littletoes said:
Well, this is not theoretical, cuz when I took chemistry, the professors were still trying to turn lead into gold...
... but from a practical point.
A long time ago, I needed to move my 18 tons of loading junk, and 90+ firearms very fast (an angry divorce in the works).
So I quietly found new digs with a decent basement/work shop area and my friends and I did a frantic 2 day weekend "move". Everything was put in the basement and left there while I moved in furniture, etc, etc, etc.
A longtime later, I got to hanging up rifles on the wall, and opened the case to a quality, 30 calibre, 1,000 yard match rifle. It had not been cleaned in the panic
There was a white fuzz all through the bore of the stainless barrel - I don't mean something light - I mean the bore was full, all the down the barrel, like what you see on the yogurt you left in your desk drawer from last summer
I'll skip the description of the rants, screaming, tears, self guilt, and emotional pain (and visions of a new $$$$ barrel)... I put a chamber plug in it, filled the bore with Hoppe's #9, and let sit with the barrel up for four days.
When I ran the first patch through it, sludge came out... then I did a normal cleaning. When the barrel was checked with a bore scope, there was absolutely no sign of anything - nothing at all.
There was no damage - the fur was a tin/copper interaction with normal moisture, aided with the chemicals left behind from burnt powder and primer residue.
So, that is what happens in reality.
