Barrel Lead remover

[Fullmag]

I tried equal parts hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar to remove lead residue from the barrel. Seen it posted while back and was getting tired of not getting the lead out of the throat of the barrel. Let the barrel soak for about two hours and it did a really good job.

 

[451_Detonics]

Mercury does a great job!

 

[LCSOSgt11]

Get a Lewis Lead Remover. No nasty chemicals, etc.

 

[superluckycat]

Doesn't that make a pretty nasty lead sulphate?

I use the copper chore boys. Wrap some around a bore brush and swab it out. Works good.

 

[Fullmag]

Mercury does a great job!

Think you forgot your purple colored crayon.

 

[M67]

Think you forgot your purple colored crayon.

Mercury is an excellent lead remover, just something you never see anymore

 

[Fullmag]

Doesn't that make a pretty nasty lead sulphate?

I use the copper chore boys. Wrap some around a bore brush and swab it out. Works good.

After doing some searching on google I am going different route to remove lead. Makes peracitc acid, depending on what you read it's not good. Seen it here on INGO and tried it out, it is not a good way.

Learned something new. Thanks for the update.

 

[Fullmag]

Mercury is an excellent lead remover, just something you never see anymore

Mechanics and Physics I get but not chemistry. Oxidizers is a strange language and what they do is strange also.

Learned some more.

 

[451_Detonics]

Mercury is an excellent lead remover, just something you never see anymore

depends if you had a father who shot bulleye competition from the late 40 till the 70s....

I don't advise any handle the stuff today, even though as a kid I played with it in bare hands quite often...

 

[biggen]

I used to have a half gallon glass jar of mercury. You had to replace the metal lid about every 6 months, cause the mercury would eat it away. I finally took it the Tox-away day that the city used to have. Those people acted like I had a thermonuclear device.

 

[M67]

depends if you had a father who shot bulleye competition from the late 40 till the 70s....

I don't advise any handle the stuff today, even though as a kid I played with it in bare hands quite often...

Ha, that's actually where I learned it from. Friend and his buds shooting a ton of lead back in the day. Bowling pins, 38spl wadcutters, target practice, you name it. They too had a jar of it and it would last forever and do an amazing job.

He always made the joke about playing with Mercuy back in the day, and today if you broke an old school thermometer with it in there they'd call a hazmat team in for 1 little drop

 

[HKUSP]

Brownell's has (perhaps had) a product I liked. It was called non-embedding bore cleaner. It was a paste that you used on patches. It took a bit of scrubbing, and sometimes I would add it to a nylon brush to the mix. It took a bit more elbow grease than chemistry but it was very gentle on the barrel.

 

[Vamptepes]

I'd fine something other then vinegar. Vinegar is what I use to remove finishes like bluing off of guns. I also just manually scrub it out though.

 

[Fullmag]

Yes, used it on a stainless steel barrel. After doing some serious research and input from Ingo have a more thorough understanding of what happens and why not to use. The process has been around for a while with good and bad results. Just because you read it on the internet it's not always a good idea.

 

[bobjones223]

So help me out....why does mercury work?

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

Chem. 101. Why DOES mercury work? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[451_Detonics]

So help me out....why does mercury work?

Mercury has the ability to dissolve other metals and form amalgams. Does it do this with lead:
Lead Amalgam is prepared by rubbing lead filings with mercury in a mortar or by pouring molten lead into mercury. The amalgam has no definite composition. It possesses a brilliant white color and remains liquid with as much as 33% of lead and 67%mercury. A 50:50 lead-mercury amalgam can be crystallized, and a piece of clean lead plunged into this will be found to be covered with crystals of this amalgam when withdrawn.
So you will create a lead/mercury amalgam.

 

[bobjones223]

Mercury has the ability to dissolve other metals and form amalgams. Does it do this with lead:
Lead Amalgam is prepared by rubbing lead filings with mercury in a mortar or by pouring molten lead into mercury. The amalgam has no definite composition. It possesses a brilliant white color and remains liquid with as much as 33% of lead and 67%mercury. A 50:50 lead-mercury amalgam can be crystallized, and a piece of clean lead plunged into this will be found to be covered with crystals of this amalgam when withdrawn.
So you will create a lead/mercury amalgam.

So Bill Nighy I looked up "Amalgam" because...well....you know that was big word....and it's definition was "An alloy of mercury with another metal, especially one used for dental fillings".

Never thought I would see "mercury" and "dental fillings" in the same sentence? Does that mean that it does the same thing to silver and is that why my mom remembers using it to polish nickles?

If so.....well we may all have a better understanding as to why I didn't know what "amalgam" means?

 

[451_Detonics]

So Bill Nighy I looked up "Amalgam" because...well....you know that was big word....and it's definition was "An alloy of mercury with another metal, especially one used for dental fillings".

Never thought I would see "mercury" and "dental fillings" in the same sentence? Does that mean that it does the same thing to silver and is that why my mom remembers using it to polish nickles?

If so.....well we may all have a better understanding as to why I didn't know what "amalgam" means?

maybe I should have just said mercury dissolves lead...

 

[Drail]

And goes right through your skin and into your bloodstream and never ever goes away. Lead is bad enough. Mercury is much worse.