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clarence said
Even if a small quantity of mercury could be found (where?), it would never dissolve a solid plug of lead, only pick up the residue left in the grooves.
I guess the only way that it would work would require enough heat for the lead and mercury to amalgamate. In theory if the touching surface of the lead were cleaned to have no oxidation or contaminants the process could be started.
Mercury isn’t that hard to find as it is still around in things like switches that can be had on ebay for little. Old pawn shops or your dentist are also sources and in some cases they would count their blessings for you to get it out of their life. A shop I go to had a jar, probably 5 ounces, that I spied once and picked up to look at. My friend who owned the shop cagily suggested that if I really wanted it he’d let me have it and return the favor with something I might find in the future. It didn’t go home with me thankfully. I’m more of the school that says mercury isn’t that dangerous to be around if handled with reasonable care. It isn’t vaporizing at normal temperatures, the boiling point is over 670 deg F so if you are in a room with it getting close to boiling you might be in trouble anyway.
I’m still 100% with the side that says it cannot be mishandled or improperly disposed of.
Now if you ever get a cut and your old auntie wants to treat it with mercurichrome think twice.
Mercury at room temp. will evaporate becoming an odorless toxic vapor!!!
What if you were to drill it out and then used one of those Outer’s Foul-Out units to get the remaining lead that is stuck in the rifling?
tyke said
Mercury at room temp. will evaporate becoming an odorless toxic vapor!!!
Not so.
jban said
I’m more of the school that says mercury isn’t that dangerous to be around if handled with reasonable care.
I proved that’s correct by using it many times for de-leading bores, when I still had it. Another myth I disproved by repeated exposure to it is the one that, you breath in a bit of the vapor of carbon tet, & you’re a goner…or disabled for life. While still in high-school I was buying those cheap military rifles (like esp. Martini-Henrys) advertised in the Rifleman in the ’50s & ’60. The stocks of many of them were absolutely black from a hundred yrs of oil soaking. ONLY carbon tet (which I bought at the drug store) would remove it, & used a lot of it, scrubbing the stocks again & again with soaked rags. Now, like mercury, bed-wetters have made it almost impossible to obtain.
They are still people with fillings in their teeth that have mercury in them.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
I’m not saying to do as I did but?? As a kid we used to break thermometers to play with the mercury. One of the worst things I did was to let the dentist remove my last mercury type filling that I had for over 30 years. Now I have problems that he will make a lot of money off me. I worked for an electrical utility company that had 55 gal drums of carbon tetrachloride. All of us would take 5 gallon cans of it home. We cleaned every thing with it. We washed ourselves, clothing, car parts etc. It would take oil out of a white shirt leaving no stain. One of the electricians said for me to be careful using it on aluminum, rubber and plastic. It would dry these out and make them brittle.
Chuck said
It would take oil out of a white shirt leaving no stain.
It was the cleaning agent dry cleaners used…before they were all put out of business by EPA fanatics. What I’d have given to have 5 gals back when I was de-greasing those stocks! Buying by the quart, I never had enough to really soak them.
Now, best substitute I’ve found is lacquer thinner, which unlike carbon tet is HIGHLY flammable. Actually surprised EPA hasn’t taken that product off the market.
And the standard preservative for wooden posts, creosote? Now banned, too, I believe. We have become a nation of bedwetters.
clarence said
Chuck said
It would take oil out of a white shirt leaving no stain.It was the cleaning agent dry cleaners used…before they were all put out of business by EPA fanatics. What I’d have given to have 5 gals back when I was de-greasing those stocks! Buying by the quart, I never had enough to really soak them.
Now, best substitute I’ve found is lacquer thinner, which unlike carbon tet is HIGHLY flammable. Actually surprised EPA hasn’t taken that product off the market.
And the standard preservative for wooden posts, creosote? Now banned, too, I believe. We have become a nation of bedwetters.
Since I have a wood shop I have plenty of lacquer thinner. Brake cleaner and electrical contact cleaner will work too.
Mercury was once used as a treatment for STDs – I won’t go into details.
My mother in law told the story of a friend with the Spanish flu (100+ years ago) that was given a large dose of mercury orally as a last ditch treatment. She passed it a few days later and survived. I’m pretty sure despite the treatment rather than because of it – but she thought otherwise! Glad medicine has improved!
And the standard preservative for wooden posts, creosote? Now banned, too, I believe. We have become a nation of bedwetters.
Yep, it sucks they did away with creosote. The pressure treated posts we use at the rancho dont last more than about 7-8 years in our soils. We have since gone to using 2 7/8″ drill pipe for H braces and hanging gates. I guess now all we have to worry about is whether or not the drill pipe or sucker rod was tested for radiation. 
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
1892takedown said
Yep, it sucks they did away with creosote.
Except it wasn’t “they”–it was our “democratically-elected” fed gov’t (what a SICK joke). My father used to make his own creosote posts in a trough made out of two welded 55 gal drums. Sure the stuff would burn you, if you were STUPID enough to get it on your skin by handling wet posts without gloves; I stretched miles of “bob wire” on new posts without even a rash…and lived to tell the tale 60+ yrs afterwards!
tyke said
Mercury at room temp. will evaporate becoming an odorless toxic vapor!!!
tyke said
Mercury at room temp. will evaporate becoming an odorless toxic vapor!!!
Very true. I had a bottle of it that vaporized. I’m still here (It was in a dresser drawer for years) and healthy, but for sure it will evaporate.
I used to pour it from hand to hand….
Your gunsmith’s comment about the gun never being fired, may be a bit of a stretch. You have not furnished any pictures of the outside condition, so I’m curious. Internal parts don’t usually show much wear on a model ’92, unless the gun was never taken care of, ie. cleaned, oiled, etc. How much original finish is on the outside of the gun?
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