Lead Removal

[rhbrink]

A friend of mine gave me a spray can of "Sprayon" THE PROTECTOR ALL-POURPOSE LUBRICANT, PRODUCT NO. LU711. He claims that this is the best lead remover that he has ever seen (cast bullet firearms). I'm wonder if this is OK to use in air rifles with the "O" rings? Here is the list of ingredients as best as I can make them out. Mineral Spirits (64742-88-7), Heavy Paraffinic Oil (64742-52-5), 2-Butoxyethanol (111-76-2), Glyceryl Oleate (25496-72-4), Carbon Dioxide (124-38-9), Naphthenic OIL64741-97-5).

I am not familiar with this product and the chemicals that make it up. It might be the best ever for removing lead or it might eat "O" rings faster that you can replace them. If anybody has any idea, I would like to hear about it!

RB

 

[rdtricks]

I am not familiar with the product but you can test it. Place an O-ring or two into a small glass jar and spray some of the solvent into the jar. You may choose to cap the jar or not. Wait a few minutes to a couple of days and then inspect to see if the O-rings have swollen, melted or degraded in any manner. Please let us know what you found.

 

[rhbrink]

I'll try that, after I made the first post I sprayed a rubber band that I use to hold the spray tube in place on the can and will see that happens with that. Now off to find a small glass jar.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

It depends on what the oring is made of. Some will hold up fine with oils and solvents. Others will not. You have to try that exact material to see if it softens it. Or buy replacement orings that resist oil.

A penetrant is the best solution for "leading" if it's not ablated to the rifling by excessive speed. If it's plated on to the steel it takes a brush and elbow grease. Or electrolysis.

You get clean patches and you think you have it all out but you don't. Your just polishing it up. It builds up in thin layers and just leads faster. Then it comes off in flakes. It's nasty stuff when shooting cast bullets too fast.

Shoot lubed or plated bullets. Shoot bullets with grooves to break up the bearing surface. Shoot softer lead. Lower velocity. These are the only real solutions to the problem.

If your barrel is actually experiencing leading it will take more than a penetrant to get it all out. And unless you have a borescope you probably won't be able to tell if it's building up.

 

[MikeVV]

Pretty simple test...

Put some in a small container, drop an o-ring into the "soup" and let it sit a week.
I did that with some oil (Gibbs Brand) that I found.

In the case of the Gibbs... No o-ring swelling, no "apparent" (fingernail test) weakening of the rubber.

If submerged for a week in "whatever"...and no harm was done to the rubber, it's not likely to do harm, when just cleaning the barrel.

Mike

 

[Bedrock Bob]

Pretty simple test...

Put some in a small container, drop an o-ring into the "soup" and let it sit a week.
I did that with some oil (Gibbs Brand) that I found.

In the case of the Gibbs... No o-ring swelling, no "apparent" (fingernail test) weakening of the rubber.

If submerged for a week in "whatever"...and no harm was done to the rubber, it's not likely to do harm, when just cleaning the barrel.

Mike

As long as the oring you use for a test is made from the same material as the oring on the gun that's great advice.

They make all sorts of orings for different applications. Each is unique. Almost any can be used for air fittings. Only certain materials will resist oils and solvents. Some are made to resist fuels. Some for acids. Some are safe for high pressure oxygen.

If you can't find out what type of orings the manufacturer used it is fairly simple to get one that you can trust. They make them in every size and configuration in whatever material you want.

If you don't know what you are dealing with you are kinda rolling dice with different solvents. If it works no problem. But if it eats the seals just get some that won't be damaged by cleaning.