Using jacketed ammo to clean/delead borr.

[Doug.38PR]

Gunshop wisdom tells everyone to not do this as firing jacketed ammo through your bore if it is full of lead will increase pressure and damage the gun and hurt you.

I won’t say there is nothing to that. Maybe if you have hundreds of hot lead ammo caked along the inside of the bore. Maybe if you are shootonh hot magnums

But if you just have a dozen or so, maybe even a box of 50 .38 spl Lead, I don’t believe this will affect a thing. Why? I’ve been doing it for years long before I got this gunshop wisdom. Shoot a box of 50 lead at the range and then shoot a box of FMJ. No big deal.

Now, I normally don’t do this for the purpose of cleaning my bore. However, if I’m in a hurry, I might fire a dozen jacketed/semi jacketed rounds through to “get the lead out before properly cleaning the gun.

If you don’t agree with that then I think we could all agree that sometimes, it’s the only way to get the bore completely clean. Sometimes, even after using CLP Breakfree and scrub brush (which normall does very well on lead) , racing the bore snake through a few dozen timesand even after using Lewis Lead Remover, there is a patch or two of lead caked in the bore that just won’t give. In that case, just fire a few jacketed/semi jacketed rounds through it, clean the bore with CLP Breakfree again, run tge bore snake through once and the bore will be clean as a whistle and shiny as a mirror

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

In theory it will get the "worse" out........BUT it irons the rest into the grooves them you gotta scrub it out. If you have severe leading the bullet is under sized/too soft/pushed too fast or lubed improperly. Correct these issues and leading will never be a problem to you again.

 

[M29since14]

Buy some of those lead removing cleaning patches at the gun shop and run one through your bore a few times. Then have a look at it and tell me how clean your bore was. Those things are amazing.

 

[Univibe]

Bad idea.

One solution is the Lewis Lead Remover.

Another is strands of copper Chore Boy cleaning pads (the real copper ones, not the copper clad steel) wrapped around a bore brush.

 

[Doug.38PR]

Bad idea.

One solution is the Lewis Lead Remover.

Another is strands of copper Chore Boy cleaning pads (the real copper ones, not the copper clad steel) wrapped around a bore brush.

But sometimes I use Lewis but even that doesn’t work sometimes. Shooting a FMJ round or two will do the trick after else fails.



The bullets I use are Hornandy LHP 158 gr, LSWC hardcast hunters supply and speer LRN 158 gr.

 

[stansdds]

Been there, done that. Jacketed rounds will knock out the chunks of lead, but they also compress some of the lead into every imperfection in the barrel. I think you are best off to use a Lewis Lead Remover. If you can find pure copper Chore Boy pot scrubbers, you can wrap some of the copper around an old bore brush and use that as a lead remover. If you go this route, make sure the pot scrubber is copper and not copper plated steel.

 

[cardguy]

Swab the bore with Kroil and let it sit for a while. You can apply heat to help the lead loosen up. The use copper cleaning pads, I bought mine from the Dollar Store. It came right out.

 

[just plain joe]

You have received some sage advice here. You may also wish to consider J-B Non-Embedding Bore Cleaner. I have used it with great success on my pistols, revolvers, and .22 rifles. I have never had any of my bores damaged by it, nor have I heard anyone else complain similarly.

I have used the Lewis Lead Remover and removed lead as it is touted to do. When I scrub the bore with J-B Compound, the patches come out blackish leading me to believe that it has removed what I could not see.

HTH.

JPJ

 

[Rammer Jammer]

I don't reload lead anymore because of some severe leading I had with a 44 Special.

I did the normal Hoppes and brush routine. No go.

I used Lead Away cloths. Some lead cleaned but still, no go.

I used some Shooter's Choice Lead solvent and let it soak in the barrel for a few rounds of 24 hour periods. Again this helped but No Go. It got most of it out but still leaded but not severely.

On the advice of an old timer at the LGS who knows his stuff I shot a few plated bullets through on my next range trip. Clean as a whistle!

