Gun Digest's Customize Your Revolver Concealed Carry Collection eShort. Grant Cunningham

by a thorough brushing and a dry patch.

      You should also take the toothbrush to the face of the cylinder to remove any lead or powder residue, which can build up and affect the barrel/cylinder gap. On a stainless gun this often leaves a black combustion ring, which isn’t any threat to the operation of the revolver but is unsightly. The stains can usually be removed with a ‘Lead-Away’ cloth. (Caution: do not use the Lead-Away on a blued gun - it will remove the finish!)

      By the time you’ve finished all that, the bore cleaner should have done its magic. Using a short (pistol length) rod, attach a bronze brush of the appropriate caliber and dip the brush into your cleaner. Run the brush through the bore several times, taking care not to let any solvent drip into the firing pin hole or the slot where the hand protrudes. Just as before, this keeps any solvent or loosened dirt from being deposited in the action.

      When finished brushing, take a patch and attach it to a jag. You can also wrap it around a nylon bore brush, which I find to be a bit more effective than a jag. Having a second bore rod is ever so helpful here, as it saves the tedium of screwing and unscrewing attachments. (I really hate that part of the job!) Dip the patch in your cleaner and run it through the bore several times to lift out any grime the brush has loosened.

      The wet patch should come out of the bore dirty. If it’s particularly so, indicating a lot of dirt still in the barrel, get a new patch, dip it in cleaner, and repeat the action. Repeat this process until the patches start to look fairly clean.

      Once you reach that point attach a clean, dry patch to the jag and run it through the bore one time. If you’ve done a thorough job with the wet patches the second or third dry patch should start looking pretty clean. I stop at this point. You certainly can spend another half hour cleaning, until the dry patches come out looking like freshly washed hospital sheets, but I think that’s overkill. I don’t believe that such levels of cleanliness gain us anything, ballistically speaking. After all, the first shot you take after cleaning will dirty the bore all over again.

      In my opinion the key to bore cleaning is to remove anything that would cause a buildup, as opposed to removing everything. It’s been said that more bores have been ruined by cleaning than by shooting, and while I think that’s nonsense I do believe that it puts us in the right frame of mind: there is such a thing as ‘clean enough,’ and that’s what you should strive for.

      Unless, of course, you actually like the process. If that’s the case, clean until your heart is content!

       Leaded bores

      It’s a simple fact of the shooting life: plain lead bullets leave a certain amount of metal in your barrel. How much depends on a number of factors: the smoothness of the bore, the amount and type of lubricant on the slug, how well the bullet fits the bore, what kind of base the bullet has, and what kind of lead alloy is used.

      Contrary to advertising hype, there is no such thing as a lead bullet that leaves absolutely nothing in the bore, but some do leave less than others. It’s quite possible to shoot a couple hundred lead rounds and have the lead residue come out easily with normal cleaning methods, if everything is working in concert.

      It’s not uncommon, however, for lead shooters to find themselves facing a nasty layer of lead left in the bore. Lead fouling must be removed, because it raises gas pressures and lowers accuracy. Once leaded, the bore will get worse – very quickly.

      How do you know if your bore is leaded? First clean the barrel normally, then examine it carefully. The easiest way to do this is to open the cylinder, triple check that it is indeed empty, and put a small piece of white paper over the firing pin hole. Hold the gun so that light is reflected off the paper and into the barrel while you look through the muzzle at the paper.

      As you look down the bore, focus on the forcing cone. Leading shows up as an irregular or bumpy surface which contrasts with the smooth, shiny surface of a normal bore. Leading is the same color from this perspective, so pay attention to the texture and sheen. Leading almost always starts just past the forcing cone, and as it gets worse extends further and further down the bore.

      If normal brushing didn’t remove it you’ll need to take additional steps. The easiest is to use a spiral-wound brush commonly called a Tornado. Available in bronze and stainless steel, it touches the surface being cleaned with the rounded side of the wires, as opposed to a standard brush which touches with the sharp cut end. A bronze Tornado will generally remove all but the worst leading without risk of damage to the bore.

       Extra-tough Tornado brush, on right, will remove most leading easily.

       Chore Boy copper scrubber, wrapped around a nylon brush, is the safest method to clean a very stubborn bore.

      To use, dip the Tornado in cleaner and run it through the bore like any other brush. Before you pull it back out, take a look at the surface of the brush. Successful lead removal will show as small silver flakes on the yellow bristles. If you see those you know the brush is doing the job, and all that’s necessary is to repeat the process until successive passes show no lead flaking.

      When you see no more flakes on the brush, examine the bore again. If the leading hasn’t been dramatically reduced, you’ll need to take stronger measures.

      Go to your local household goods emporium and buy a Chore Boy Ultimate Scrubber. These are pure copper wool balls used to clean very dirty dishes and stainless appliances without doing harm to their surfaces. Be sure to get the authentic item, marked very clearly as being made from pure copper.

      Tear one apart and wrap a piece around a bronze brush. Dip it into your bore cleaner and push it down the bore. It should be a very tight fit requiring some force; if not, wrap a bigger piece of the Chore Boy on the brush and try again. As the brush exits the barrel on the breech end, examine it for lead flakes. Unless you have an extreme case of leading, the Chore Boy should remove large amounts with each successive pass, and leave a completely clean bore in just a minute or so of work. I’ve rarely found a leading case that a few strokes with the Chore Boy didn’t cure.

      There are such cases, however, and when I run across those I break out the Lewis Lead Remover. The LLR consists of fine bronze mesh disks which are wrapped around a conical rubber sleeve. The sleeve is adjustable; as it’s compressed by a threaded rod it increases in diameter. The expanding sleeve forces the mesh into the walls of the bore, conforming to the rifling and increasing the scrubbing action.

      In use, the tension of the sleeve is adjusted to the point that the LLR can just be pulled through the bore. That’s right, I said pulled – the LLR is started at the forcing cone and pulled out the muzzle, taking any lead with it. The mesh often comes out with long shards of lead embedded in the surface; it’s cleaned off with a brush and the process repeated as necessary.

      The LLR will remove the most foul leading imaginable. It’s not a cheap tool, but if you find yourself frequently dealing with heavily leaded bores it can be a worthwhile investment. Some gun clubs and ranges will have them available for member use, and most gunsmiths have one on their shelf as well.

       Cleaning the chambers

      There are two things which will help you clean the chambers: a bronze brush one size larger than the caliber, and a mop or nylon brush of similar size. The chambers are larger in diameter than the caliber, to account for the fact that the case fits on the outside of the bullet. If you were to use the same brush that you use for the bore, it won’t make solid contact with the walls of the chamber. By going to the next larger size you ensure that the brush will be a good fit for the chamber. (The only exception is for the .22 Long Rifle, whose case fits on the heel of the bullet and thus is the same diameter as the bullet.) In a .38/.357, for instance, you would use a .40 caliber brush for the chambers.

      Dip the brush in cleaning solution and scrub each chamber thoroughly, then follow up with a dry patch wrapped around the bore