Ok, I'm getting older and have run into something I don't understand or I'm just plain dumb.
I always assumed leading happens in the groves but the gun I have at the moment looks like lead buidup on the lands. That or the lands are really rough looking, like they were never finished in the machining process.
Groves are clean as a whistle but the lands are terrible. Solvent & brush does nothing to clean them up.

Any thoughts? Don't be afraid to tell me I'm dumb as long as you explain it!

There are specialized de-leading cleaning solvents out there. I've never used them myself though.

I use Chore Boy scrubber pads. These are ALL copper. Don't use a pad that LOOKS like copper, but is actually steel with a copper coating. Don't worry about WHERE the leading is, it still has to be cleaned.

1) Use some tin snips and cut off the appropriate amount.

2) Take an old cleaning brush that is a smaller caliber than the gun you want to clean.

3) Wrap the Chore Boy pieces around the brush. Eyeball and make sure it will go into the chamber. Some trial and error/adjustment here.

4) Run the thing through the barrel several times. Do not twist. It will naturally rotate slightly due to the barrel twist itself.

5) Remove and check barrel for lead. Repeat as necessary. Then clean as normal.

You're not dumb. Everything is EASY, when you know how.

Chore Boy link. Your supermarket may carry them as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Chore-Boy/s?k=Chore+Boy

There’s several different things that can cause leading, you could be experiencing just one a combination of things. If it’s not horrible and detrimental to accuracy, just stay on it cleaning wise and move on.

If you’re looking for the cause we’d need a whole lot more info.

What gun/barrel/ammunition?

In my experience leading is more likely to build up in the grooves than the lands, at least at first.
Unless this is something you actually saw appear, my first thought is that it’s not leading, but rather the roughness of the barrel finish, and especially if your cleaning efforts had no effect on it. Another question is what type of bore brush did you use? Metal/plastic/nylon?

Over 20 years ago I took my first concealed carry class, which included 2 days of classroom and 1 day of gun familiarization shooting and range quals. Students were invited to come back the day after quals to learn how to clean their guns, and although I was an experienced shooter when I took it, I enjoyed the class so much, and the fact the cleaning portion was held on my days off, I figured, why not?

Most of the cleaning process demonstration was what you would expect, but after cleaning the handgun barrel with Lead Away cloth I was surprised that the 'clean' barrel produced obvious dark streaks of lead when the patch had been removed. (Lead Away is a heavy treated cloth that feels slightly waxxy, and you cut an appropriately sized portion for your barrel bore and wrap it around a slightly undersized brush or a slightly worn loose brush.

I bought some LA cloth after the demo and when I got home I cleaned the P226 I used in the class, and after cleaning the barrel with brush, patches, and solvent and dried the bore, I ran a couple LA patches and was surprised to see the streaks of lead coming out. It was obvious from the streak pattern that most of it was coming out of the barrel grooves, but there were a few light smudges from the lands as well.

I made LA part of my normal cleaning routine for a number of years but didn't see any change in accuracy or performance in using it though, and eventually backed down using it to maybe every 4th or 5th cleaning, until after I used the last of the cloth. I'll probably replace the cloth at some point when I remember to do it and work it back into my cleaning rotation, but don't see any urgent need for it.

It looks like Midway discontinued carrying LA, but Amazon carries it.

KleenBore Lead Away cloth

I shoot a lot of lead...so e of it just stuff that I sourced from wheel weights and other junk, so it's not uncommon to get lead in the bore.its usually in the grooves and forcing cone areas, though...not on the lands like the OP described. I'm not sure what is going on there.

I have used the chore boy trick, and also have a lewis lead remover. I've found that the LLR works a little better, although it's expensive. That thing will actually strip chunks of lead out of the barrel, and the forcing cone tool is hard to beat, too. One of mine wore out the rubber bushing, and instead of paying Brownells and arm and a leg to replace it, I swapped in some appropriately sized O-rings from a harbor freight bulk pack that I had in the garage...works great.

The Lead away cloth that Modern Day Savage mentioned is also pretty effective. I don't use it in my bores much unless I'm tryin for a really deep clean, but it's awesome for cleaning burn rings off the front of stainless revolver cylinders (they say not to use it on blued guns as it can damage the finish).

For revolver cylinders, I like tornado brushes. A few pases back and forth and it'll scrape all the carbon and lead right out of there, leaving a nice smooth bore. You have to buy them a bit oversized, though, as they're sized for barrels, not for chambers (a 10mm/40 brush works good for a .357 Cylinder, if you can find one. I'm currently using an old worn out .45 brush for that purpose, but it's starting to fall apart). These things are also awesome for getting melted wad plastic out of shotgun barrels.

Lead Away is excellent stuff, but be careful not to use it on blued surfaces as it's reported to remove blueing.

A method I discovered long ago to remove leading is to plug the barrel, fill it with Hoppe’s #9 (the original stuff), and leave it for several days. I believe the formula was changed since the first time I used it that way in the late 1960s, but it still seems to work, although not quite as well.

It’s also a good way to remove all the copper and powder fouling from a barrel, although the way I normally use it to clean pistol barrels is to immerse them in a tall, thin jar filled with the solvent and leave them there several days. Using that method usually makes brushing unnecessary and a tight fitting patch on a jag will leave the barrel completely clean.

And ditto to everything 92fstech said.

Soft lead, and low power rounds lead up more than hard lead and faster, higher-pressure rounds. Avoiding the lead in the first place goes a long way toward not having to struggle getting it out of the barrel.

