Hey guys . what desolves lead?

I dont shoot pistols that much mostly rifles, shotgun

So Im tryin to get the lead out of the bore on a 45 colt pistol . Tryed sweets that works good for copper but didnt work on lead.

Thanks Rick

In you can find some, plug up the barrel and fill it uo with mercury. Let it stand fo 5 to 10 minutes, drain the barrel and run one tight patch through the bore. Lead-B-Gone. That's no joke. It's how we did it year ago before the EPA came out will much of it's BS.
Nowadays, it's considered a serious hazard and the likes of us dummies shouldn't play with the stuff.
Anyway, that's how we did it. The way to do it now is forget the Sweet's. There is a solvent that is supposed to work on lead but I don't like it much. Besides, it stinks like hell.
So, head on down to your local super market and look for a Chore Boy scouring pad. get the Chore Boy, not the Chore Girl as the chore Girl has soap on it.
Take a bronze/copper brush and wrap enough strands of the chore boy pad around the brush to make a tight fit. With the barrel removed from the gun, if it's a semi auto run the brush from the chamber's end back and forth for 10 to 20 strokes. it's easier if you press the muzzle of teh barrel against a piece of wood so that the brush stays inside the barrel. You would have to put up with it's coming out when working on a revolver. Usually 10 to 20 strokes will clean out the worst leading. If not, refresh the Chore boy strands and try again. I'll bet your bore will probably be shiney clean and free of lead.
Paul B.

Lewis tools work slick and can be ordered from Brownells. Try shooting a few jacketed rounds, too, as that will clean a lot of it out.

Mercury will convert the lead to an amalgam just like it does to the silver and gold they fill teeth with. Other then that, there is nothing that will dessolve lead except heat.
All of the lead remover liquids are supposed to penetrate under the lead so it can be pushed out. I never found any that could work under the stuff. Kind of like putting oil on a solder joint--nothing happens.
You have to remove it mechanically and some lube or solvent helps.

This is more of a preventive rather then a remedial.
My S&Ws leaded like crazy until I lapped the barrel and forcing cone. Next step is finding out the actual diameter of the chamber throat, not the barrel forcing cone and barrel diameter then size the bullets to that diameter.
A suggestion for getting the lead out is using a stainless steel brush and a "tornado" bore cleaning device. It looks like a 'Choreboy' that screws onto your cleaning rod. Then mop bore bore with 'Kroil' and let stand for 24 hours and repeat until clear of lead
Jim

I have had pretty good luck with the Kroil and letting it set, some what slow at times but it works. I got some Shooters choice lead remover. Dunno what it is but it seems to soften it a bit.
Get the carbon out first so the solvent doesn't wast it's time working on that rather than the lead.
Sorry, but I refuse to run anything like those tornado brushes down any of my bores, even as a last resort.
I have been playing with cast stuff for the last couple of years and have 80 percent of them on a steady diet of CB's. IMHO, leading is caused from the jacket metal that is not TOTALLY removed. I use SP10 oil as a bore treatment after cleaning of jacket material. 3-5 patches of Ed's red and they are clean, no leading.
The only one I am fighting now is a Marlin in 357. I am going to finish the summer out with jacketed and try to smooth the bore up on it.
Jeff

I agree, NO stainless steel in the bore. I use the tornado brushes ONLY in smoothbore shotguns if slugs are shot.
A tight fitting jag and patch will push out almost all the lead at the start. If you are using a cheap slotted rod tip, you are wasting your time.

GSP7, Go to your favorite supermarket and look in the cleaning products section for soapless copper pads. "Chore Boy" (or Girl) or "Kurly Kate" are two common brands. Next, get a worn bore brush for your caliber (.35cal. is ideal), cut enough of the copper pad to provide a tight fit in your bbl. when wrapped around the aforementioned brush, then have at your leaded bore. You can use the copper pad wrapped brushes dry or with Kroil, WD-40, or better yet, Ed's Red, which you brew yourself. (Search the internet for Ed's Red for the recipe.)

Please note that I make NO RECOMMENDATION for the following, except that I tried it once, and it worked.

I had a badly-leaded barrel in my Mannlicher-Schoenauer 6.5x54 from an ill-advised test-loading with cast bullets, and had read about this solution from someone that I respected (on the Internet). Following his instructions, I mixed up a 50/50 solution of drugstore strong Hydrogen Peroxide and the strongest household ammonia I could find.

Plugging the barrel at the muzzle, I poured the stuff in and immediately a dirty-gray foam came boiling out. I left the stuff in the barrel only a few minutes, maybe five minutes total, and then dumped it and rinsed the barrel with water.

The leading was GONE.

Do not leave the solution in the barrel for any length of time, as I've seen references to pitting and other damage if left overnight, for example. For the few minutes I had it in the bore, no damage is visible, but be careful. After rinsing with water and drying the barrel, I cleaned it rigorously and left a film of oil in the bore. A subsequent patching the next day showed only oil on the patch.

