[realmswalker]

I bought some reloads from a genteleman and someone told me reloads are bad because of the lead dirties up the gun and causes corrosion, but the bullets are FMJ, so is the guy full of crap? here is a pic of the bullet. 155 grain 40. S&W.

[Hkmp5sd]

He's nuts. Shooting lead bullets will make the gun harder to clean than jacketed, but that's all. Lead does not cause the barrel to rust. And your pic is of a jacketed bullet.

[Standing Wolf]

I've been loading my own ammunition with lead bullets for three decades now without encountering problems. Lead bullets leave lead residue in barrels. Jacketed bullets leave copper residue in barrels. Barrels just need to be cleaned: that's all.

[Jim K]

Properly lubricated lead bullets fired at reasonable velocities will not significantly lead the barrel, and certainly will not cause corrosion. Just goes to show that age and wisdom are not the same. (Some say I am proof, but I resemble that!)

But, on general principles, I never buy reloads from individuals and very seldom from even from the major commercial reloaders. The individual simply does not have the quality control procedures and automatic safety equipment used by the factories. Further, the buyer has no way of knowing what the reloader's "pet" load may be; I have seen some reloads that horrified me.

I shoot factory loads, or I load my own. When I load my own, and have a problem, I know the name and address of the dumb SOB that screwed up.

Jim

[Don Gwinn]

No, FMJ won't lead your barrel, but it will leave copper fouling. Of course, ALL bullets leave fouling. The only way to stop that would be to use bullets harder than the barrel, but that would just cause the barrel to wear away faster.

Just make sure you trust the source of your reloads! Treat them as you would any other hand-produced small-production item--carefully until you're sure they're safe.

[HadEmAll]

Buying .40 caliber reloads from somebody else is a baaaaad idea!

[arinvolvo]

Shooting lead DOES make cleaning the barrel a little harder, However, shooting lead out of a polygonally rifled barrel is a big NO NO....Lead has a tendency to "smear" into the grooves of polygonal rifling, making the pressure in the barrel increase significantly after 100 or so rounds.

[stans]

Corrosion is caused by corrosive primers and you are not likely to see them in 40 S&W! Corrosion is also caused by improper maintainance. If you leave the bore dirty and it is exposed to moisture, it can begin to rust. The bore can also be damaged by leaving solvents with high ammonia content in the barrel too long. Shooting lead or jacketed ammo will not rust the barrel, although the streaks of copper in the barrel can look like rust.

[cratz2]

There's several different issues here.

1. Lead fouls the barrel with lead, copper fouls the barrel with copper. Both are easy enough to clean.

2. 'Corrosion' should not happen with any modern ammo.

3. The guy that gave you the advice hopefully didn't know you were shooting FMJ reloads.

4. Don't shoot lead in a Glock or other pistol with polygonal rifling as suggested.

5. 40s seem to have more issues rupturing than most other cartridges. HydraShoks (and possibly other Federal cases) are well known to have weak cases. If you're shooting these in a Glock, be sure none of the cases are labeled 'FC 40S&W'. This is per Federal Cartridge.

I haven't said anything original here. Just wanted to make sure the original poster was clear on the different issues.