How much Mercury to fill 03-A3 bore?

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  • Last Post 01 September 2025
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fatelvis posted this 15 June 2025

How much (weight wise) of liquid Mercury would it take to fill a 30-06 03-A3 bore? I have a severely leaded bore, and all the scrubbing with Chore Boy, Big45 Frontier, Lewis lead remover, or brushes isnt getting it out. I even wasted over $270 buying a vintage Foul Out2 unit and lab grade chemicals to try electrolisis. No dice. Next step.... Mercury. Thanks guys

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MP1886 posted this 15 June 2025

Bad stuff, be careful with it. Mercury is a highly toxic element that can vaporize at room temperature and linger in the air for up to one year. Breathing in mercury vapor is the most common exposure pathway for humans, and it can have severe health effects. 

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delmarskid posted this 15 June 2025

One fluid oz.

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MP1886 posted this 15 June 2025

You need to make a Lewis Lead Remover except for a rifle!

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Eddie Southgate posted this 15 June 2025

I have used it in the past with no health issues but I was very careful not to get any on me and used a mask. Never weighed it so can't answer the question but I can't imagine it would be a lot. I used it on old .22 Rimfires that appeared to be shot out . Made the bores look like new in short order Plug the chamber and pour the bore full , let it set a day or two . Pour it into a container and check the bore . If not completely clean , repeat till it is. You can use the mercury numerous times. I had a fifth sized whisky bottle full but mercury got so expensive I sold it . I save any old Mercury thermostats  I get my hands on and any old light starters with the mercury tube. I'm back up to a 1/2 pint now. 

Mercury will not vaporize below 674.11 degrees F but will slowly evaporate oner time is not in a sealed container . Put a balloon or condom over the end of the barrel with a rubber band if that is an issue for you . I never noticed any disappear in the few days it takes it to clean a barrel . Wear a good mask or respirator and Nytril or rubber gloves and do your poring where any spilled material can't get on your clothes and you will be fine. Look up these facts on the internet if you doubt my word.

 

Grumpy Old Man With A Gun......Do Not Touch .

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Aaron posted this 15 June 2025

Get some perspective guys. Mercury is harmful if handled frequently for many years with no protection. We used to swirl it around in our hands all the time in chemistry class. I am still alive. Go figure. Looking at it will not kill you. Jeez. Lighten up.

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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MP1886 posted this 15 June 2025

I have used it in the past with no health issues but I was very careful not to get any on me and used a mask. Never weighed it so can't answer the question but I can't imagine it would be a lot. I used it on old .22 Rimfires that appeared to be shot out . Made the bores look like new in short order Plug the chamber and pour the bore full , let it set a day or two . Pour it into a container and check the bore . If not completely clean , repeat till it is. You can use the mercury numerous times. I had a fifth sized whisky bottle full but mercury got so expensive I sold it . I save any old Mercury thermostats  I get my hands on and any old light starters with the mercury tube. I'm back up to a 1/2 pint now. 

 

Oh My!! I don't know about the starters but florescent tubes have a little ball of mercury in them, use to work at a GE plant that made the lamps. Old hearing aid batteries had mercury in them. Old thermometers use to have mercury, but the government soon changed that. 

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trapdoor4570 posted this 15 June 2025

I might suggest firing a few factory jacketed rounds they may remove or reduce the fouling.  If the fouling is so bad as to conceal the rifling you may want to consider not doing it.  I know that an oversize bore may not be totally cleared by factory loads.  What a few times I have used when I leaded the bore through stupidity is I carry to the range in my kit box a packet of bore cleaning rounds, in 308, 30/40 and 30/06.  These are rounds loaded with IMI .311/.312 gilding metal bullets over 25 or so grains of 5744.  I would NOT recommend using bullets made with clad over steel or steel core bullets.  The copper coating may replace the leading in the barrel.  The steel core rounds MAY become lodged in the barrel.  I ruined an A3 back in the ‘60s when an AP bullet lodged in the bore.  I had a batch of water damaged ammo that I salvaged, the ball bullets made a nice low power round then I tried with an AP and ruined the Smith Corona.  Do not repeat my stupidity, teen age boys don’t think things through enough.  One time I recovered one of the oversize bullets from the berm and could see the lead on the bearing surface.  Linotype and 2138F 50/50 rarely leave any trace of leading.  I haven’t had to use one of the cleaning rounds in a decade or so.

