can be absorbed directly through the skin on contact--and which is perfectly soluble in water.

While this method does work, the chemical byproducts are extremely hazardous to human health. Know what you are doing, or you will pay a steep price.

Just my .02.

Dip (vinegar + peroxide) I referred to earlier will also strip bluing and quickly pit carbon steel. Appropriate for stainless only AFAIK, although I've not had cause to use it on a nitrided barrel (Glock / M&P).

 

[goodlife30]

Here is what I do. We get to use those nice direct impingement m4's in the army. 500 to 600 rounds on a range weekend and it's nasty. I have found the best way to remove the lead is hot water. Removes about 80% of the crud. Then scrub down the rest of the weapons with clp after a good dry. Brake cleaner for that stubborn carbon. Found this method to work best after literally days of cleaning weapons and having them inspected. Make sure all the parts have a light sheen of oil on it.

 

[greencobra]

i sat down with 2 1911 barrels that were nasty with lead last week. saturated both inside with hoppes and let sit for a few hours. really don't know it that attacks lead in the barrel or not, hoppes, but then went after the barrel with a regular brass brush followed by tight patches followed by more hoppes and so on, etc. actually descunged the lead but it took a while to the point the barrels are clean and bright. i don't know if there's a magic remedy besides what folks call elbow grease. i do know if it looks clean it probably isn't.

 

[peterthefish]

Here is what I do. We get to use those nice direct impingement m4's in the army. 500 to 600 rounds on a range weekend and it's nasty. I have found the best way to remove the lead is hot water. Removes about 80% of the crud. Then scrub down the rest of the weapons with clp after a good dry. Brake cleaner for that stubborn carbon. Found this method to work best after literally days of cleaning weapons and having them inspected. Make sure all the parts have a light sheen of oil on it.

Where exactly does the lead accumulate on an M4? I think you're confusing normal fouling with leading that occurs when shooting cast lead (vs. jacketed) bullets.

 

[rep308]

OK, I took more electro-chemistry classes than I'd like to remember and ran a PCB fab plating line for a couple of years so sit down for class students.

Lead and copper are more anodic than steel. Zinc is even more anodic than lead which is why boats strap zinc slabs to the hull to have them be the sacrificial metal as the normal galvanic corrosion occurs when a boat is in salt water. Without the zinc, the steel in the motors would be attacked. You can exploit this process to clean out lead and copper in your gun barrel

Outers Foul Out contains a power supply, a stainless steel rod and different electrolytes for copper and lead. You plug the barrel with a rubber stopper, place the stainless rod in the barrel with little rubber donuts on it to isolate it from the barrel and keep it from shorting out. You then put in the appropriate electrolyte for lead or copper into the barrel. You hook the power supply to the gun barrel and rod, making the gun barrel the anode, and the rod the cathode, although just look at the power supply clips and forget about the chemistry lesson. When you turn on the power supply the lead or copper in the barrel, (the anode) will plate on the stainless steel rod (the cathode) because those metals are way more anodic than than the steel in the barrel. After half an hour shut off the power supply and remove the rod, it will be covered in bits of copper or lead, depending on the solution you use. The copper and lead are removed from the barrel with no physical scraping or contact at all.

You don't have to have a degree in electro-chemistry to use it. Plug the barrel, pour in the right solution, put the rod in and hook it up. In 5-30 minutes, depending on the level of fouling, all the lead or copper is attached to the stainless rod, remove it and wipe it off with a cloth.

I shoot 230 gn lead SWC from my 1911 and back when I was shooting 4-5k round per year I'd do it twice per year and you would be amazed at the amount of lead it removes. I have a Lewis lead remover with the brass screens and rubber tipped tool and it is a bitch to use and doesn't do a very good job.

Class dismissed.

 

[Gammon]

OK, I took more electro-chemistry classes than I'd like to remember and ran a PCB fab plating line for a couple of years so sit down for class students.

Lead and copper are more anodic than steel. Zinc is even more anodic than lead which is why boats strap zinc slabs to the hull to have them be the sacrificial metal as the normal galvanic corrosion occurs when a boat is in salt water. Without the zinc, the steel in the motors would be attacked. You can exploit this process to clean out lead and copper in your gun barrel

Outers Foul Out contains a power supply, a stainless steel rod and different electrolytes for copper and lead. You plug the barrel with a rubber stopper, place the stainless rod in the barrel with little rubber donuts on it to isolate it from the barrel and keep it from shorting out. You then put in the appropriate electrolyte for lead or copper into the barrel. You hook the power supply to the gun barrel and rod, making the gun barrel the anode, and the rod the cathode, although just look at the power supply clips and forget about the chemistry lesson. When you turn on the power supply the lead or copper in the barrel, (the anode) will plate on the stainless steel rod (the cathode) because those metals are way more anodic than than the steel in the barrel. After half an hour shut off the power supply and remove the rod, it will be covered in bits of copper or lead, depending on the solution you use. The copper and lead are removed from the barrel with no physical scraping or contact at all.

You don't have to have a degree in electro-chemistry to use it. Plug the barrel, pour in the right solution, put the rod in and hook it up. In 5-30 minutes, depending on the level of fouling, all the lead or copper is attached to the stainless rod, remove it and wipe it off with a cloth.

I shoot 230 gn lead SWC from my 1911 and back when I was shooting 4-5k round per year I'd do it twice per year and you would be amazed at the amount of lead it removes. I have a Lewis lead remover with the brass screens and rubber tipped tool and it is a bitch to use and doesn't do a very good job.

Class dismissed.

I'll stick with my ChoreBoy pads. Much simpler.
PS I shoot several thousand rounds per month, mostly 9mm lead.

 

[goodlife30]

Where exactly does the lead accumulate on an M4? I think you're confusing normal fouling with leading that occurs when shooting cast lead (vs. jacketed) bullets.

Are we talking general fouling or just lead? The military uses jacketed ammo. But all that crud gets cycled back into the chamber with the m4 and launched back into the barrel and cooked. The star "chamber" is especially nasty. So no idea what that crud mixture is. The magazines sometimes are junk and strip off the jacketing. All cooked into the weapon

 

[sig shooter]

I couldn't find chore boy stuff locally so I ordered a bunch off amazon, going to give it a try Monday(day off).

 

[mac1911]

Are we talking general fouling or just lead? The military uses jacketed ammo. But all that crud gets cycled back into the chamber with the m4 and launched back into the barrel and cooked. The star "chamber" is especially nasty. So no idea what that crud mixture is. The magazines sometimes are junk and strip off the jacketing. All cooked into the weapon

talking lead fouling from cast lead bullets..... one of the best ways to avoid lead fouling is a proper size bullet and a good bullet lube....

 

[sig shooter]

I tried the copper Chore Boy, worked like a charm.