Copper washed bullets, plated etc.

[Alan R]

I shoot mostly lead with a few jacketed bullets here and there. Primarily use jacketed rounds to clean out lead from the barrel :^)

Do the bullets advertised as copper washed or plated require copper solvents to clean the bore? Or, are these bullets designed to reduce airborne lead and only require bore cleaning needed for lead bullets?

 

[Mal H]

Both will leave copper in the barrel just as jacketed bullets do. They will leave little if any lead behind. However, there is a possibility of some leading with the copper washed bullets as the plating is so thin on them that the lead is usually exposed at the lands.

 

[Alan R]

Thanks Mal - looks like I'll just stick with lead.

 

[Mal H]

Ok, I'm puzzled.

Personally, I find cleaning out a little copper fouling is easier than cleaning out leading. You make it sound like leading is the lesser of the two evils.

 

[Alan R]

Hi Mal -

I get very little leading in my revolvers. I doesn't take but a few passes with a worn bore brush wrapped with strands from a copper chore boy scrub pad to remove leading. My concern would be shooting a mix of plated bullets and lead bullets. I learned the hard way that lead binds to copper fouling something fierce. If I used plated bullets, I'd have to clean and scrub the bore with copper solvent before shooting lead. I was hoping to shoot a mixture of the two without complications.

 

[Mal H]

Gotcha.

 

[stans]

It really is not hard to clean lead out of a barrel that started out clean. If the barrel was copper fouled, then removing the lead is going to be harder. Do not shoot jacketed bullets after shooting lead and think you are shooting the lead out of the barrel. The jacketed bullet may remove some lead, but it is also swaging the lead into the pores of the barrel and into that nice, sharp juction where the grooves meet the lands. Once this is done, it is really hard to get the barrel really clean.

One of the fastest and easiest ways to get lead out is to use some Chore Boy copper pot scrubber mesh. Make sure you get the copper mesh, there is also a stainless steel mesh and that could harm the barrel. Cut a strip of the copper mesh and wrap it around a bore brush. Now, with a dry bore, solvents will act as a lubricant and decrease the effectiveness of the mesh, push and pull the Chore Boy material through the barrel. You won't believe the lead that will come out in flakes and strips.

 

[Alan R]

Stans - what leading I experience will be a small amount around the forcing cone...nothing in the barrel. One or two jacketed rounds and the lead build up is gone. Or, as I mentioned above, I simply use a copper chore boy brush.

 

[g56]

I have loaded several thousand of the National Bullet Copperized bullets in 45 ACP, they would be described as copper washed bullets, I get no leading at all, and clean up with regular Shooter's Choice bore cleaner.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

I've used over 20,000 rounds of copper plated bullets, mostly West Coast Bullets' products in .38 spl and .357 mag loads. Barrels are all clean as a whistle.

 

[Clark]

I like lead bullets AND copper jacketed bullets.

The problem is that not all lead bullets are alike.
The ones that are hard case and have lube band(s) are much better.

I have driven the 357 mag good 158 gr LSWC bullets as hard as I can, and no leading.

On the other hand, I have some bullets that will plug up a gun with lead, and the next power round in jacketed bullets will split the barrel

 

[kidcoltoutlaw]

rainier

124 fp in a 357 SIG at 1509 with no problems and easy clean up,thanks,keith