Use common sense and if you don't feel comfortable with this then don't. 

Oh I forgot to add those IMI bullets are around 125 grain for the 7.62x39.

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longhunter posted this 16 June 2025

Barrells are cheap!

Get a new one.

Jon

Jon Welda CW5 USA Ret.

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MP1886 posted this 16 June 2025

Barrells are cheap!

Get a new one.

Jon

 

They aren't as cheap as you think although even a used one on Ebay is pricey for a used barrel. Then either he has to be sent up to install a barrel or have it done. Having it done raises the costs considerablly.

Also the barrel may be in good shape, just leaded up.  If it's matching to the rifle it lowers the cost putting a replacement barrel on it. 

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linoww posted this 16 June 2025

I use mercury quite often for lead removal. No need to fill bore.I just plug both ends and slosh it back and forth.the vile I have it about the size of an AA battery. Then I pour it  out and scrub with a wire brush and usually do it a second time if needed.

We used to play with mercury all the time in  science class and such. Don't eat the stuff and wash your hands just like handling lead.

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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tomme boy posted this 16 June 2025

hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar works fine if you can't get mercury. Just don't leave it in the barrel and clean very well afterwards. And oil the heck out of it

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 17 June 2025

I have a small unopened bottle of mercury if you want it.  Just have to figure how to ship it.

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fatelvis posted this 22 June 2025

Thank you guys. Solved!

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Brodie posted this 22 June 2025

Mercury metal by itself is not particularly toxic, even if you swallow it.   The old miners used mercury to remove gold from their pans and leave the dross behind.  What they got into trouble with was boiling the mercury off to retrieve the gold.   It was usually done around a campfire, and they wound up breathing the vapors when the wind shifted.  They wound up losing teeth, respiratory issues, kidney damage, and other ills.  My father had a patient attempt suicide by swallowing mercury.  They came into the office, and as she would walk down the hallway her anal sphincter could not squeeze tight enough to keep the mercury in small drops of it would fall out and shatter on the tiles of the floor.  Left shinny sparkles wherever she went. 

B.E.Brickey

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gnoahhh posted this 22 June 2025

We had a numbskull student lab assistant spill a tiny bit of mercury in one of our school's labs. He panicked and called campus security who of course over-reacted and called in the county hazardous waste disposal team. Nobody thought to simply call the Lab Director and ask him what to do. They cordoned off the whole floor of the building and quarantined the student, and brought in a couple of vans filled with sophisticated gear - not unlike a scene out of "Ghostbusters". Quite the production, that included tearing up the floor tiles in the room and denying access to the entire floor of the building for a week. The Dean called in my boss, the Lab Director, (I'm the lowly peon who builds/repairs/maintains the lab equipment) and threatened to fire him even though we had a written procedure to follow in the event of just such an "emergency" (that didn't include calling in the bomb squad). All that would've needed to be done was to break out the handy-dandy mercury vacuum sucker-upper and all would've been well. People are idiots.

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smokyboom posted this 01 September 2025

Did you clean it with mercury? if so how'd it come out. I'm rather curious .

-------- Andrew BPCR in 45-70, and 38-55

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fatelvis posted this 01 September 2025

Actually, I did buy the mercury, but it arrived a little too late. I already re-bared the rifle with a new criterion barrel.

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porthos posted this 01 September 2025

if you are dumb enough to use it; go ahead!!

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fatelvis posted this 01 September 2025

🖕🏻

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