I have a friend who will only fire jacketed or played bullets through his gun, while I am happy to shoot anything out of mind. His claim is that non jacketed or plated lead bullets foul the barrel. Does anybody else share his opinion? I am curious as to what the consensus of the forum is.

Well, I sort of share his opinion....however, lead should not foul a barrel if it is kept to reasonable velocities. Like you, I shoot anything - and lead is quite a bit less expensive.

I have guns that have fired nothing but lead. Jacketed bullets foul the barrel also, just in a different way.

I've shot lots of lead out of a lot of guns in different calibers. A Lewis Lead Remover is a handy tool for build-up, if and when it occurs.

90% of the bullets I shot through my .38 were swaged lead target rounds, probably around 800 fps tops. I have swaged semi wadcutters that I load higher but still under 1000 fps. I just cleaned it after shooting, never worried about lead and when I sold it the dealer said the barrel looked almost new.

Higher velocities require harder bullets.