lead in barrel

I shot an old 1905 M&P .38 spcl today that I got from a friend that sold me all of his old guns. Its an old warrior for sure.

It shot great. When I cleaned it afterward, a few very thin lead shards came out of the bore when i brushed it real good.

what is that from? i shot some winchester white box range ammo.

Here is the obligatory pic of the old gun required by the rules of this hive

The gun probably had a lot of lead bullets shot through it over the years and that is just some of the residue coming out. I suggest a good lead removing solvent and a lot of scrubbing with a brass bore brush to get out all you can. Probably going to take quite a bit of work to get it really clean. There are other tools that can be used such as a Lewis Lead Remover that will speed up the job if you want to invest in one. Neat old gun.

And here's a lead removal tool if you don't want to invest a lot of money--------------and don't want to do very much work.

1. Get a box of Chore Boy copper scouring pads----$1.50 maybe. That will make for a lifetime supply for you, your children, their children and their childrens' childrens' children.

2. Do not get any sort of lead removal solvent whatsoever. If you already have some, throw it away.

3. Dry the bore----make that DRY THE BORE!!

4. Get a worn out, good for nothing brass/bronze/whatever cleaning brush--------------a brand new one will work fine, but it will pretty much be good for nothing else after this exercise.

5.Open the box of scouring pads. Remove one---only. Find the little "knot" where the copper has been fused together----so the pad stays a pad. Snip it off with something other than your wife's best sewing shears----if you value your life! Unroll the pad. You are now staring at a tube made of copper cloth. Slit the tube with whatever you used to cut the little knot off. Now you're staring at a sheet of copper cloth. As an aside, your wife's best sewing shears will work fine for all this cutting----and the cutting to come. It won't hurt them a bit. And you'll be alright so long as she doesn't see you using them.

6. Here's where things get as complicated as they're going to get. Using the worn out bronze brush as a measuring device, cut a full length strip of copper cloth that's about half again as wide as the brush is long. Cut that strip in half. Take one of the halves and wrap it (snugly) around the worn out bronze brush (with a more or less even overhang of copper cloth at each end of the brush)----and twist the ends of the copper cloth (closed) around either end of the brush. Install the copper clad brush on a cleaning rod. Put the brush into the DRY bore. If it goes in easy, you don't have enough copper cloth wrapped around it. If you have to beat it into the bore with a hammer, you have too much copper cloth wrapped around it. Adjust accordingly.

7. Proceed to push/pull the brush through the bore-----avoid push/pulling the brush all the way out of the bore at either end.

If you have a proper fit or one that's actually a little too tight, ALL the lead will be gone in very short order----six to eight passes. If the bore was really loaded up, you will end up with two very satisfying piles of powdered lead on the table at each end of the barrel. The bore will be absolutely spotless----the cleanest one you've ever seen!!

It takes a whole lot less time to do all of this than you've spent reading what and how to do it.

Practice makes perfect!

Ralph Tremaine

Great detailed instructions rct269.

I even have my own scissors.

Thank You.

Ralph/rct269,

Thanks so much for your detailed technique for removing lead from barrels. I suspect it should work as well on a .22 rim fire rifle.

Jolly

Well, I am a believer, I tried Ralph's method and he was exactly right. The bore came out clean as a whistle and there was a pile of lead dust when I pulled the brush out. The job was simple to do and much easier than using a Lewis lead remover, no brass patches to form and battle to get the patch started. Otheres had recommended removing single strands from the scouring pad and wrapping them around a brush but I never found this worked well. Wrapping an entire piece of the pad around the brush worked great. Hats off to Ralph for this great technique.

I guess it's about time to 'fess up------this is not Ralph's method. It's Wilson Combat's method. At a point in time, quite a few years ago, I decided everybody should have at least one custom gun. I bought a new C--t 45 auto, covered it with money, and shipped it off to Wilson's. Almost exactly to the day of promised delivery (SIX MONTHS later) it came back. The only thing I recognized was the serial number-----everything else was different-----and flat gorgeous-----and unbelievably accurate-----like the bullets were guided by radar!!

Among the pile of stuff that came with it was "Ralph's method" for removing lead---which I immediately incorporated into Ralph's Bath for every nasty, beat up, old S&W that came to live at my house. And like John said, it worked great.

Ralph Tremaine

Ralph, no matter where it came from, it works great. Good to give credit where it is due though. If you have other tips incorporated in "Ralph's Bath" I would love to hear them.

I know this is an old thread, but tried it with Chore Boy and works like a champ. Half a dozen strokes and the crud is gone. Thanks for the tip, Ralph.

I assume you can clean the cylinders the same way?

Can you use the brush chucked into a cordless drill like I do for my shotgun barrels?

oneounceload said:

Can you use the brush chucked into a cordless drill like I do for my shotgun barrels?

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Not advisable. You'll eventually score a barrel with the base of the brush or the steel wire on the end or the end of the rod.

I'm not lazy, but I often don't do things with a lot of effort that can be done with a little.

Get some Hoppe's BR 9 or some other Wonder Solvent you hate to smell. Dip a bronze brush and have at it with vigor, but only for several good strokes. Push the crud out with a patch. Wet the brush again, and push it once to leave the bore WET.
Next night, start with a patch pushing the crud out, wet the brush and make 8 or 10 strokes, push the crud out, WET the bore and leave it. Spend ONE minute or LESS doing this every night for a week.
Or, just do it every 2nd or 3rd night. After 7 or 8 or 9 days, Push out the crud, wet it and scrub it a few strokes, dry it, and look. 98 or 99 of every 100 guns are as clean as they will ever get. At least in my observation the last 40-50 years.......
YMMV.

I should add that I've used the chore boy method and it works well on a smooth bore.
I forgot to say the soaking works very well for less than perfect, rusty, or downright pitted bores.

Great stuff guys.....(I'm posting here so I can find this again by looking up my old posts the next time I need to really get after a leaded barrel ) thanks for sharing.

Don

Is there a way to tell for sure that the scouring pad is brass and not some other material?
Dick

Scrape a piece with a knife to make sure it isnt just coated steel.

I have read that some knock offs are copper plated steel,Although I have not found any,it is prudent to take a magnet with you when you go to buy. Nick

Cylinder & Slide sells a "De-leading Wool" with a similar effect. I just snip off a few strands and wrap around an old worn out bronze brush and just two or three strokes gets most all of it. I wipe out with Hoppe's give it another couple strokes, wipe out and run a patch with break free through it and leave it.

woodsltc said:

Great stuff guys.....(I'm posting here so I can find this again by looking up my old posts the next time I need to really get after a leaded barrel ) thanks for sharing.

Don

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What Don said.

GOOD INFO. THANKS BILL

woodsltc said:

Great stuff guys.....(I'm posting here so I can find this again by looking up my old posts the next time I need to really get after a leaded barrel ) thanks for sharing.

Don

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Me, too! Thanks for all the good info...

Blessings,
Hog