22lr revolver: forcing cone lead fouling removal?

[smokey262]

I have several 22 rimfire pistols that have a tendancy to collect lead fouling in the forcing cone after several hundred shots. Cleaning this area is a difficult task. I am aware of the Lewis Lead Removal system, but do not see that this is available for 22 rimfire pistols.

What is the fastest and best way to get this area clean?

 

[918v]

Use a bronze .224" rifle brush with half the bristles removed.

 

[Hondo 60]

Get a COPPER choreboy & take a single strand from it.
Wrap it around the bronze brush & scrub.

Don't have to scrub very, the copper is tougher than lead, but gentle on the steel.


And make sure it's COPPER, not copper-coated steel.

 

[TonyT]

smoker 262,
In the future you may want to consider other brands or varieties of ammunition. The only time I badly leaded a 22 rimfire pistol was using Remington Thunderbolt ammo on a hot day and not allowing the barrel to cool after firing ca 20 rounds. It took a lot of scrubbing with a bronze brush to remov the leading.

 

[smokey262]

Thanks for the suggestion, will try a few different types next time. This trip was some Winchester Dyna-Point and X-Pert bulk ammo. Dirty stuff!

This was my son's first exposure to pistol shooting. He was shooting at a variety of swinging steel targets at 25 yards, and was hitting them often enough to feel pretty good. Needless to say he was having a blast.

The problem I am having is that the entry of the forcing cone is larger than the bore size so not much cleaning is going on. Have confiscated one brand new all copper choreboy from the kitchen and will try wrapping one strand around the end of the brush after it is inserted in the barrel and see what happens

Would he application of any type or brand of lube in this area make cleanup easier next time by preventing such strong adhesion?

 

[TonyT]

smokey262,
You should consider using the Fedferal copper plated/washed HV HP ammo in the 525 or 550 round bulk packs. It shoots fairly clean ans the copper wash minimizes the leading issue.

 

[Remllez]

Smokey,

Try using Mil-Tec 1 for preemptive maintenance,follow the directions and use a heat gun or hair dryer. It bonds on a molecular level to the metal and really helps with lead/copper buildup. I use it exclusively now and cleaning even after heavy shooting is much easier.

 

[Got_Lead?]

My revolvers always get a few deposits of lead in the forcing cone/leade area. Heavy or light loads, doesn't seem to matter, hard alloy or soft, they always get a bit of very hard deposits that are hard to remove. Semi-autos and lead boolits don't do this, they can lead the leade a bit, but the deposits are always easy to remove with a bore brush and a couple of strokes. But revolvers.......... Different animal, usually the cylinder throats get the same hard lead deposits, centerfires anyway, and after a couple of cylinders, the barrel leade is just as leadded as it was before cleaning.

On the bright side, this leadding only goes so far, then keeps an even keel, no matter how many rounds you put down the pipe. Some ammo fouls less, some ammo fouls more, I haven't spent much time tracking how copper washed bullets compare to plain lead in the revolver, but I would think the copper ones run a little cleaner. I have found any ammo that runs cleaner as far as leadding is concerned, it will actually clean the bore of previous deposits left by dirtier ammo. Shooting a half dozen jacketed rounds down the barrel pretty much cleans out any lead deposits. If you have a convertable, run a cylinder of .22 mags through it, this will clear most of your leadding out.

Interestingly, leadding in the leade and throats in a revolver doesn't impair the accuracy, I have a Security Six that shoots 1" to 1 1/2" groups at 25 yards, clean bore or fouled bore, the groups are uneffected. The thing that is affected by cylinder and leade leadding is velocity, my Sec-Six shoots about 70 fps faster after the throats and leade have been fouled by a couple of cylinders after having been cleaned. So, long story short, my revolver shoots better with a fouled bore.

What's the moral of the story? I think scrubbing down to bare metal in a lead shootin hand rig might just be over rated. I do know you can damage a gun by over / improper cleaning technique. So, I have trained myself to just not worry about it. I do clean and oil my guns meticulously, however, forcing cone fouling on a lead shooting revolver doesn't seem to hurt anything, and I just live with it.

 

[Pyro]

My .32 S&W-L forcing cone and cylinder mouths (from wadcutters) lead up like crazy (the bore is pitted and just grabs chunks of the lead as the bullets fly through). I cut a piece of Birchwood Casey Lead Remover & Polishing Cloth and ran it down the barrel like a patch, cleaned all of it out in a few passes (and made it smell nice!).