Removing lead fouling

[Merc]

I inherited the a 1925 Colt .38 Special revolver from my sister along with 4 boxes of Black Hills “cowboy” .38 Special ammo with cast lead bullets. I’ve looked at several internet presentations on the dangers of lead buildup and the various ways to remove the lead deposits from the barrel bore. What method do you recommend?

[lyman]

for a revolver, lewis lead remover, if needed,

a good stiff (brass or bronze) brush and some hoppes will do wonders as well

[Tuna]

Some guns will lead the bore with lead bullets no matter what but the vast majority are fine with it. If on the bad side then a half dozen or a few more jacketed rounds helps then as Lyman said a good bore brush and good old Hoppes with you supplying the elbow grease does wonders.

[Sunray]

Any “cowboy” .38 Special ammo is unlikely to cause leading. Leading is cased by trying to drive a cast bullet too fast, not just using cast bullets. Regular cleaning should be enough.
Black Hills “cowboy” .38 Special ammo runs at 800 FPS. That's close to regular, as in not Cowboy, Bullseye Max loads for a 158. Less than Alliant's "Cowboy" Bullseye loads.
Mind you, you have no idea what has been done to a 95 year old revolver. So stop up one end of the barrel with a rubber cork and fill the barrel with regular solvent and leave it for an hour or two. Then use a regular brush and clean it as per normal. Repeat if required.

[Johnny P]

Use the recommended bronze bore brush size. On a correctly sized bore bush the bristles are at an almost 90 degrees to the bore. The bristles on an oversized bore brush fold over and are not as effective.