TargetTalk

I know to clean my target grade 22lr barrels with only a good solvent and a patch, no bronze brush. How about the GSP in 32 S&WL? I have been doing the same but have had to use a bronze brush "lightly" to get out some lead, good? or very bad? Thanks

If you have leading, you need to clean it out. A bronze brush will hurt nothing.

Bronze is a alloy that's weaker that the stainless steel that your barrel is made of.

It will not scratch your barrel.

Hope this helps

Another point to consider is a way these rounds can be loaded in order to reduce excessive leading with .32s&WL. If using a swaged hbwc lead projectile excessive leading will occur if they are pushed too fast. I generally load under 800 fps and always slug the barrel first to ensure I use a projectile .001" over the slugged size.

Something else to consider about scrubbing your barrel with a wire ( brass or steel ) brush reminds me of information I came across regarding cleaning the barrel on my Manurhin .32.
If I remember correctly they said to use a brass brush judiciously as to much tugging on the old wire brush could change the geometry of the rifling.
It seems that the " sharpness " can be removed from the edges of the rifling and accuracy could diminish.

This last point is worthy as most target .32's do not have stainless steel barrels which are considerably tougher .

rmca wrote:Bronze is a alloy that's weaker that the stainless steel that your barrel is made of.

It will not scratch your barrel.

Hope this helps

shoe leather is softer than sandstone, marble or granite; but shoes will wear stone steps.

Spencer wrote:

rmca wrote:Bronze is a alloy that's weaker that the stainless steel that your barrel is made of.

It will not scratch your barrel.

Hope this helps

shoe leather is softer than sandstone, marble or granite; but shoes will wear stone steps.

Technically it's the dirt in the sole that does the abrasion, leather by itself would take a veryyyyyy long time to do any damage.

The same happens with metals (or alloys), you need a stiffer (harder) metal to scratch a weaker one.

Greetings,

I use a 338 rifle brass brush to clean my 32 barrels. The slightly larger diameter does a good job of removing the Lead fouling in the throats.

For a super clean job, I use one of the Outers Foul Out electronic cleaners. Sadly, these are discontinued; but, they show up on eBay. The cleaning chemicals can be made at home. There are websites with the formula.

Cheers,

Dave

rmca wrote:The same happens with metals (or alloys), you need a stiffer (harder) metal to scratch a weaker one.

So, you are saying that a knife will never need re-sharpening as long as you only use it to cut things softer than steel?

I think the reality is that both hard and soft items wear when worked against each other, just that the harder item wears much more slowly.

I have seen plenty of barrels (mostly rifle) that have suffered more wear from poor cleaning methods than from shooting. I would only use metal brushes as a last resort, there are plenty of good solvents for removing most types of fouling.

j-team wrote:

rmca wrote:The same happens with metals (or alloys), you need a stiffer (harder) metal to scratch a weaker one.

So, you are saying that a knife will never need re-sharpening as long as you only use it to cut things softer than steel?

j-team

It's more complicated than that. I didn't want to go into much detail, because it was not what the original question was about.

But, to find more on material hardness and bronze, see these two links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze

Of course, if you clean your barrel like a maniac on acid, you'll damage something, and it's more likely to be the metal rod rubbing on the barrel that the bronze bristles doing the damage. Even just solvents can damage a bore if not used properly. Ever wondered why they say on the box to clean excess solvent and not let it stay on the barrel or other metal parts?

But if you use them properly, bronze brushes will clean better and faster than just solvents. I use them both.
I've tried to clean with just with a plastic brush, patches on jags and solvents. When I'm done, I put a white sheet of paper on a table, place the muzzle on it, and run a bronze brush slowly down the barrel. There is always some residue of lead remaining...

And by the way, most knives need resharpening because people bash them on cutting boards, counter tops, etc..., not because of the thing they were cutting :)

Long story short, as long as you don't act like a maniac, a bronze brush will not hurt your barrel.

Hope this helps

You got something against us maniacs?

The maniacs are ok, its the lunatics that stir us up all the time.
Meanwhile the best cleaning system i use is the vfg felt pellets and paste.

http://www.waffenpflege.de/en/home.html

If a barrel is heavily leaded use a Lewis lead removal tool first.

http://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-c ... 21587.aspx

Just curious David, I think the Lewis lead removing system is ingenious for forcing cones, but I would feel uncomfortable dragging a piece of brass fly wire through my barrel. Could you pass on your personal experience and thoughts.

Rover wrote:You got something against us maniacs?

Nop... As long as they have personallity! :)

Greetings,

I use the Lewis Lead Remover on my revolvers.

However, I prefer the use of the Outers Foul Out device with shortened rods inserted in the barrel.

I plug the muzzle and fill the barrel to the end. This cleans the forcing cone rather well.

Cheers,

Dave

A heavily leaded barrel is usually both the forcing cone and the first couple of inch's of the barrel. Commonly caused by new shooters with poor hand loads and badly timed revolver.
This is when you use the lewis tool.