Copper wool on a bore brush soaked in "The Dip", a thoroughly nasty concoction made of half hydrogen peroxide and half vinegar. You can leave a cast boolit in a dixie cup of the stuff and the next day there will be nothing but sludge in the bottom! I don't let it sit in the barrel for more than 10 minutes or so at a time and it will remove every trace of lead out of a barrel without hurting the rifling. One time I made up a bunch of 230 grain LRN loads for my 1911 with Bullseye thinking they'd be fine. Nope! Couldn't see the rifling after a magazine full they leaded so bad. I had already loaded them and was doing combat shooting at 10 yds or less and they worked fine for that so I shot prolly 200 of them. Took the barrel out and it looked like a smooth bore from chamber to muzzle. Lead was literally "dripping" off the crown. Took a glass full of The Dip and soaked the barrel for ~10 min. 1-2 minutes with a brass brush wrapped in copper wool had it clean as a whistle. The resulting liquid is NASTY stuff, don't just pour it down the drain

I have to stand with pownal55, Frank237, Amici, Noah Zark, and chief38.
Lewis Lead Remover with Kroil or #9.

Larry

I, too, use the 50/50 mix of white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide in stainless guns. It works great.

But I've always heard it's a no-no in blued guns.

I started out with the Lewis Lead Remover and went to copper/bronze Chore Boy and the tight copper brush. Chore Boy works better and faster. If there is, and it can be, some leading left...the lead remover patches or a cut up lead remover cloth will do it.

I used to think shooting jacketed bullets to clean a leaded bore was okay. I don't think so now. In theory one could get a bulged bore, plated lead, or some other type of bore damage. In reality, is it proven? I have never read of it but why chance it with something as valuable as a firearm?

The Lewis Lead Remover is better at cleaning leading from the forcing cone though. I keep it, and Chore Boy, on hand.

Vinegar will definitely eat blueing.

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Have guns...will shoot'em.

Nothing works as well as the Outers Foul Out (OFO)...

I've used all other methods--then the OFO..in all cases teh OFO removed lead from the barrels thet had been "cleaned" by all other methods.

Howdy
Brass chore boy works well.... but a properly fitted cast bulet is the best preventative.

1) Mercury
2) Outer's Foul-Out
3) Chore Boy copper scrubber
4) Soak in Hoppe's No. 9, back when it still had nitrobenzene in it.

Don't like to use abrasives in my barrels.

Find a Merck Index and look it up.
The main areas of concern (about 10 years ago, at least) are:
1) breathing mercury vapors while boiling to separate gold from the ore
2) organic mercury compounds, such as formed during blocking of hats and such.
I have had gold nuggets brought in that were covered in mercury and had to separate the mercury. No, you don't put gold nuggets in mercury, it is already a nugget.
Thermometers were considered a hazard not because of the mercury, which will pass through your system rather benignly, but the swallowing of the glass.
Almost everyone over the age of 30 or so has, or had, mercury amalgam fillings in their teeth. Never did show any hazard even with the "scare" in the '90s.
I vote for my Outer's Foul-Out. It is fast and thorough and is not abrasive. I want to keep my lands and grooves with nice sharp edges.

For those who endorse using mercury, based on that they've used it for years and it hasn't messed them up (yet), I can remember my mom driving around with toddler me standing up in the front seat. It never killed me then, but I wouldn't reccomend it today.

An over-sized (as in .45 cal for .44's, "used" .44 for .357 etc..) DRY brass brush & lots of patience & elbow grease.
After that, any decent solvent (or even some gun oils) will lift the last remains.

It's the lead that will kill us all!

Used to "play" with mercury as a kid and didn't wear a helmet on my bicycle or my homemade skate board.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I've had good luck with the 50/50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar. I never leave it in the barrel for more than five minutes. Its never damaged bluing either. But I do wipe it off the bluing immediately.

For those of you trying to find some Mercury, try the Clinical Engineering Department at your local hospital, or a medical equipment repair business. Mercurial sphygmomanometers ( Mercury column Blood Pressure measuring devices) are still in use in many hospitals and physician practices and they have to be topped up when someone manages to break or dislodge the glass tube. (I know from personal experience since I've repaired and refilled hunderds of those critters after they have been fumble-fingered) Also, if your local hospital has gone to non-mercury BP meters, where are the old ones they removed from service? Each one had several ounces of Hg in it.

As for de-leading, with the exception of the rimfire types, the last cylinder or magazine through any revolver or pistol I take to the range is FMJ, followed by a few passes of a BoreSnake dampened with Kroil before it cools off. For rimfire, it's just the BoreSnake/Kroil while warm routine.

Of course, prevention is better than cure, so I use Lee Liquid Alox on all the lead bullets I use for reloading.

John

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

I was going to say the same thing.

When shooting lead I used a Lewis Led Remover. Then Hoppes and a bore brush. Then a clean patch on a proper size barrel jag.

I keep a small bottle of Mercury for just that purpose. It is safe if you take care to not spill any and work outside.

There's a reason they're called Mad Hatters.

Important advice. Carbon steel in stainless steel will sure make stainless rust. It only takes a trace amount.