So I'll stick to plated or jacketed bullets from now on so I never have to scrub like I did or expose myself to the chemical solvents.

Hickock45 did a video on the subject and he's been shooting the lead out for decades.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGd3H4bQh2w[/ame]

 

[Bakebfr480]

Old wives tale. Shooting jacketed bullets will not remove lead!

 

[Green Frog]

My question to enter this thread is, “If jacketed bullets clean the bore so well, why do benchrest shooters spend so much time, money and effort with cleaning agents to remove copper fouling???” Bore fouling is fouling... shooting more rounds through on top of existing fouling will tend to iron the fouling in, not push it out. I normally sum up such a pronouncement with “YMMV” but in this case, I won’t... your mileage will not vary. This is simple Physics.

Froggie

 

[wrkerr]

I have been casting bullets since 1972. I cannot count the literally tons of wheel weights I have gone through in that time.

This is what I have done and it has worked [for me] for 47 years.

**From the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, Third Edition, 1980, page 94.**

For the record, I have never had serious or heavy leading. I keep velocities low to moderate, and size properly. FIT IS KING.

 

[STCM(SW)]

I have cleaned the lead out of my Winchester HW 38-55 with a copper brush dipped in pure gum spirits Turpentine followed with patches...

 

[PPCSHOOTER]

I JUST CHECKED MY NOTES FROM THE S&W REVOLVER ARMORERS COURSE. ACCORDING TO THE INSTRUCTORS IT'S A NO . THEY STATED THAT FIRING JACKETED BULLETS BEHIND LEAD RAISE THE PRESSURE IN THE BORE 4X. JP

 

[biku324]

I have been casting bullets since 1972. I cannot count the literally tons of wheel weights I have gone through in that time.

This is what I have done and it has worked [for me] for 47 years.

**From the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, Third Edition, 1980, page 94.**

For the record, I have never had serious or heavy leading. I keep velocities low to moderate, and size properly. FIT IS KING.

Yes. Thank you.

 

[mikerjf]

For cylinder leading, I tried to find a deleading reamer, but no luck. Seems like a good once-in-a-while solution.
miker

 

[Skeet 028]

I have used an Outers Cop Out rod with the lead out solution and my it does work but even easier I plug the bore and fill it with mercury. Yeh yeh yeh...I know they consider it a hazardous material...and it is if you heat it up and breath the fumes and a few other ways...I treat it with respect and it takes the lead OUT. Been doing this since I was 12 or 13. Have cast and played with lead since then too. Have had blood tests done every year for a long time and never had high lead levels and even asked to be tested to mercury level tests. I even boil the mercury off to clean the lead out of it. Closed system of course. I dispose of the lead left over when the county had haz material disposal weeks. Mercury cleans the lead out of severely leaded shotgun bores like nobody's business and will do the same on handgun bores. The only really nasty leading problem I ever really had in a handgun was a 6 1/2 inch M-27 shooting some old factory ammo(it was really cheap). That stuff was hot. And not even worth what I paid for it

 

[2152hq]

I know quite a few shooters and loaders that believe that a couple jacketed rds down the pipe after a range session of cast bullets will clear out any leading in the bbl. So much so that inspection isn't needed and only quick wipe with an oily swab (if that much) is all that the bore deserves.

I think sometimes their lead bullet loads aren't leading in the first place and there's nothing to clear out. So if they ever do decide to look down the bore it appears nice and clear of leading that didn't exist anyway.

 

[max]

Years ago, Skeeter said not to do it. He said it just "irons" the lead into the grooves.

 

[Doug.38PR]

I think an important point missing is: how many lead bullets are we talking about?

One lead bullet or even a dozen lead bullets followed by a jacketed bullet is not going to hurt a thing.

Cleaning your barrel thoroughly with only a few flakes hanging on and fire a jacket bullet to scrape it off where nothing else will FOLLOWED BY recleaning the bore with CLP and bristle brush and patches it bore snake, any residue will be gone and the bore as bright as a mirror and the rifling grooves lead free.