Coated bullets leave almost no deposit.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
The Lead away cloth that Modern Day Savage mentioned is also pretty effective. I don't use it in my bores much unless I'm tryin for a really deep clean, but it's awesome for cleaning burn rings off the front of stainless revolver cylinders (they say not to use it on blued guns as it can damage the finish).

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Lead Away is excellent stuff, but be careful not to use it on blued surfaces as it's reported to remove blueing.

I have zero recollection of any warning on the packaging for my Lead Away cloth using it on blued guns, so I greatly appreciate you both mentioning that. I bought my cloth in the Summer of 2000, so I wonder if that warning was added later. I only used LA cloth patches on barrel bores with no ill effects, but regardless, good info to know.

quote:

A method I discovered long ago to remove leading is to plug the barrel, fill it with Hoppe’s #9 (the original stuff), and leave it for several days. I believe the formula was changed since the first time I used it that way in the late 1960s, but it still seems to work, although not quite as well.

It’s also a good way to remove all the copper and powder fouling from a barrel, although the way I normally use it to clean pistol barrels is to immerse them in a tall, thin jar filled with the solvent and leave them there several days. Using that method usually makes brushing unnecessary and a tight fitting patch on a jag will leave the barrel completely clean.

sigfreund I use the same method for soaking handgun barrels, and over the years I've acquired quite a collection of glass jars in different sizes and shapes, in my quest for the perfect barrel solvent soaking jar...although I still follow your excellent tip of using Iso for general cleaning duties.

Most of my collection of items used for barrel plugs work ok, but generally leak some, so I'm curious what you use for plugging barrels? Corks?

I use the Lewis Lead Remover too. But mostly in revolvers. And maybe once a year.

I have had satisfactory results using corks to plug barrels. If it’s a revolver I remove the cylinder, (firmly) cork the barrel at the forcing cone (back end), stand the gun up, and fill the barrel with solvent to let it soak. I usually put a piece of plastic wrap over the muzzle to keep the solvent from evaporating and to avoid the interactions that sometimes occur at a fluid and air interface. (I don’t have any reason to believe the last would be a problem with Hoppe’s, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. I also put some paper towels below the barrel ... just in case.)

My preferred soaking jar is a 250ml/8oz wide mouth Nalgene bottle. The REI site shows the one I use, but I don’t know if there’s a supply issue with the ware because Amazon shows the narrow mouth version to be unavailable as well.
https://www.rei.com/product/40...ylene-bottle-8-fl-oz

https://www.usplastic.com/cata...eO016iQaAjtCEALw_wcB


That size is just large enough to close the lid on a 4.7" full size P320 barrel.

When I first started using the bottles many years ago I was leery that the solvent might attack the plastic so for a time I stored the filled bottles in empty soup cans. After years of using the same bottles, though, it’s obvious there’s nothing to be concerned about.

In college the local indoor range had a student night and I would go and burn a 550 pack of Remington Golden Bullets most Thursday nights through a Mosquito when they had first come out. Maintenance on that mistreated pistol involved running a bore snake through it and wiping it down. A few months in it started keyholing really badly. I stripped it down and looked down the barrel which was so leaded up I was left with a roughly bb diameter bore. It was a chore cleaning that thing out.

quote:

Originally posted by prpratt:
the barrel which was so leaded up

Something similar was how I discovered letting a leaded barrel soak in Hoppe’s.
When I came back from Vietnam I bought a Ruger 357 Magnum revolver and a box of the common for the time 158 grain unjacketed semiwadcutter loads. I went to a place in the country where I could shoot, but after about a half a box or so those bullets too started tumbling. When I looked down the barrel it looked like a smoothbore from the leading.

After much frustration with a brass brush, I hit on the idea of just trying to let the barrel soak filled with Hoppe’s. After a few days I brushed it again and the lead came out in long strips. As I say, I don’t believe the current formula for the solvent is the same today, but it’s worth a try.

Interesting to see the wide range of solutions for leading problems. A few random comments:

1) I started reloading in the early 1970's with a single stage RCBS press. Loaded .38 Spl, .357 Mag and .45 ACP.

2) Most lead bullets were soft lead, but could get some hard cast. Used the softer at low velocities for practice. Jacketed were too expensive for practice.

3) Used hard cast for my .357 Mags at full velocity. Some leading, but nothing serious. Early on, I carried .357 Mags and used my own SWC hard cast reloads. Super Vel JHP's were scarce and expensive, so I went the Elmer Keith road.

4) Got my first Glock in 2011. Now have a G34 and two G19's. Even with hard cast, I get some leading in my other nines. However, I get nearly NO leading with the Glocks. I attribute it to the polygonal rifling, which produces LESS leading (mine anyway) than conventional. According to some Internet "experts", it should produce MORE. I use very hard cast bullets at mid-range velocities.

Yeah, the Old Guy has mellowed over the years. I now also use some poly loads. Not due to any leading issues though. More to reduce the smoke indoors from the lead loads (lube) when shooting rapid fire defensive drills.

quote:

I always assumed leading happens in the groves but the gun I have at the moment looks like lead buildup on the lands.

I understand the causes of lead building up and I know, basically, how to remove it.

The gun in question is a Charter Arms Bulldog .44 spl bought used so I have no idea of previous ammo history.

I just am wondering if leading normally is in the groves or on the lands of rifling.

For a little more ( Pennie’s per 100 ) i buy coated bullets and have NO problem with leading.

Whats the victim? Make model, bbl length? What bullets you shooting. IF a revolver, what are the cylinder throat dimensions? Load data?

https://www.brownells.com/gun-...mover-prod21587.aspx

Lewis Lead remover, sold by Brownells.

FN in MT