For barrels, a patch cut from lead remover cloth and a brass (not plastic) jag tip. It's been a long time. It's true that a proper matching of cylinder, barrel, and bullet dimensions along with matching the hardness of the alloy to the load will prevent leading.

It sounds complicated but the reality is most of the time the throats are a bit tight. Simply opening them up to bullet diameter tends to solve a whole lot of problems. At least that's been my experience.

Played with mercury a lot in school and at home, just don't heat it up to a boiling point, the vapor is very deadly!!!! Friends were retorting gold out of mercury. Killed the whole family! Today I am 83, been through a lot of tests and no mercury present in me. I do have a strong allergy to gravity

I am on the Lewis lead-remover band wagon. I use the brass screens with Hoppes No 9 for a solvent. Quick, easy and effective.

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Kind regards, Heinz

Lewis led remover kit. When all else has failed use Lewis

Resurrected thread?... Zombie thread! It won't die.

Lewis Lead remover!

True enough, however it's a problem that new reloaders encounter and need answers to, so it's still relevant.

The overwhelming number of folks here already know what is written below. I include it for the newbie reloaders.

What's important is why one is getting leading in the first place. Causes for leading:

1) Rough barrel finish. If a barrel has a rough finish, not only will it lead badly, copper will foul as well. Polishing, aka lapping can help, depending on how bad the surface is. It can be done by hand (time consuming) or by fire lapping (shooting bullets coated with various progressively finer grits down the barrel). Hand lapping is better (IMHO) as you are lapping the entire barrel. Firing coated bullets tends to lap the barrel unevenly as the compound wears off before the bullet travels the length of the barrel unless you are doing a short barrel, such as a hand gun. Some barrels are beyond lapping, especially if they are pitted or eroded and you're further ahead to replace it rather than expend the time and effort. If you are going to try and lap a barrel, buy or borrow a good bore scope to see what you are dealing with and to your monitor progress.

2) Too soft lead. This is probably the number one thing people blame when experiencing leading problems, yet it's not as common as most believe. With bargain basement reloads or improperly cast bullets, soft lead can indeed be an issue. Knowing what you are shooting is the key. Even soft lead can provide relatively lead free results provided the barrel is smooth and the loads are mild.

3) Too hard lead. People think that hard lead will cure all their leading ills but alas, such is not the case. A rough bore will still lead no matter how hard the lead is. Furthermore hard lead loaded too hot or too light can lead as bad as soft lead loaded too hot. At firing, the lead needs to expand to fully contact the bore and create a seal to prevent gases from escaping and "cutting" or melting the lead as they pass by. Lead melted in this manner will leave streaks down the barrel, starting at the barrel lead-in or forcing cone in the case of revolvers. Loads that are too hot will cause the base of the bullet to melt as well, creating a similar problem that lack of sealing will cause. The key to hard lead is using the proper load - enough to cause the lead to expand and seal the barrel but not hot enough to melt the base.

Early on, someone discovered that putting a piece of copper on the base of the bullet could cure the leading problem. This is called a gas check and when used properly, can indeed allow higher velocity loads with little to no leading. Gas checks have their own problems however. The bullet must be designed to enable their use, and proper installation, aka crimping them in place, requires an additional step in the reloading process as well as the proper tool(s). Improperly installed gas checks can come off during flight and upset the bullet, impacting accuracy.

So it's a matter of first determining if the gun's barrel is smooth enough to not be a contributing factor or main cause, and matching the proper load to the hardness of the lead being used. Sometimes leading can be eliminated and sometimes it can't. When it can't, the various remedies discussed in previous posts can help, but unless the leading is minor, all require additional work - sometimes a lot of additional work! Count me in with those endorsing the Lewis lead Remover. A few pulls can remove the offending lead and leave the barrel clean and shiny.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

#1) Lewis Lead Remover - it will get the lead out ...no if's , and's or but's . It mechanically scrapes the lead out using brass screen as the scraper ... works fast .

#2) Ed's Red Bore Solvent / Cleaner - old school , requires a long soak for the solvents to get under the lead and lift it . Ed's Red does not dissolve lead but acts like a penetrating oil getting under and breaking loose the lead like penetrating oil does rust .
This is why a 24 hour soak helps it work .

Ed's Red Bore Solvent / Cleaner applied to a 0000 steel wool wrapped brass brush is a very good way to clean a bore ...soaking first helps speed the cleaning

You can mix Ed's Red from 4 common ingredients from big box store / wally mart , 1 gallon for $20.00 ...search the name for recipe .

Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Yep, this works. But it also will pit the barrel if left to soak! BTDT. Never again. I now have Lewis Lead Removers for all my lead shooting guns...

Considering the number of recent posts I would opine it is still a viable topic...?

Times change, as do possible solutions(sic)...

Cheers!

P.S. Was it Lazarus or Yogi that mentioned "...deja vu all over again"?

Hoppes # 9 ; will do the job alone

The old formula did, though it took a lot of time. The "new" formula, nope. If you really think it's getting rid of lead, you should look with a bore scope.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

The best thing I found to clean was a trainee. I’m not sure what he used, maybe Hoppes and a toothbrush?

I rarely have to use it these days.

I've successfully cleaned some horribly leaded barrels using a combo of Kroil soaking and Copper Chore Boy.

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter