I have decided to try Gum Turpentine as a method for removing barrel lead, In the past I have used "Birchwood Casey Lead Removing Cloth" which seemed to do the job OK but has to be imported from the US. What I want to know is the procedure for using the turpentine. Any advice would be appreciated as I really don't want to re invent the wheel.
Mike.

straight fp-10 works very well for me and a number of others.

I clean the bore with a patch and water (for blackpowder) and then a dry patch.  If cleaning smokeless, I use a patch and nitro solvent (take your choice of your preferred).  Then, if there is lead visible in the bore, I wet a tight patch with turpentine, and push it through the bore.  it will squeak and clean out the lead in large strips and flakes.  Repeat if necessary.  The patch must be tight enough to get into the grooves and stip out the lead.  Use thicker patches if necessary, or more than one patch on the jag.   

When all the lead is gone, wipe thoroughly with a dry patch and lube the bore with oil or bullet lube.

I used to have a complex routine such as others have posted above with multiple patches, brushes, letting sit, JB's bore paste etc.  When I went to turpentine, one or sometimes two turpentine patches replaced all the other stuff.  It's amazing how well it works.

dave

I used "lead removing cloth" in one of my rifles back in the late eighties. The more I used it the worse the barrel leaded. Finally had it re-barreled. 
Bev Pinney had a screamer Miller/Smith rifle that was tearing everyone up on the bench. He even shot a 250 with irons on the rifle. Then one day he got some lead in the barrel. Said it just started doing it and that he was going to use LRC on it. Told him what happened to my rifle, Bev basically told me to shut up. I shut up and Bev wound up re-barreled the rifle. 

             Joe.

JLouis wrote on Jan 11^th, 2014 at 6:52pm:


My experience cured me. Won't use it.  Might be there are different types? The cloth I used was called "forcing cone cleaner". A yellow sticky cloth. 

     Joe. 

Mick;
My experience is the turpintine with a tight dry patch.  May need to work to get this patch thru, but I have never had to use a hammer.  Bore reconditioning after this opetatipon is a must.  There are various methods of doing this, mine is "precision 1000" bp lube worked back into the barrel with a patch saturated with it.  Mind you I shoot only BP.

Good luck
Cary

plug the bore and pour it full of mercury.

Amazon has 1 pound bottles for about $100.  Mercury can easily be handled safely but if you spill it in your shop/gun room the cleanup is going to be a real expensive PITA.   Disposal is also a problem.   

Dave