Uberti Model 1873 chamber fouling ?

[blackpowder]

Hi out there !
I generally shoot .38Spl ammo out of my .357mag Uberti 1873 carbine for the simple reason that they are cheaper and a steady diet of .357 ammo will wear out the toggle action over time (so, at least, according to my gunsmith).
Now I have the problem of powder residue built up in the very end of the chamber due to the shorter 38spl cases. To the point that the .357mag cartridges are becomming difficult to load. Does anyone nkow of an efficient way to clean the chamber? It is difficult to impossible to access with ordinary cleaning tools.

Thanks for some tips and tricks   

[Goody]

Your best course of action would be to disassemble the gun and clean the chamber from the breech end.

You can also take a bore brush of the right size and bend the threaded portion 90 degrees. This will fit into the chamber from the breach end and you can work it back and forth somewhat. I would suggest that before hand you seal the breech with a cork and pore solvent into the bore of sufficient quantity to immerse the chamber. Let this sit for a while, maybe a couple of hours, to loosen the fouling.

You can also clean from the muzzle end, being careful to not damage the rifling. Insert the cleaning rod, sans brush, until it is visable in the chamber area. Then thread a chamber brush onto the rod and work it from the muzzle end. I would suggest a muzzle guard of some sort, again to protect the rifling. The soaking the chamber part comes into play here as well.

[Abilene]

Take an empty fired, non-resized, .357 case and chamber it.  The edges of the case will act as a scraper against the carbon buildup.  Even better would be to slightly bell the mouth of the empty case so it fits tightly in the chamber.  Too much belling and it won't chamber at all.  A little trial and error involved.  Then you could use the brush method Goody mentioned.  Based on your alias, you probably have some BP laying around.  Load up some .38 BP rounds and shoot them out of the gun.  This will probably remove the fouling ring.

These guns will shoot any SAAMI-spec .357 fine.  Yeah, shooting a lot of heavy-recoiling factory .357 rounds will wear the toggle links (or their pins) over time, but mid-range or Cowboy .357 shouldn't bother it at all.

[Shotgun Franklin]

As a long term solution, use .357 brass loaded as lightly as you want (staying within the powder maker's guidelines). There's really not enough case capacity difference to matter.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Bore snake.

[litl rooster]

Bore snake.

DITTO

[blackpowder]

thanks to all for all the good hints. Willl try them. 

regarding the bore snake:  I do use it sometime to clean the bore. I dont see how that will work in the chamber though. Please enlighten me.

[Abilene]

The bore snake has a brass or bronze brush built into it.  I guess if you pull it though enough times that brush might get the hard crud out, or at least some of it.

[Cabalero Chuck]

I just got one of these for my .38/.357 handgun, I would bet that it will work for the fouling that is plagueing you.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=11099/guntechdetail/All_About_Lewis_Lead_Remover___Handgun__Rifle___Shotgun

[blackpowder]

You can also take a bore brush of the right size and bend the threaded portion 90 degrees. This will fit into the chamber from the breach end and you can work it back and forth somewhat. I would suggest that before hand you seal the breech with a cork and pore solvent into the bore of sufficient quantity to immerse the chamber. Let this sit for a while, maybe a couple of hours, to loosen the fouling.

Thanks, Goody! This worked. Was a pain in the A.. but it worked.