Hey folks,

Most of you know I shoot a .177 Model 34. I shoot CP HP's exclusively, and it's pretty accurate, most of the time. About 2000 rounds or better thru'er.

For a while, tho, I'd been noticing a dull area, about 3" in from the breech, about 1" or so long. Often there were flakes in there. Swabbing revealed they were lead flakes. This must be the "leadding" that CP's are so famous for in 900fps+ airguns, is it? The rest of the bore is mirror-like.

I've recently started pledging my pellets, and this has seen the leadded area shrink and lessen alot. It also, understandably, greatly increased my accuracy (average group size almost halved).

I'd like to take this a bit further, and remove the remaining signs of leading from my barrel.

I spent some time last night addressing this. I've been using a piece of .095" trimmer line to push paper towel patches thru the barrel, from breech to muzzle. I'll run an oiled patch, and follow it with a half dozen dry patches, and after about 30 total, I'm down to just a little grey fog in the leaded area, not much at all. I've run the patches with crossman pellgunoil, and I've tried miltec1, both I have at my disposal. Funds are non-existant right now, so I'm looking for anything that may help remove that last bit of deposit, that I might already have at home. Thinking along the lines of penetrating lubes (wd, miltec, etc.), it occurs to me that maybe something like vinegar could help (won't try without someones blessing!), maybe naptha, or paint thinner, or kerosene...

Now, I understand the risk posed by introducing flamable lubes in a spring gun, and take great care to keep these lubes out of the compression chamber. I also understand about the effect of many petroleum products (and others) on breech seals, so I'm also very careful to exclude lube from this.

Just looking for a simple way to get that last bit out, I'm fairly sure that the pledged pellets will not lead the bore anymore (fingers crossed), so it would seem desireable to remove the last trace of leading.

I'm definately up to minute-of-teaspoon at 40 yds accuracy now, tho. Was more like tablespoon at that range previous to starting the pledge saga, and getting worse (due to ever increasing leading!)

Thanks for lookin'!

J

Save up your pennies. Over on the Muzzle Loading Forum the guys were talking about antiquing bare metal gun barrels with mustard which contains a lot of vinegar. You don't want to etch it. That would be worse than the leading. Even though it removed everything, the resulting roughness would lead up again in no time. Maybe a few pulls through with a soft brass brush?

Any suggestions out there?

Pretty much expected that that would be the result of vinegar. I normally use it as a carb cleaner for small engine work, and for that it's great. It does dull shiny bits, tho, and a can of it ruined a couple hand tools for me last year when teh cats tipped it over while we were away for the weekend....

I know the best answer is probably JB bore paste and a bronze brush, but it's not available locally (the paste), and I'm in no position to order any in teh coming days

Thanks for your thoughts!

J

You can check there, if you want to. So far, Goo gone with a patch and pull through. If not, then the bronze brush. Don't use stainless as I believe it will be too hard. Also, just pull the brush through, don't reverse it. Even a soft metal brush may do something if worked that way.

Here's a hand dandy pull through. Get some heavy duty weed whacker line and a flat surface such as a piece of metal or glass. Take a match and heat the end of the line until you get a gob (don't catch it on fire) and then quickly press it against the flat surface. Let cool and you have a nice foot on the line. Then cut the other end at an angle, poke it into you patch and slide it down until it stops. I use these for some .22's that are hard to break down. Just be sure you have some kind of crown protector (like a brass cone sold with many cleaning rods). If not, just be careful not to pull it over the edge of the muzzle.

Do watch your seal when cleaning.

Once you get your gun clean, examine the leaded area for any roughness which may be causing the leading. I don't know if JB Borepaste is ok for springers, but you may want to burnish it there. Maybe even Flitz? I think that's milder than JB.

See who else chimes in here. They have more experience than me.

ps - Most of the old posts on leading said to use some kind of lube or wash for your pellets from now on. If you look here on the DianWerke you will see a post or two about some good coatings.

Since the leading has already been sharply reduced in extent by the use of the Pledged pellets why not do nothing for a while longer to see if the problem will simply disappear? You already know from the evidence you have presented for our consideration that what you are doing is making it better. Try curbing your impatience, enjoy shooting and see what developes rather than risk the barrel to questionable chemicals and techniques. Time is truly the great healer and it sounds like it's even working on your leading problem. Let it. Tom

In the long run, I am sure the leading spot in the barrel will go away just using Pledged pellets. It's the nature of the beast. Silicone wax is, after all , still a silicone based product and as such will slowly get UNDER the lead and the friction of subsequent pellets will get it out.

True.

Now, expanding on the weed-whacker pull-thru and now that our good Marty is out of the business, let me post here a tip that would have hurt him as it makes it easy for anyone to have a cheap, calibrated, strong and almost fool-proof pull-thru:

1.- Get a 3/16" UNC nut.
2.- Clamp it on a metal surface.
3.- Get both the metal surface and the nut real hot (not red, not even blue, but real hot)
4.- Put the weedwhacker into the hot cavity that is formed by the nut and the metal plate and push.

This will make a "threaded" button of the same material as the line that is one piece with it.

The size is the correct size for 0.22" bores using diaper flannel as patch material, just experiment with size of the patch, about 1/2" square works for me fine, but you may have a different flannel weight.

Before using it, put a drinking straw into the muzzle bore and use that as crown protector, if the straw gets damaged, you are twisting and using the pull-thru incorrectly.

MAKE SURE that the pull through never falls to the ground and picks up any sand or dirt, as the dirty pull-thru would then act as a cutting string and damage your bore. Keep it clean and it will do its job.

Hope this helps anyone out there with limited funds.



Un Abrazo!




Héctor

Thanks for the ideas, guys.

Yup, the pledged pellets did reduce the lead deposit, but after 200 rounds, it's pretty much staying put. I'm thinking that if I can get it outta there (more like when I do), it won't re-occur since the pellets are now lubed.

I'll keep at what i've been doing until I'm satisfied, I guess. Don't worry, I always work from teh breech and won't damage the crown. I'll do no harm! I've done harm to projects in the past, by pushing for the easy solution, or by burning too long, but not today!

I'd say I'm down to the last 10% of lead, the going is just a bit slower now... But with a weekend full of rain and snow in the forcast, I'll just plug away!

J