I know, the best way to get lead out of a barrel is to use the right bullet and lube and not get it in there in the first place.... I'm not real bright, and I'm still catching on to that.

Faced with lead deposits in the bore, I'm thinking about various mechanical means of extraction..
I have this idea. I have this brown scrubbing pad used for fine sanding wood... the only generic term I know of is "Scotch Brite", but that may more properly be a specific product different from this.
Think of the green stuff on the back of a scrubbing sponge.

I want to solicit the opinions of others... do you think this would be a safe thing to run down a bore to scrub and peel lead?
A strip of this stuff is a heck of a lot cheaper than using up 3-4 brushes, and would seem to me to be a bit less aggressive and damaging than the often recommended 0000 steel wool.

What do you think?

Paul F.

See... this is why I ask these questions before proceeding! 

Here was my thinking on the scrubby-pad...
On strictly informal rubbing on things, it has struck me as less abrasive than steel wool.. 
I too hesitate at using steel wool in a rifle bore. Steel on steel just strikes me as wrong. And yes, I agree that others have used it for a century or so.

Also, I have destroyed a bore with a stainless brush. I actually got steel shavings out of the bore on the brush! (I'll never do THAT again...and never use a stainless brush again, ever.).

I few mintues ago I tried scrubbing a piece of steel with the srubby pad, and could not detect any marks. But it wasn't a highly finished piece of steel either.  I may try it on something polished when I have time to try to gauge how "agressive" it is.

Sure would beat elbow grease for lead removal *IF* it doesn't damage a bore.

Paul F.

I use and would recommend trying some RB-17 Bore Cleaner. It disolves lead deposits. Just swab a heavy coat of it in the bore, let it sit for 15 minutes or so, then wipe out with a tight fitting patch. The patch and juice will be grey colored from the lead disolving.

It usually takes 3 or 4 passes to completely get the lead out, though if a bronze brush is used, it speeds the process up. Just clean the brush out with water, or the RB will eat the brush.

RB-17 also removes rust quite handily, and will also cause rust if left in the bore for extended periods, so use caution.

It is also a great Black Powder cleaner. I've used it diluted about 2 to 1 on a patch with great success for wiping between shots in my muzzle loading target rifles.

Brownells used to carry it; not sure if they still do. It's good stuff if you can find it.

Safe and Happy Shooting! Joe Beary

Plastic?

From 3M's web site:
Scotch-Brite™ Finishing Non-woven Abrasives

           
The original and still the leading non-woven nylon cleaning, conditioning and finishing material. Impregnated with fast- acting and durable abrasive, all Scotch-Brite™ Non-woven products can be used repeatedly either dry, with water or most spirit based solvents.


We know we cam polish bluing with steel wool and oil right?

Take a old trash barrel and try steel wool on one side and Scotch Brite on the other.

Which is more abrasive?

Don't use scotch brite in your bore.

Sigh...
I knew I shouldn't have mentioned Scotch Brite...

What I have is not the 3m product... it just looks simillar.

When I have time, I'll test the pad I have on something blued side by side with steel wool... before I put it through a bore.


Some great ideas on chemical warfare vs lead though! All much appreciated!


Paul F.

Steel wool is much less abrasive than Skotchbrite or any other similar plastic product. Like Asst says, just compare the results on the same piece, you'll see. FWIW I recommend the 00 grade, anything finer doesn't seem to give the same bite into the lead. I haven't tried bronze wool but would be very surprised if it worked nearly as well as 00 steel wool.

And yes, repeated use will damage an older soft barrel, but IMO once or twice would be OK if used sparingly.

I prefer the Outer's FoulOut reverse electroplating system, it will remove lead as well as copper when the proper materials are used and it seems to work very well indeed.

One caveat however; if left to work for too long a time, it WILL remove barrel steel! The system should be turned off when the lights say the barrel is clean, DO NOT let it work all night! The amount of steel removed will be miniscule, but we can't afford any loss at all in some of these old barrels, so please pay attention to the lights.

In the past I've gotten flames for cautioning about the FoulOut and its potential for steel removal. It seems some folks don't believe that the removal can happen, and the Outer's literature doesn't say much about it.

Back when the FoulOut first came out, my shooting buddy and I bought one to share. Well, my shooting buddy is A Big Kahuna in the Instrumentation & Control section down at the local nuclear plant, and he immediately began researching the FoulOut system 'cause he's pretty anal about such things.

To make a long story short, the factory engineers eventually confirmed that an extended session in a clean barrel would result in some slight steel removal, at least it would when the copper-removing system was in use. My buddy didn't ask specifically about the lead-removal side, but I personally take no chances.

The engineers stressed that no steel removal would take place unless the system was operated on clean steel for many, many hours; they mentioned 4 hours or more. I typically set my buzzer/dinger alarm for one hour at a time if I'm not going to be within view of the lights, and I've noticed no problems in many, many years of use. The one-hour setting allows for only a few minutes of bare-steel exposure time before I'm alerted, and has worked very well for me for a long time now. I recommend it.

I also recommend Ed's Red, it's cheap and does an excellent job on light fouling/leading. I don't use stainless brushes on any barrel that I value, and I don't even use bronze brushes if I can help it. Please see Merrill Martin's articles in Precision Shooting a few years ago, he gave some interesting results from his cleaning experiments re brushes vs patches.
Sorry to be so long-winded, JMOFWIW, Joe

What about the 50/50 mix of viniger and hydrogen peroxide?  Not left for any length of time of course.

If you guys would just switch to paper patched bullets, this leading thing just isn't going to be on your horizon 

Brent