Lead bullets in a .38 Snub - more cleanup?

[Dollar An Hour]

I've always practiced with 130gr FMJ in my short barrel revolvers (442-1 and SP101).

I'm looking to order some 158gr .38 Spl (My Ruger prefers 158gr in terms of POA = POI) for practice sessions and the best ammo deals seem to be on LRN ammo.

I realize that 158gr is going to be pretty slow out of either my 442 or my 3" SP101, but I'm wondering if there will be some leading, and therefore extra work cleaning up.

In short, do I stick with 158gr FMJ (and pay more) or go with some more affordable 158gr LRN ammo for practice?

 

[tightgroup tiger]

If the recipe is right you should have no real leading in your barrel, but shooting lead bullets will always make more work when cleaning your gun then plated or jacketed bullets.

Some of the lead will vaporize and will be all over the inside of the barrel, the inside and outside of the cylinder, not the same thing as lead deposites in the riflings (leading).

I don't use lead any more because it take twice the time and materials to clean the gun afterwards. There are a lot of people here that do because of the cost of Jacketed and plated bullets these days.

I may be forced to dig out my lead pot and moulds again some day for the same reason but not right now.
I load all my ammo myself so suggesting plated bullets to a non-reloader is a moot point.

If you don't mind the extra work of taking longer to clean your guns then go for it. It's not difficult to clean but it is centrainly messier and to answer your question,

Yes, it will take longer to clean your gun up after using lead bullets.

 

[DesertFox]

Put 100 rounds of 115gr LRN over TiteGroup through my 856 Hy-Lite just this weekend and cleanup wasn't too bad at all. Yes, worse than shooting jacketed factory ammo but also much more affordable.

 

[MCgunner]

I cast my own from range scrap (free bullets) and they're about all I shoot. While light loads don't lead much, I did get build up on the forcing cone of my M10 enough (I theorize, not really for sure) that the forcing cone cracked and I had to rebarrel it. It hasn't done that since. I am diligent about scrubbing that area of the barrel after shooting now.

My 9x19 loads lead a bit. I shoot a 105 SWC in 9x19, very accurate, but do have to drive it fast enough that I get a little leading from it after a session. I have never bothered to find a heavier bullet for it that might be accurate. Probably should. But, a chunk of chore boy on my brush takes care of what little leading I get. I don't mind the extra effort, sorta enjoy cleaning my guns and hell, it's FAR easier than cleaning up after a session with my black powder revolvers. Hassle is relative.

 

[MedWheeler]

Shoot a handful of jacketed rounds at the end of each shooting session.. should help reduce the work afterward.

 

[rodinal220]

I personally feel the cleanup for lead bullets and Black Powder is overrated.I find it more tedious and time consuming to get copper fouling out than lead or BP.
Soft lead(swaged) are the worst offenders.Use a proper hard cast bullet and proper lube at reasonable velocities and you are G-T-G.

A Lewis lead remover with a Kroil anointed bore takes the lead right out.I use a bronze bore brush with a nice short handle on it can quickly take off any lead residue on the cylinder,brass bristle style brush for inside the frame.

Copper fouling takes time for the chemical solvents to work and I do not like using a bronze brush with a rod even with a guide to use mechanical action to remove copper.More barrels have been ruined by rods and improper cleaning methods.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Try some Kroil oil and let it set abour 24 hours or so. Should make removal much easier.

 

[chhodge69]

It's very important to purchase lead bullets of the correct diameter for your gun and correct hardness for your load. Lead runs larger than jacketed. I can almost guarantee if you buy a box of 0.357" hard cast (BHN=18) and load 38 spl with them you'll see soldering in your barrel in short order.

Do a search on this site or read up on http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

 

[Coyote3855]

Shoot a handful of jacketed rounds at the end of each shooting session.. should help reduce the work afterward.

Source? The barrel may look cleaner, but a jacketed round isn't scraping leading out of the barrel. Urban legend.

 

[243winxb]

S&W 337PD Lead Free Zone

Lead needs a little more cleaning, compared to jacketed. Hoppes #9 left to soak, works well. The 337PD instruction say not to use lead. The bullets may jump crimp, move forward and jam cylinder. So far, it has not happened.

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[zxcvbob]

It's very important to purchase lead bullets of the correct diameter for your gun and correct hardness for your load. Lead runs larger than jacketed. I can almost guarantee if you buy a box of 0.357" hard cast (BHN=18) and load 38 spl with them you'll see soldering in your barrel in short order.

Do a search on this site or read up on http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

It's kind of important that they are not too small. I don't think they can be too big as long as they chamber OK.

For my .38 Special target loads, I use 148 grain DEWC bullets and I don't size them. IIRC, they drop about .359".

 

[chg]

I've always thought it was easier cleaning up after shooting cast bullets than after shooting jacketed. My .357 loads are with Lyman's 358156, a gas checked design. Most of my .44 loads and the heavier loaded .45 colts are also a gas check design. The only problem I had with cast bullets was in a Ruger Blackhawk .41. A lewis lead remover took care of it. A good smooth bore with proper sized bullets does not lead very much at all. Cleaning jacketed fouling out is much more work.

 

[Jaymo]

If your gun is stainless, all you have to do to remove lead from the barrel is fill the barrel halfway with a 50/50 mix of household hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar. Block off the breech end with your finger while pouring the mix in.
Block off the muzzle end with your thumb and shake it gently for about 5 minutes.

