Thoughts on shooting jacketed bullets after shooting cast

Help Support Ruger Forum:

Jeff Hoover

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 25, 2009
Messages
919
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

Hawkeye
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
9,121
Location
+4020
Jeff Hoover":3xg7h9c8 said:
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

Hunter
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Messages
3,916
Location
Texas
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

Buckeye
Joined
Sep 13, 2006
Messages
1,386
Location
Tabor City, NC.
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

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,150
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
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!
 

volshooter

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 12, 2002
Messages
1,574
Location
EAST TN, USA
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

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 24, 2005
Messages
110
Location
MCCammon,Idaho,USA
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

Blackhawk
Joined
Mar 28, 2004
Messages
970
Location
Either Texas or Idaho
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

Hawkeye
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
10,350
Location
So. Florida
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

Blackhawk
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Messages
969
Location
Flathead Valley, MT
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

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 23, 2009
Messages
325
Location
Deltona Florida
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

Hunter
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Messages
3,916
Location
Texas
the fatman":3df6zheh said:
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
 

Cary

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
113
Location
Boise, ID
the fatman":z28jk66e said:
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

Blackhawk
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
790
Location
lovely downtown Central Florida
Jeff Hoover":3iubu346 said:
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

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 25, 2009
Messages
919
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

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 30, 2000
Messages
977
Location
Not in IL anymore ... :)
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

Hunter
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Messages
3,916
Location
Texas
J Miller":1f6bfno9 said:
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
 
Top