Thoughts on shooting jacketed bullets after shooting cast

[the fatman]

Would like to hear your thoughts on shooting jacketed bullets after shooting cast bullets from a revolver.

 

[Jeff Hoover]

Lazy mans way to get rid of severe lead fouling. It will not raise pressure, lead is actually like a lubricant. I do it all the time .

 

[Snake45]

Lazy mans way to get rid of severe lead fouling. It will not raise pressure, lead is actually like a lubricant. I do it all the time .

What he said, although if I had severe leading in the bore and the jacketed stuff were "hot" loads, I do believe I'd run a bore brush through a time or two beforehand.

 

[DGW1949]

Lots of folks do it but I don't. In my experience, it may indeed push a build-up of lead out but it don't get it all.....which in turn tends to make the bore harder to get perfectly clean after the remaining lead is ironed-in by jacket material.
Or leastways, that's my expeience with rifles. I don't shoot jacketed revolver bullets so I can't say for sure.....but I doubt the outcome would be any different.

DGW

 

[GP100man]

I only shoot jacketed thru 1 GP , the rest get lead .

If concerned just carry a brush with chore boy wrapped around it & dry brush it , it`ll be tuff but easier on the bore than ironin out the lead !!!

What`s makin ya gun lead up , too small a boolit or too hard an alloy is the biggest leaders!!!

 

[contender]

I'm in the crowd of folks who thinks that using jacketed bullets to "clean out leading" isn't a good idea. First,, if you have a severe leading issue,, it could POSSIBILY lead to higher pressures. Next,, a hotter jacketed bullet can "iron on" a layer of lead to the point of trying to clean it out later is a bi#*h. I just prefer to shoot lead,, and clean it before I shoot jacketed & vis-a-versa.
JMO!

 

[bigboredad]

well I used to think it was a good idea until I bulged a barrel doing it oops

 

[volshooter]

Hard cast only here. No leading if you follow casters directions.
Personally I would never fire a jacketed round to clean my bore.
I have hard cast proven up to 1500 fps without leading, I need no more than that.

 

[Sharp Shooter]

I've done it. It didn't hurt anything, but I'm pretty sure my bore wasn't badly leaded.
The replies in this thread reflect the two opposing points of view I've heard about the practice in the past. One point of view is that it's a real easy way to remove leading. The other point of view is that it's a real easy way to "iron" leading in and raise pressures.
Honestly, I don't know which point of view is correct. But because I'm of a cautious nature when it comes to things like shooting, handloading and guns in general, I usually clean my guns before running jacketed bullets through the same bores I've run cast bullets through.

 

[Boxhead]

I am with Mr. DWG1949 and Contender on this. I use Barnes CR-10 or Sweets to remove any jacketed stuff whether rifle ot handgun. With my cylinder, bore and bullets all agreeing on diameter it is a simple matter of RemClean or the like to keep them clean.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I'm no expert but I hate scrubbing the lead out of my guns so most of what I shoot is copper plated bullets. When I do shoot lead I will shoot one or two lead bullets followed by a low pressure copper plated bullet. At the end of the day I will shoot maybe six low pressure copper plated bullets. I have never found any trace of lead in the barrel after that. I don't recommend shooting high pressure jacketed ammo after any appreciable lead build-up. :shock:

...Jimbo

 

[Skalkaho Slim]

For me, it depends on how much leading I have. I shoot probably 80% cast boolits, and with the right load, I generally don't have any leading problems. I will generally shoot a few jacketed after looking through the bore to see what kind of shape it's in. If it's bad, I won't throw any jacketed down it.

 

[the fatman]

Thanks for all the replies. I just had a little lead yesterday past the forceing cone took more scrubing then normal. How do you use the chore boy? Wrap it around a copper brush?

 

[DGW1949]

Thanks for all the replies. I just had a little lead yesterday past the forceing cone took more scrubing then normal. How do you use the chore boy? Wrap it around a copper brush?

Yeah.....I use a wore-out brush. And... I use as little as possable and I don't do it often.
Folks that think a barrel can't get wore from running soft stuff through it aint never seen the grove that a rubber seal wears into a steel truck axel.

Just my 02 .

DGW

 

[the fatman]

DGW1949 do you cut it with scissors?

 

[Cary]

Thanks for all the replies. I just had a little lead yesterday past the forceing cone took more scrubing then normal. How do you use the chore boy? Wrap it around a copper brush?

You may know this already but just in case you don't make sure the copper pad you use is solid copper. Some have shared that there are pads on the market that only have a copper coating over steel. You can check the pad using a magnet. I just cut a small section using scissors and wrap it around a bronze brush and swab the bore with it. It takes out the bulk of the leading. I will then remove the rest with a lead removing cleaner.
Cary

 

[edlmann]

Lazy mans way to get rid of severe lead fouling. It will not raise pressure, lead is actually like a lubricant. I do it all the time .
_________________
Elmer was right ! I've spent most my money on guns, molds, and reloading supplies, the rest I just wasted.

Wasn't this Elmer's answer for what to do about leading?

 

[Jeff Hoover]

edlmann, I got this info from non other than Veral Smith. He authored the cast bullet bible, "Jacketed performance with cast bullets". He mentions it in his book, and when I talked to him on the phone in the early 1990's. I rarely get leading myself, with my hand cast bullets, but have done it on ocassion, and shoot jacketed, to clear out the lead. He did mention shooting high pressure loads, so the jacketed bullet obturates, or expands, to fill the grooves of the barrrel, to remove lead. You have to remember, the high pressures of a handgun round going down the barrel is immense. You cannot iron on the lead, to the barrel. Even hardcast bullets with a brinnell hardness in the low 20's, which is very hard, doesn't compare to a jacketed bullet, which has a brinnell hardness in the 60's.

As to Elmer, I don't recall him mentioning using jacketed for this purpose. Doesn't mean he didn't, tho'.

 

[J Miller]

I have used jacketed bullets to remove lead from revolver barrels. I had zero problems doing so.

However since I've learned to avoid hard cast bevel based bullets my leading problems have reduced to the level of not worth mentioning.

Joe

 

[DGW1949]

I have used jacketed bullets to remove lead from revolver barrels. I had zero problems doing so.

However since I've learned to avoid hard cast bevel based bullets my leading problems have reduced to the level of not worth mentioning.

Joe

Hey Joe......You wanna see some BEVELS?...just look over some of these babies....
http://www.missouribullet.com/details.p ... &keywords=
YIKES :shock: !

DGW