Hello, I find that the only thing I don't like about shooting is cleaning my gun afterwards. I mostly use Winchester ammo cause it's cheap and available. Any recomendations for cleaner shooting ammo, or is it all pretty much the same. What about that WinClean stuff. Also I use G96 cleaner. Is there a cleaner/oil that better dissolves lead. Thanks.

I have no direct experience with the WinClean stuff, 90% of what I shoot are my own reloads. I've often wondered if the name they selected had more to do with it's no/low lead and mercury content, rather than it being a cleaner burning load, residue wise? I'll be interested in reading the answers to this one too!
BTW WELCOME!

P.S. I've grown to look upon the cleaning process as being able to enjoy the shooting experience a bit longer. It's a great way to identify future reliability issues.

I have recently started shooting .38 special and began with Winchester white box from my local Wal-Mart ($25/100). Great price, but couldn't help but notice how dirty the cartridges and gun were. I ordered some Magtech from Midsouth Shooters Supply (about $27/hundred) and was pleasantly surprised at a cleaner bore and cartridges (I reload them).

Winclean or any of the other ammo with "clean" in the name just means it is lead free "green" ammo. Enviormentally safe and exspensive to boot!! BTW, there really is no such thing as clean ammo, regardless of type, you still have to clean up afterwards. Granted some are worse than others like UMC, Blazer and Wolf.

Yes allways have to clean gun after shooting. I just would rather spend one hour instead of two or three to get the job done. I even get blisters on my hands from scrubing out the lead with the bore brush. Magtech eh, well I can order that from Midway. Will have to give it a try. Thanks.

Shoot jacketed or plated bullets if leading is an issue. If you reload, Rainier and Berry make copper plated bullets. Tennessee Valley Bullets offers hardcast bullets that I have heard don't lead appreciably unless pushed to insane velocities.

I use Shooters Choice and Hoppe's #9 to remove metal fouling from my bores. You'll have to learn how clean is clean enough if you shoot frequently. Your thinking is on the right track. It pays not to be a slob when it comes to maintaining your lifesavers. Also, gun cleaning is much more enjoyable it you have a comfortable well set up work bench instead of sitting cramped indian style on the floor for two hours. With some good tunes playing, I don't mind it at all.

Last of all, I extend to you a belated welcome to the forum. Nice guns, BTW.

OK, let's get real here. It is not the loose soot and half-burned powder flakes that determine if the gun needs cleaning, nor are they what makes it hard to clean.

A gun shot with jacketed ammunition and the cleanest powder in the world needs cleaning--not every day, but regularly according to use.

Using jacketed or Berry bullets and HP38, I clean after about every 500 shots, or once a week if it has been shot at all.
Guns do not need to be fully stripped or soaked in cleaner unless something unusualy has happened. Field strip, wipe out all visible residue and use normal cleaners.
The interior of the barrel should come out shiny like a mirror. If it looks clean but dull, that is copper and needs a copper remover.

Field stripping, cleaning, lubing, reassembling and checking a 1911 or a 686 after a match takes 10-15 min unless there is a special problem. (You get faster with practice) It helps if you have a cleaning bench set up ready to go.

WinClean (Winchester) is not lead-free, rather, the lead bullet is fully encapsuled in copper. This gives off less lead than conventional FMJ where the rear of the bullet vaporizes from the heat leaving an airborne lead mist in the immediate area. The primer in WinClean is lead and metal toxin-free. I normally shoot 9mm and .38 reloads, but I bought 500 rounds of WinClean for a good price @Sportsman's Guide awhile back. I've never fired a cleaner burning factory load in 30 years.The rounds don't leave much residue behind. I don't particularly care about dirty ammo-try Wolf in 7.62x39 for dirt-but WinClean is as its name suggests-clean. Any product that reduces lead in the air and on you and your gun is a good idea, I think. I'd recommend it for indoor ranges in particular. WinClean 9mm is as accurate as any 9mm I've shot and can be had at a very reasonable price as compared to other "clean" ammo. I've heard concerns about its shelf life because of its "clean" primer. That I don't know.

Get a "Lewis Lead Removal" kit from Brownells.

Here is a bore that was severely leaded that was cleaned in one pass with the lead removal tool.


Here is what the tool looked like once pulled out of the bore.

With ammo so expensive anymore, I figure shoot what you can get or afford, and just put up with cleaning your gun more often.

quote:

Originally posted by Spotteddog:
I have no direct experience with the WinClean stuff, 90% of what I shoot are my own reloads. I've often wondered if the name they selected had more to do with it's no/low lead and mercury content, rather than it being a cleaner burning load, residue wise? I'll be interested in reading the answers to this one too!
BTW WELCOME!P.S. I've grown to look upon the cleaning process as being able to enjoy the shooting experience a bit longer. It's a great way to identify future reliability issues.

I got a few rnds of win clean and they do shoot clean. The case looks like it had not been fired except for the dented primer, and no black debosits over everything

Just ordered 5 boxes of 20 rds Magtech 124+p HP for my 9mm @ a1ammo, they were on sale at the time for $10.50 per box. Against a few recommendations I wanted to try anyway. Plan on putting 40-50 through, will report once I fired these.

I have shot a lot of WinClean in the last 7-8 years. It is the cleanest shooting ammo I have come across--and I have shot everything out there. You still have to clean the gun, but WinClean ammo makes cleanup a lot easier and less time consuming.

Folks who worry about finding "clean ammo" should try some black powder loads and find out what REAL "dirty ammo" is like!

Any well-made centerfire should be able to digest at least 500 rounds of any smokeless, jacketed-bullet ammo before it "needs" cleaning. Will the gun look all sooty and icky before then? Sure! So what? Won't hurt it a bit.

When I read these threads I am sorely tempted to belive the idea that more damage is done to guns by overzealous cleaning than by shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by JBONES:
Just ordered 5 boxes of 20 rds Magtech 124+p HP for my 9mm @ a1ammo, they were on sale at the time for $10.50 per box. Against a few recommendations I wanted to try anyway. Plan on putting 40-50 through, will report once I fired these.

Just fired these yesterday without a single malfuction, they also fired very clean.