38 chamber crud in 357 help please

Try a Lewis Lead Remover.

Ditto on Lewis Lead Remover. It is far easier to use, the brass screen will not harm metal and you don't need a power drill.

I clean the chamber first with solvent to get the loose powder and lead out. Then run the rubber stopper with a brass screen in good condition, give it a twists with your hand and, presto, you're done.

It helps not to let the lead build up. However I am guilty of neglecting cleaning my revolvers. Generally they get clean once a year whether they need it or not.
 
Try a Lewis Lead Remover.

Ditto on Lewis Lead Remover. It is far easier to use, the brass screen will not harm metal and you don't need a power drill.

I clean the chamber first with solvent to get the loose powder and lead out. Then run the rubber stopper with a brass screen in good condition, give it a twists with your hand and, presto, you're done.

It helps not to let the lead build up. However I am guilty of neglecting cleaning my revolvers. Generally they get cleaned once a year whether they need it or not.
 
Buy better brushes, like Brownells'. Then you won't have a problem and miss out on the best way to clean chambers.
I tried expensive bronze brushes and eventually they all shed bristles. After 30+ years of doing it I do say I found the best way: strips of scotchbrite pad pushed into a nylon bore brush. It not only rips off the hardened carbon, it polishes inside the tube to make it easier to clean in the future. The scotchbrite is easily changed and the brushes last a long time.
 
I tried expensive bronze brushes and eventually they all shed bristles. After 30+ years of doing it I do say I found the best way...
Sure... I've been using a drill motor spinning oversize bore brushes to clean chambers for 30ish yrs using Brownells brand brushes with no "shedding bristles" issues. The bristles do end up 'laying down" after a while and then it's time for a new brush. I clean cambers this way before every match. I do the same with my 22LR semi-autos that leave a hard to remove carbon buildup in their chambers also.

If you don't put many rds downrange most techniques work well enough but if you shoot a lot and don't clean religiously until before matches spinning an oversize brush is the way to go. The bristles cut into buildup, you can see it in the hard to clean area between the end of the case and the start of the chamber throat.

It's kinda like mickey mouse chamber polishing schemes vs reaming chambers...
 
I use some kroil saturated on cleaning patch for about an hour then take a fired 357 (not sized) case from earlier shooting before using 38 special.I also lightly chamfer the case. I just save the case for later use.
 
I don't do it often, but when it gets really bad I will remove the cylinder and chuck up a proper bronze bore brush in a cordless drill, dip it in Hoppes or Ballistol, and slowly work it back and forth in each chamber while I hold the cylinder in my hand. Works great.

Very similar to what I do - I just don't remove the cylinder; I put a cloth pad between the frame and the cylinder in case I lose my grip on the cylinder.
 
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