AK-47, lead bullets, and gas tube fouling

[TargetTerror]

I want to load up some cheap rounds for my AK, for general plinking at 50 yards and under. I'm really tempted to get some 150 gr lead bullets, since they are quite a bit cheaper than jacketed bullets.

I recall reading somewhere that lead bullets can cause slightly more fouling in the gas tube. Is this true? Will a simple scrubbing of the bore clear the gas hole sufficiently, or would I need to regularly break the whole gas piston assembly down and give it a good scrubbing?

 

[stubbicatt]

If you have one of those chinese gas port reamers, you should be OK with respect to function. You will get lead buildup in your gas system with the firing of several rounds. Cleaning the smuts off the piston is not pleasant, but getting it out of the gas block is even worse. I haven't noticed any real difference on the gas tube itself, as far as lead buildup goes.

Maybe just fire about 20 rounds and check to see how it goes, and check each 20 rounds or so to get a feel for where the buildup starts to become unmanageable, and stop at that point in the future.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[SSN Vet]

here's your answer.....

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13453

from my limited understanding, the secret to success in shooting cast boolits is...

1. properly size the boolit for you bore
2. properly lube the boolit for the velocity you desire to shoot

 

[GRIZ22]

1. properly size the boolit for you bore
2. properly lube the boolit for the velocity you desire to shoot

Hard lead alloy is another consideration. When the pressure of the load (read that as velocity for this purpose) exceeds what the bullet can take you will get excessive leading. The harder the alloy, the more pressure (like I said above velocity) the bullet will withstand without excessive leading.

The Lee Reloading Manual explains this much better than I did here.

 

[BattleChimp Potemkin]

These are really fun! i read some weird book "guns of the south" where guys go back in time and give the Confederacy AKs. THe south then attempts to recreate not only the rifle, but also the cartridges. They use blackpowder and lead, so What do I do? Make em of course (thank god lee loader!). 35 and 50 grains BP and hard lead boolits. The smoke poured out the muzzle, out the holes in the gas tube (actually really cool looking) and the chamber, in addition to taking 2 hours to completely clean the weapon. But it worked! 8.45" roughly group at 25 yards. Lead by itself with modern powder rocks though. You can load it cheap and not worry about leading if you have a very hard lead (contact your local lead melting dude!).