Another vote for Chore Boy on a bronze bristle brush. It gets the bore squeaky clean in less than a minute. I am more about prevention of leading these days instead of cleaning it out. I wholeheartedly endorse arkypete's recommendation for measuring the throats, forcing cone, and bore and lapping if necessary. It is worth the effort. For revolvers, if the chamber throats are smaller than the forcing cone or bore, leading is definitely in your future if cast bullets are used. The bullet will always be sized smaller than the bore after passing through the throat, allowing gas blowby. I've had a couple of revolvers with this problem and it is not solved until the throats are opened up larger than bore diameter.

This was a 45 colt revolver that looked like it had not been cleaned ever.

Got the cylinder clean with kroil and a 12 ga brush and a drill. Used the old 12 ga brush on the bore (no drill) and got it fairley good.

Thanks for the tips. Might shoot some jacketed bullets through it

I'n not so sure shooting jacketed bullet to remove lead is such a good idea. There are some of us lead shooters that feel a jacketed bullet will just iron a bunch of lead into the pores of the barrel's steel, and that this will only aggravate the problem. Others say it doesn't. I used to do it with early .357 Mag. factory ammo which would lead the bore badly. Back then we had mercury to work with, or a product called Blue Ointment which you could buy at any drug store. It was used to kill head lice AKA the crabs, and the working ingredient was mercury. Put some on a patch and it would get the lead out in a right smart manor. It too is long gone.
No, today, I think the best way to clean lead out of a barrel is use the scouring pad on a brush. It really is quite fast.
Paul B.

Birchwood Casey has a cloth that will clean the cylinder face and the barrel of lead,I tear off a piece ,wrap it around a brush and watch it turn black as it gets the lead out.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
I agree, NO stainless steel in the bore. I use the tornado brushes ONLY in smoothbore shotguns if slugs are shot.
A tight fitting jag and patch will push out almost all the lead at the start. If you are using a cheap slotted rod tip, you are wasting your time.

I chuck a rod into my electric drill with a 12g bronze bore brush wrapped in 4 ought steel wool add a little Hoppe's and power clean my shotguns.

Yeah, me too and if I get a rusty barrel in, I use Scotch Brite and power polish.

I have used a 50/50 mix of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide and common Vinegar. (Acetic acid - 3% to 8%)

Worked very well, did not harm the finish on the S&W model 19 I was cleaning. It disolves the lead and changes it into Lead Acetate.

Warning!Lead Acetate is Nasty stuff!
Please use rubber gloves and dispose of the residue properly.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_acetate

Ahhh hell guys, don't tell me not a one of you have read my previous posts on this subject.

Blue Wonder Gun Cleaner, bronze brush full.

Ten strokes, ten minute break, ten more strokes and patch it clean.

IF that don't get it all, do it again and it'll be gone. Great for copper and plastic too.

Serious things to do though!!

DO NOT get this shit on the stock, won't be any finish left at all. Count on it!

Make sure you have a good oil handy and soon as you're happy with how clean it is, get that oil in ASAP. Otherwise it'll flash rust just like and engine block coming out of a hot tank. Soon as the moistures gone, the rust hits it.

IF & when it does rust, or you have one that's already rusted. Just clean with Blue Wonder as above and oil it up. Takes that off too.

Great stuff! Used to be you'd contact: www.bluewonder.com they'd send you a sample. Might be worthwhile to learn how great this stuff is.
I'd be surprised if this isn't made with that old time blue magic you're talking about.

Try it once, you won't go back to all the patches and that other worthless stuff we've all used all our live's.

George

wipe out has a new lead remover gel - if it works half as well as their copper remover, I would strongly reccomend it.

A Lewis lead remover works pretty good.

I have used Mercury, back in the day...
I think it is Pro Shot that has a lead remover liquid.
Smells like citrus. Works OK.

Outers foul-out electrolytic cleaner works well, and very fast on lead. The solution is rather expensive unless you buy it by the gallon. The copper remover works much slower, but takes out ALL of the fouling.

Ranb

Balistol.

Go with Mercury. Nothing works faster or better. You can buy it here. Bill T.

http://www.unitednuclear.com/chemx.htm

http://www.unitednuclear.com/suppliesx.htm

Is this legal? Can I own and or order this mercury? Never heard of this and I like the sound of it. Does the mercury wear out?

Mercury, while highly poisonous, is perfectly legal to own. Just be careful with it. Use it only outside or in the garage and in a large receptacle that will catch any spillage. One of those large drip trays that auto parts stores sell to catch drippings from under cars works well. It can be reused over and over. Bill T.

Well this seems awesome!! How much will I need and about how much $$$.

How much you will need depends on the caliber and barrel length your shooting. You could check volume with a liquid and order from there. I don't know the cost because Mercury prices fluctuate. I'm sure if you contact them they'll quote you a price. Bill T.

One thing about mercury to be aware of (besides the toxicity) is to make sure to keep it away from anything made from aluminum.

