Seriously, try a tornado brush. They make both steel and brass versions...the brass is gentler on your gun parts, but the steel is stiffer and cleans a little better. Bristle brushes don't have the stiffness to scrape that crud out of the bore...they just slide over it.

I usually stick the muzzle end of the barrel down on the bench and just work the brush back and forth very aggressively. You may have to do this for a while. Then I get the muzzle off the bench and scrub that area a little more carefully so I don't push through and knick up the crown. You'll be amazed how much crud it scrapes out. Then follow up with some patches to wipe out the leftover loose debris. I've had good success getting the bore mirror shiny with this approach.

I tens of thousands of rounds through my 12 gauge when I was competing in sporting clays, trap, and skeet. I really didn't see lead fouling, but plastic and powder fouling was a challenge to remove -- especially on days where 200-300 rounds went down the tubes.

I tried many cleaning methods, but ultimately settled on 3x3 inch cloth patches, a Bore Tech plastic shotgun jag, and RemOil. My barrels were shiny & spotless afterwards. The most fouled days of shooting required maybe 7 or 8 passes with clean, wet patches.

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FWIW, shotgun threads are regularly found in the rifle room section.

RemOil? Whoda thunk it? I’m gonna try that.

Above recommendations for stainless tornado brush is the correct answer. I used to shoot doubles in sporting clays in very hot summer sun, the barrels got so hot you could not touch them. The plastic wadding builds up so hard and thick the tornado brush was the only way to get it out.

And of course the Lewis Lead Remover for lead deposits in revolver barrels and forcing cones.

I can already hear the criticism I am about to take for the method that I am about to suggest. I have employed this method on my Remington 1100 slug barrel, and achieved excellent results.

Find a sturdy secure 8” to 12” wooden peg that will hold the barrel securely, vertically. You can use a 12” square wooden block, and sturdy peg mounted in the center. You will need very thick gloves to handle the barrel. Slowly pour a teapot full of boiling hot water right down the breach of the barrel (remove the barrel from the lower assembly). This method will remove 95 to 98% of all the lead fouling out of the barrel and leave it as clean as new. Repeat if necessary, but I doubt you will need a 2nd application. It will not harm the barrel nor the blue on the barrel. You will get the barrel cleaner than hours of scouring that solvent and brushes might accomplish. After you’re done, let the barrel cool a little till you can handle it, and then oil it like you would right after you shoot. You can thank me later. I have a very firm understanding of how counterintuitive this sounds, but I have personally employed on my Remington 1100 slug barrel. It works.

I just ordered some new tornado brushes as mine is worn out after decades of use. I also ordered a Lewis lead remover for shotguns. I have one for pistols but didn't even know they had such an one for shotguns.

FYI. All this is from me firing a single slug to sight in a red dot. Then I fired an 00 shell from 20 yards to check the pattern. Same thing at 30 yards. Shotgun is a Benelli M4 that I only recently bought and have fired less than a box of shells.

The barrel was pristine before the sighting in as I cleaned it well since the last time I fired it. I clean all my guns after shooting. Not bench rest clean. But much cleaner than your average American gun owner.

Thanks for all the responses. You guys are great and I'll give you an update after I get the new supplies. You might decide you can't live without a shotgun Lewis lead remover.

First off modern Buckshot loads use a Plastic Wad to contain the shot while it's in the barrel. To actually expose the barrel requires loading a paper shell the "old fashioned" way using felt and paper wads and cards to assemble the stack. A technique that is just too slow and costly for a commercial shell.

As for Slugs, those will be carried by a Plastic Sabot that forms the seal between the slug and barrel during transit in the barrel. Without that Sabot there would be so much gas leakage that you would get really poor velocity and nearly unusable accuracy. BTW the old school method wad to use a thick felt wad to provide the gas seal but it's too costly for modern shells and Sabot's provide much better accuracy.

So you are dealing with what is a combination of Powder fouling and plastic residue. I shoot competitive Skeet which is typically a 400 or 500 shell event shot in calibers ranging between 410 and 12 gauge. BTW due to recoil and damage to the body from recoil many shooters will only shoot 410 and 28 gauge and use the 28 for the 20 and 12 gauge events. As a result one registered shoot can put as many as 300 shells thru a barrel.

The preferred cleaners are typically Hoppes #9 and Ballistol. I prefer Ballistol. My cleaning regimen is fairly simple and I use Ballistol because it does remove all traces of plastic from my barrels and chokes. I have taken one cleaning rod and cut it down to about 12 inches so it can be chucked into my Milwaukee M12 hand drill. I use with a bronze brush and Ballistol to clean the choke and breech end of the barrels with a 20-30 second spin at medium speed. Note Breech and choke are the areas that accumulate the most plastic. Then I use another full length cleaning rod to give each barrel tube 40 to 50 full length strokes to break up any accumlulation in the area between breech and choke. Basically it takes me about 20 minutes to fully clean my 28 gauge barrels after a Registered Shoot. Note cleaning the receiver of my O/U takes me about 5-10 minutes and I also use Ballistol for that.

In your case I would suggest that you purchase a Proshot shotgun cleaning rod and cut the handle off of it. Also purchase 3-4 Bronze cleaning bushes and a can of Ballistol. Chuck the cleaning rod in your hand drill, hold the barrel in your bare hand and use that setup and your stock of brushes to get your barrel clean. Note the bare hand is to sense the heat you are generating, get too hot and you'll just melt the plasic and totally clog the brush. All you want is lukewarm so when it gets to that point either slow the drill down and take a break. I expect that in 30 to 45 minutes you will have a clean barrel. BTW, do not expect a silver barrel because many shotgun barrels are "blued" during the manufacturing process. If it's old enough to have been rust blued that is an extremely durable finish.

BTW, rust Bluing was dropped for bluing in the early 1900's because it is a very slow process to do. I believe that Holland & Holland and Purdey's do currently offer Rust Bluing but asking for that process can add a year or more to the build time for your gun because they will take the time to get it absolutely perfect.

quote:

First off modern Buckshot loads use a Plastic Wad to contain the shot while it's in the barrel. To actually expose the barrel requires loading a paper shell the "old fashioned" way using felt and paper wads and cards to assemble the stack. A technique that is just too slow and costly for a commercial shell.

Cheap OO buck uses powder. X12x wad or similar wad, shot,crimp . No wad cup and the lead does rub the inside of the barrel.

After many officers shooting shotguns for qualifying the plastic wad would build up very bad.

I would use at the end of the day Clean Shot. It would break up the hard cleaning .

Then latter the next day easy clean with bore brush and any solvent would clean up easy.


https://cedarmillfirearms.com/...aeCtNb7IF00B0EvOlFYE

quote:

Originally posted by 808:
After many officers shooting shotguns for qualifying the plastic wad would build up very bad.

I would use at the end of the day Clean Shot. It would break up the hard cleaning .

Then latter the next day easy clean with bore brush and any solvent would clean up easy.


https://cedarmillfirearms.com/...aeCtNb7IF00B0EvOlFYE

That's pretty interesting. Didn't know it existed!