Hoppes makes brownish goo that upon soaking frees Pb chamber rings from revolver cylinders. One needs to follow directions and work with it outside. The organic smell of this stuff is overwhelming, worse then plastic model plane glue.
Start by running a few jacketed bullets loads through the gun before you leave the range. Then, Kroil, Ballistol or whatever gun oil, a brass brush with some copper chore boy wrapped around it, and scrub.
Is the Lewis lead remover still made? Hoppe's may have sold them under their brand for a while. It looks like a brass screen from one of those 70s era head shop pipes with a hole in the middle that fits over a rubber plug & gets pulled thru the bore. Works well. The device is also adjustable for use on forcing cones.
There's always mercury if all else fails.
Sacred cows make good burgers when you know what temperature to cook them at.-Rev. Billy
Lead-Away cloth wrapped around a jag to fit the bore tightly will work. I don't know if that's even still available though.
There's another product that works but I cannot recall what it is called. It is a soft metallic material shaped like those foil icecicles we used to hang in Christmas trees. Wrap a bronze brush with a few strands of that stuff and clean like you normally would (Hoppe's No.9 for me).
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
Start by running a few jacketed bullets loads through the gun before you leave the range. Then, Kroil, Ballistol or whatever gun oil, a brass brush with some copper chore boy wrapped around it, and scrub.
That right there is the quickest and easiest way - both the jacketed bullets and copper/brass scouring pad.
A standard brass bore brush with a few strands of the scouring pad wrapped around it - it doesn't take much - will pull crumbs of lead out with each pass. Easy peasy, no more elbow grease required than normal cleaning. The pad material will break apart as well, but you use so little of it that one pad will last a very long time.
Not sure which brand I use since I threw the packaging away long ago, but it looks just like this. I cut off about a 2" individual strand and wrap it around the bore brush.
The Lewis Lead Remover also works very well. I've had one for decades but honestly, strands of copper or brass pad wrapped around a standard bore brush works just as well and is easier to use. If you want to try the Lewis, Brownell's still sells them. You can get the whole shebang for $39.99 or just the working parts for $19.99.
The Big 45 pad looks like a coarse scrubbing pad but it’s a metal that is softer than steel. A few strands of it around a bronze brush will pull lead out really quickly and won’t hurt the barrel steel.
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
A soak in Kroil plus pure copper chore boy wound around a worn bore brush. Make sure you get pure copper (Amazon has it). Most of the grocery store stuff is copper coated steel and you don’t want that.
That's the stuff I was talking about. I'd forgotten what it looks like in the package because I've been using the same bore brushes wrapped with that stuff for any lead removal for many years. I guess they've lasted so long because I've lucked into the right alloy and the right sizing, so leading just isn't much of a problem for me anymore.
Don't be the darkness.
America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.
Pair it with a *good* penetrant soak. It will get under the lead and help lift it off. It is amazing what will come out of a heavily leaded bore. I have a .22 that leaded badly with poor ammo. A brush wouldn’t touch it, but Kroil and the copper chore boy sent curls of lead out of the barrel shaped like rifling. It took a couple rounds of soak and scrub to de-lead the barrel. Thanks Winchester Wildcat.
Lewis lead remover, been using one for years. I made a flat steel plate to replace the t-handle, put the plate on the floor and stand on it pull the lead remover thru the barrel using the revolver as a handle. Works really well for me especially when using new brass screens that haven't been thru the bore yet.
How often do you guys clean for lead? It’s occurred to me that I have some revolvers with hundreds of rounds of cast bullets through them since I’ve last scrubbed with copper. I do occasionally shoot jacketed bullets in them so maybe that works at least some?