Lead Fouling: Pure Copper Scouring Pad

[oafpatroll]

I've never needed to try so cant confirm if it works but have heard that firing a few jacketed bullets can remove lead fouling.

[flyinggun]

I've never needed to try so cant confirm if it works but have heard that firing a few jacketed bullets can remove lead fouling.

I have not heard this one for many a year....

[Trayton]

I've never needed to try so cant confirm if it works but have heard that firing a few jacketed bullets can remove lead fouling.

Negative, not a good idea. Lead that has been melted to the barrel by extreme heat from gas cutting can be stuck fast and and the copper jacket cannot magically remove it.

It might remove some but the general idea is that the copper bullet just gets compressed by the lead increasing pressure etc.

The interewebs reckons "don't be lazy, when in doubt, scrub it out".

[ady]

If you can find some. Mercury in the barrel works very well and you clean the mercury with blotting paper. That is how i used to clean my barrel from lead fouling. It was the only thing i found that worked properly.

[oafpatroll]

Negative, not a good idea. Lead that has been melted to the barrel by extreme heat from gas cutting can be stuck fast and and the copper jacket cannot magically remove it.

It might remove some but the general idea is that the copper bullet just gets compressed by the lead increasing pressure etc.

The interewebs reckons "don't be lazy, when in doubt, scrub it out".

Makes sense. Not something I would be keen to try and on reflection I had only really heard it suggested as something to do immediately after a session of shooting cast rather than as a fix for any substantial deposits built up over time

[A-R]

Cleaning out the lead fouling is one thing, and should be done. I find that some of the penetrating oil sprays help a lot to loosen the lead up. Spanjaard spark and Ram Trisol seem to work. Also, pouring boiling water down the barrel seems to help with the lead. The different heat expansion ratios of lead and steel help to loosen the lead.

What is more important is how to prevent the fouling from happening in the first place. A few points to consider:
1. The PC must be thick enough. Apply a second coat if the first is very thin. Especially the dry shake-and-bake method seems to give a very thin coating.
2. Make sure your bullet diameter after sizing it at least 0.001" larger than the barrel groove diameter. This ensures a proper seal. Have your barrel slugged.
3. Limit the peak chamber pressure to below the tensile strength of our bullet. If the peak pressure gets too high, the bullet will deform under pressure. With the faster handgun propellants like S121, S020, D032, H TiteGroup, IMR Target etc, the peak pressures tend to approach close too, and sometimes exceed, the max peak pressure spec of cartridges like 9mmP when loaded to a PF of 125 - 135. This does not work well with soft cast bullets, powder coated or not. The slower powders like S221, D036 (AA no5), D037.1 (AA no 7), CFE Pistol, 3N37, 3N38 etc. help to keep peak pressures at around 25 000 PSI for 130 PF 9mmP loads, which is usually low enough to not deform cast lead PC bullets.

If you cast and coat the bullets yourself, you have control over the composition. If you buy them, the only thing you have a say over is the size of the bullet and the pressure behind it.

[Trayton]

Cleaning out the lead fouling is one thing, and should be done. I find that some of the penetrating oil sprays help a lot to loosen the lead up. Spanjaard spark and Ram Trisol seem to work. Also, pouring boiling water down the barrel seems to help with the lead. The different heat expansion ratios of lead and steel help to loosen the lead.

What is more important is how to prevent the fouling from happening in the first place. A few points to consider:
1. The PC must be thick enough. Apply a second coat if the first is very thin. Especially the dry shake-and-bake method seems to give a very thin coating.
2. Make sure your bullet diameter after sizing it at least 0.001" larger than the barrel groove diameter. This ensures a proper seal. Have your barrel slugged.
3. Limit the peak chamber pressure to below the tensile strength of our bullet. If the peak pressure gets too high, the bullet will deform under pressure. With the faster handgun propellants like S121, S020, D032, H TiteGroup, IMR Target etc, the peak pressures tend to approach close too, and sometimes exceed, the max peak pressure spec of cartridges like 9mmP when loaded to a PF of 125 - 135. This does not work well with soft cast bullets, powder coated or not. The slower powders like S221, D036 (AA no5), D037.1 (AA no 7), CFE Pistol, 3N37, 3N38 etc. help to keep peak pressures at around 25 000 PSI for 130 PF 9mmP loads, which is usually low enough to not deform cast lead PC bullets.

If you cast and coat the bullets yourself, you have control over the composition. If you buy them, the only thing you have a say over is the size of the bullet and the pressure behind it.

Thanks A-R, the too thinly coated PC bullet is my problem and my obvious solution attempt was going to be another round of PC. I am of the shake and bake variety and I would imagine a better quality powder would help with this issue.

[oafpatroll]

Thanks A-R, the too thinly coated PC bullet is my problem and my obvious solution attempt was going to be another round of PC. I am of the shake and bake variety and I would imagine a better quality powder would help with this issue.

It would for sure. I started with the adendorff and struggled to get adequate coverage / coating thickness in one coat. Changed over to Powderlak 3000 series and it was like chalk and cheese.

[oafpatroll]

What you shake in and how much powder you add makes a fair bit of difference too. Cant find it now but I had a table that showed the positive and negative charge potentials of various materials.

Lead and PVC were quit close to being on opposite ends of the scale. I made up a PVC drum with 110 pipe and end caps and it worked quite a bit better than the polypropylene (recycling symbol 5) containers that most online sources suggested. 30 seconds max of shaking gives perfect coverage. I also found that roughing up the interior with some 300 paper improved performance.

Less powder works better than more. If you ladle it in less sticks to the bullets which was counterintuitive for me. I add powder if none is left unadhered to the bullets and stop as soon as there is some.

[A-R]

Thanks A-R, the too thinly coated PC bullet is my problem and my obvious solution attempt was going to be another round of PC. I am of the shake and bake variety and I would imagine a better quality powder would help with this issue.

It would for sure. I started with the adendorff and struggled to get adequate coverage / coating thickness in one coat. Changed over to Powderlak 3000 series and it was like chalk and cheese.

What you shake in and how much powder you add makes a fair bit of difference too. Cant find it now but I had a table that showed the positive and negative charge potentials of various materials.

Lead and PVC were quit close to being on opposite ends of the scale. I made up a PVC drum with 110 pipe and end caps and it worked quite a bit better than the polypropylene (recycling symbol 5) containers that most online sources suggested. 30 seconds max of shaking gives perfect coverage. I also found that roughing up the interior with some 300 paper improved performance.

Less powder works better than more. If you ladle it in less sticks to the bullets which was counterintuitive for me. I add powder if none is left unadhered to the bullets and stop as soon as there is some.

In addition to the above, but you may know this already:

Dry weather (winter afternoons here in the north) helps to make the powder stick better. In humid weather it does not stick. GO figure - probably some moisture in the air draining your static electricity charge.

When I shake-and-bake, I pre-heat the bullets to around 50 deg C. This helps adhesion a lot.

To add an extra layer, I bake them for only 10 minutes on the first layer, then let them cool a little in the air before applying the second. This leaves them slightly tacky. The second bake is the full 20 minutes for a proper cure.

For speed and convenience, I use the wet (acetone) method. The finish is not a smooth and even as with the dry shake-and-bake method, but it is faster and thicker on the first layer.