Mercury will amalgam with aluminum in a way that causes the protective oxide layer to fall off, exposing more aluminum to corrosion until the entire part becomes nothing more than a pile of aluminum oxide dust and a small puddle of mercury.

It was actually a sabotage weapon in WWII. Pour a little mercury on an aluminum aircraft wing and watch the plane crash because the Al was weakened.

Steel is okay with Hg, but be really careful with the Al.

Paul B---Was wondering how you knew about Blue Ointment? Perhaps from college days? Now thats the story we really want to hear.

http://www.unitednuclear.com/chem.htm

I tried the link I gave, but it was inactive. This one should work. Mercury can also be bought from other sources. Bill T.

http://www.sciencestuff.com/prod/Chem-Rgnts/C2056

Another source for Mercury. Bill T.

quote:

Paul B---Was wondering how you knew about Blue Ointment? Perhaps from college days? Now thats the story we really want to hear.

Sorry. you'll be realy disappointed.
I learned all about Blue Ointment along with the mercury treatment for removing leading from my mentor in bullet casting long before I was even in high school. Never did get any Chi Chi Tamadachi (little friends)from any of my XXX escapades. Just lucky I guess.
Paul B.

Among the non-abrasive methods to remove lead from stainless steel barrels, which are not reactive with the stainless steel base metal?

The above advice is equally applicable to stainless barrels and carbon or chrome-moly steel ones.

I am a little confused with all this talk about lead.First off: In that Blue Lice ointment there was an insignificant amount of MERCURY in it.Definitly not enough to attack lead. I have tried it. Now to the advise to buy Mercury. I have 8 lbs in a small jar. just enough to clean my 45/70 barrel. The Mercury advertised is 2 ounc. for $ 25.00. Before anyone ventures that way, make some calculation how many $$$ you will have to lay out. marlin

ill tell you what works as good as anything is spraying your bore with wd40 or rustbuster and letting it sit over night. It wont disolve it but it will get between the lead and the steal and loosen up the lead and allow it to easily come out. It sometimes takes two trys to get it all. Lead removers and chore boys work too. For the most part i just shoot it out with jacketed bullets. Its never gave me a problem doing it that way.

About a half dozen firms make or have recently made lead remover cloth especially for the gun industry. LeadAway is one brand name. It works great. Has done so for at least 40 years that I am aware of.

It comes as a yellow sheet of cloth, very slightly damp feeling.You cut a patch about 3/4 the size of your normal cleaning patch for your gun, with a pair of scissors.

Spear the patch on your cleaning rod jag, and run the patch up and down the bore a few times. Cloth turns pitch black, and sometimes has long strips of lead on it too, when you take it out of the bore. If you don't think you got all the lead, do it again. Last, clean your gun just as you would normally if you were shooting jacketed bullets (Boo! Hiss!).

Only thing to be careful of is to NOT rub the blued parts of your gun with it. It removes bluing quite as well as it removes lead!!

I have used it happily for many years, and am really surprised how many folks seem to be unaware of it. Just about every gun store I have ever been in sells it......

Anything that will dissolve lead and not make it into an amalgum makes lead into a ionic compound that is dramatically more easily absorbed into the body than the metal. This is what H2O2 and HOAc (peroxide and acetic acid) does ... lead acetate is easily absorbed in comparison to lead metal.

Mercury is not a material you want to handle ... because of its vapor pressure. Mercury vapors are relatively readily absorbed into the body through the lungs.

In other words ... both methods are problematic. And any method that dissolves lead involves risks of greater exposure.

Whatever method you choose ... and I cannot recommend the metallic mercury method ... should be done with great care to limit your exposure.

BTW: My only credentials here are a Ph.D. in chemistry and a life long interest in firearms.

mstarling hit the nail on the head. Mercury is wicked ju-ju.

Make sure you have a clean up kit /plan if you spill it cause it is virtually impossible to recover it when spilled.

And the EPA will probably declare your house a super fund site and condemn it.

quote:

Originally posted by crowrifle:
mstarling hit the nail on the head. Mercury is wicked ju-ju.

Make sure you have a clean up kit /plan if you spill it cause it is virtually impossible to recover it when spilled.

And the EPA will probably declare your house a super fund site and condemn it.

Here's a funny one for you, do you actually know what's in a mercury spill kit?

The older spill kits are typically nothing more than a package of powdered lead!
However some have pure sulfur, to absorb mercury fumes. this works because Mercury has an enormous affinity for sulfur.

Some newer spill kits are sulfur and powdered zinc, though these kits are something of a fire hazard (powdered zincy alone will burn like a SOB and adding sulfur to it only adds insult to injury)

AD

It's quite common today to have people over react to common elements that were here millions of years before we were. It's just the effects of more PC crap. Mercury isn't going to wipe out mankind. It, like firearms, requires a little common sense when handled. I've used it for years, as have others. I worry more about being killed by some Soccer Mom yacking on her cell phone in my rear view mirror on the freeway, than I do about Mercury, or Lead, or any other non functioning object killing me. Bill T.