Lead build up on airweight.....

[38Mike]

What's the best way to clean up lead build up in the little space just above the forcing cone on an alloy frame Smith, without too much wear and tear on the frame's finish ( black )?

Thanks...

 

[tbeb]

How much lead is there? I've never seen much on my revolvers. Every cleaning (which is darn near after every practice session) I use bronze wire brush or bronze bore brush and solvent to clean above forcing cone.

 

[38Mike]

There's enough for a nice layer in the corner of frame above cone. I've tried a nylon brush with cleaner ( break free ) and was starting to remove finish on edges of frame......should've mentioned that this buildup is from about 600 rounds fired......the rest of the gun is spotless , I just got a little frustrated trying to clean that area, finally figured it wasn't hurting anything, left it alone.....

 

[C.R.Sam]

Unless the cosmetic blemish bothers you.
Don't worry bout it.
Declaire it to be protection from flame cutting of the frame.

Sam

 

[Dr.Rob]

A bronze brush will not remove your blueing.

Try that and elbow grease.

 

[38Mike]

Guys,

Thanks, I was looking at said spot this evening, I think I made it seem worse than it really is I like your idea Sam; I'll leave well enough alone...

 

[Dot_mdb]

On all steel models I sometimes very carefully use an X-acto knife to clean that area. You might want to try that on yours using only very light pressure to kind of shave away the acumulation above the forcing cone.

Bill

 

[CWL]

Would it help to gently heat the firearm to soften the lead enough to be removed without damaging the gun itself? Something like heating it in an oven to 200 degrees? 300 degrees?

No flames please, just a serious question.

 

[AR-15Nutt]

Got some Mercury ?

if you have some Mercury, take some duct tape, form a "dam" & put several drops of Mercury on the lead.., Mercury will disolve lead into powder, it will take a few hours but well worth it because there is no brush marks, knife marks etc.

i have bought many handguns that people thought were "shot out" only to discover they were just badly leaded, if you have a leaded barrel, plug one end & fill the barrel with Mercury & let it set over night, next day carefully pour out Mercury, run a brass brush thru bore & it is as clean as the day it left the factory or cleaner !!!!!!

i have a 1 1/2 lb. of Mercury, it will fill a .44 cal. 8" bbl & some left over....., a friend borrowed the Mercury to clean a 24" .22 rifle barrel, he said the bore never looked so good !!

the dangers of Mercury are way over hyped, us boys used to play with it as kids & as far as i know we are all still alive !!!!!!!

 

[280PLUS]

fwiw,,,

i take a nylon wire tie, cut the end off at an angle and it makes a very nice non marring tool for digging the crud out of that very spot,,,

and bronze brushes may very well damage the finish on some of these airlites, so be careful

side note,,,recently a kid brought some mercury to school around here somewhere and spilled it on the floor, results?

school evacuated, epa, dep, hazmat, they were all there, kids brought to the hospital for observation,,, on and on it went

and we used to hold it in the palm of our hands and poke at it with our fingers and watch it blob around. where'd we get it? out of the science lab in school...