Or, fill the barrel completely and forgo the shaking.

It removes the lead completely.
Wash your hands afterward.

 

[Shrinkmd]

I've had great success with the bronze chore boy wrapped around an old brush. I use the forcing cone cleaner from the Lewis Lead remover, but I haven't had much leading problems. The only time I did was firing off an old box of 38 wadcutters that the lube had dried up on. Filled the bore with garbage, accuracy went completely off. My loads do not do that. I can shoot 250 rounds of 357 magnums loaded warm and no leading to speak of.

Then again, I don't shoot any jacketed at all anymore, so I forget how long it takes to clean a gun that isn't filthy.

 

[Got_Lead?]

Wow, that's a lot of work over just a little lead. +1 for what titegroup said about the recipie, with the right lube and bullet hardness, your bore should stay clean. However, many revolvers do lead right in the leade, but this doesn't seem to affect accuracy much. You would think it would, but it really doesn't. Here's a target from my Ruger Security-Six, with a hundred or so lead rounds fired before this target was shot and a fair amount of lead build-up in the leade.


This is a 25 yard group, and is typical of the accuracy I get from this gun with this load, 1" to 1 1/2" at 25 yards, clean barrel, or dirty. Now what titegroup said about bullets is right on, if the lube is insufficient (like the results I get when I used to use liq ALOX only without any 50/50 in the groove), lead will streak all the way down the bore and degrade accuracy. I found out all about this phenomenon while working up loads in an accurized 1911, first group out the barrel grouped in at 1" at 25 yards. Later in the day, I couldn't get the same load to print better than 3". I checked the barrel, and found that the loads were leadding the bore from about midpoint to the muzzle, so I fired 3 or 4 jacketed rounds to clear the lead out, and the gun went back to shooting 1 to 1 1/2" groups. This leadding turned out to be from insufficient lube (I was using LLA only). The leadding problem went away completely upon going back to the lubrisizer with 50/50 lube in the groove.

In any case, it takes me about 5 minutes to clean my revolvers after firing lead, I just oil them and wipe them down. If I get really ambitious, I may run a bore brush down the bore with a little hoppies, this will clean out all the most stubborn lead. A lewis lead remover or the choir boy wad will remove the more stubborn lead, but in my opinion, this kind of scrubbing is really not necessary. More barrels are damaged by cleaning than are worn out by shooting. That's my take. You can shoot a couple three jacketed bullets at the end of your lead session to clean the bore.

 

[sirsloop]

I avoid reloading and shooting cast simply to reduce my lead exposure.

 

[CraigC]

I avoid reloading and shooting cast simply to reduce my lead exposure.

Reloading and shooting cast bullets does nothing for lead exposure. The danger isn't in solid lead, it's in vaporized lead and the biggest source is primers.

 

[MCgunner]

If your gun is stainless, all you have to do to remove lead from the barrel is fill the barrel halfway with a 50/50 mix of household hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar. Block off the breech end with your finger while pouring the mix in.
Block off the muzzle end with your thumb and shake it gently for about 5 minutes.

Or, fill the barrel completely and forgo the shaking.

Emphasis that doing this on a blued gun with remove bluing. I have used vinegar on stainless barrels, but really, the chore boy wrapped around a wire brush as shrinkmd says he does works great for me and works fast. Make sure that the scrubbers are chore boy and not chore girl or some stainless brush. Chore boy is copper, won't scratch the bore.

And, I agree, leading is much ado about nothing. One should clean one's weapons after every use and getting the lead out isn't that big a deal if there's any lead in there. After that forcing cone incident, I do add the chore boy routine to my gun cleaning now regardless if I can see any leading or not. I'm not REAL sure leading at the forcing cone caused that. K frame forcing cones are a weak spot in the design and it might have just given out. It's an early 60s M10, but it's in great shape. I rebarreled it with a heavy barrel and it's been shooting great for 25 years since.

 

[Sam1911]

I'll reiterate what some others have said: If the recipe is right, lead bullets won't cause you any problems.

I shoot a lot of cast lead bullets through autos and revolvers. I usually run something between 500-1,000 through my 629 between cleanings, and then spend very little time on the bore.

 

[Elmer]

And, I agree, leading is much ado about nothing. One should clean one's weapons after every use

I disagree. I think that's what wears most guns out.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I disagree. I think that's what wears most guns out

I do clean my guns after every shoot but most of the time (confession time) it's not much more than a cleaning patch with bore cleaner and not much more than a "lick and a promise" unless I really see something nasty that needs addressed.

A small flashlight down the end of the bore and a quick look at the forcing cone tells you volumes.

 

[Jaymo]

The Lewis Lead Remover removes leading very quickly and easily.

 

[Ralph G. Briscoe]

I shoot lead 158gr SWCHP's in my snubbies pretty much exclusively...Speer or Hornady....I shoot a lot and have had no significant leading problems. I think keeping the velocity down is the key. My carry load is 4.7 gr Unique (815 fps from a 2 inch barrel). My practice loads using either 3.5 gr Unique or 2.7 gr Trailboss run about 600 fps. I run a lot more of those than the 4.7. I like the 158 gr because they shoot to point of aim in my fixed-sight revolvers. I don't follow any drastic cleaning ritual--a few swipes with a brass brush dipped in Hoppe's followed by patches.....gets 'em plenty clean for government work.