Cleaning A Shotgun

[azmntman]

So I had posted a while back about shooting the SCL (skycheif load) and mentioned it was a terrible dirty barrel. I'm headed out again here in a bit. Question: would what I thought was powder residue maybe be lead? If so what do you guys use to clean lead from the barrel? I dont think it was powder, I washed and washed too many times but final oil patch always came back DIRTY.

 

[leadhoarder]

Modern solvents and brush. Standard solvents will mildly attack lead but if the fouling is severe there are solvents made just for lead and cowboy action shooting.

I have read that a portion of chore boy scrubber works well too.

Follow your normal routine for removing powder fouling and then switch over to the modern stuff.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Boiling water lifts mine out brother.
If I have lead down in the barrel there it usually is in the bucket after boiled water heating the steel up.

 

[Historian]

Just a piece of advice sir. I discovered a long time ago that if I wanted to avoid the leaded barrel issue I switched over to either Copper or Nickle plated shot. It is not fool proof mind you but seemed to help a great deal with the leading of the barrel issue. I always use a copper or bronze bore brush and Ballistol to remove any possible left over lead. Barring that what Britsmoothy says also works good!

 

[Skychief]

Azmntman, sorry to hear of your dirty bore. I've not had any issue with the load nor heard of others with your plight. There's no ingredient that's not commonly used in other loadings. Makes me wonder if it may be some leading that you're experiencing.

Best regards, Skychief.

 

[ZUG]

Some very wet swabbing with Kroil and let stand a few times will loosen up some of the lead but you will need to scrub the bore with "chore-boy" to get it all out depending on how bad the lead deposit is .

 

[Many Klatch]

Try using steel wool when you are cleaning a smoothbore. It really gets the crud out fast. You can't hurt the rifling.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

To your water, cold or hot, drop one drop of liquid soap for dishwashing.
It greatly reduces the surface tension, so the water does a better and faster job of penetration of the crud in the barrel.

LD

 

[Lorne Johnson]

I used to use MPro-7 for removing lead when I shot modern SxS's. It works well on lead, is water based, and non-toxic (nice to know when you've got it all over yourself).

I would be confident that Brit Smoothy's method works well. Just take suitable precautions so that you don't slip up and pour boiling water on your hand or wrist.