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Lead fowling issue

I have a Ruger Alaskan 454 with a 2 1/2" barrel. It appears I have some lead fowling in the throat and I cant get it all out. We were shooting lead bullet 45 colt loads back and forth with full house loads of 454. Normally I clean my guns right away but I find revolvers a pain in the butt to clean and I knew we were going to shoot it again in a few weeks so I chose to just leave it dirty. After shooting it Saturday I gave the barrel a 2 day soak in Hoppes, that's when I noticed the lead fowling. I gave it another 2 day soak in wipe out but its still there. I tried some copper removers as I've had luck in the past with them pulling stubborn fowling (Montana extreme and Sweets), both removed a little more but some is still there. Aggressive brushing with brass and nylon brushes too. I love this gun and its mint except for this. Is there something else I could try that attacks lead?

I've only had this problem once before in a shot gun that was giving me slug problems, after 75 rounds and a very sore shoulder we figured out the problem. The barrel was very lead fowled to say the least, the only way I could get it out was with one of those stainless tornado brushes. It worked great in a smooth bore shot gun barrel, I'm not running one of those in this gun though.

Thanks, John.
 
First, glad you don't want to use a stainless brush. Should ban those things.
It sounds like you might be able to run a rod from the muzzle (wrap a generous amount of tape around the rod to protect the bore) and screw on a brush from the cylinder end with bronze wool wrapped around it. Pull it firmly against the the forcing cone and rotate it. May even have to use a drill to get enough pressure. JB Compound can help to. If all else fails, you might see if you can find a Lewis Lead Remover kit.
If you shoot a lot of lead, you might want to have the cone recut to an 11-degree taper. Works better and most smiths don't charge an arm and a leg for it. Have your cylinder throats checked while you are at it. They should be a match for your actual bore diameter as close as possible. Rugers often have cylinder throats tighter than the bore...a sure way to lead. Most of my Rugers have been opened to .001" over bore and seldom lead.
Good luck!
 
Had a lead problem with my 44mag. A forum member told me to buy Chore boy scrubbing pads. Run some hoppes in the bore and wrap a couple strands of the Chore boy pad around a bronze brush.Cleaned all lead out easily as verified with my bore scope. Use only Chore boy scrubbing pads as they are copper. Most others are copper coated steel and will harm bore.
 
Used to be a tool called Lewis Lead remover. It was basically a bore sized jag that held a circular piece of brass screen. I had one of these tools it was very effective. I only shoot my own cast bullets now and make the alloy hard enough to be sure it wont lead the barrel. I have plenty of printers type to make the alloy harder.
 
Lewis Lead remover is still sold today. But I have the best luck by first soaking the bore in Ed's Red (or Kroil) for a couple of days, then using the brush wrapped with the Chore Boy strands. Has always worked for me. The solvent works it way under the lead layer, and it comes out in larger flakes.
 
I'll 3rd that. The Lewis Lead remover works great. Back in the late 70's early 80's that's what was used to remove lead buildup in our service,(police) revolvers.
 
When I had light leading in my 44 ruger I used to shoot a couple of "light" copper jacketed loads
through the barrel and that would take almost all lead out of the bore..:eek::D Never had problems
doing that way ...but now I shoot very light cowboy loads with harder lead cast bullets and most
all lead left in the bore cleans out easily with Hoppes and bronze brush. If you have heavy lead fouling
I don't recommend shooting a copper jacketed bullet through bore as you WILL increase pressures.
 

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