I loaded (as per Speer #11 manual) some 158 grain semi-wadcutters over 6.0 grains of Unique. While at the range I saw a guy shooting the same bullet with what he said were max loads, same velocities as my factory ammo (158 grain jacketed soft point).
I asked him if he had a problem with leading in his barrel, and he said he didn't really know because he never cleans the actual barrel. This is due to the fact that he was told that it was hard on the barrel to clean it... So I figured that asking him was a dead end method of "fact finding"!!!!
So now I have two questions.....
#1- Doesn't the barrel's rifling shear lead off severly, and lead up the barrel if solid lead semi-wadcutters are pushed out at 1300-1350 fps?
#2- Has anyone else heard that they shouldn't clean the barrel of their revolver?

Let me know,
Woodrow

Swaged lead bullets are soft and cannot be driven at high velocities. Hard cast lead bullets can easily be driven up to about 1200 fps, perhaps even more, without leading, depending upon the quality of the barrel.

Many people hold the belief that cleaning a barrel ruins it. Personally, I think barrels should be properly cleaned. You do have to be careful to not damage the muzzle crown or to use harsh abrasives or steel bore brushes.

Lead can be sheared off the sides of the bullet if it's moving fast enough when it gets to the riffling. It generally doesn�t build up, as it's big enough pieces to be scraped out by the next bullet. Long term buildup from sheared lead shouldn't be a problem as those loads should be so inaccurate that there is no reason to continue shooting them.

The leading that causes problems is from the heat of combustion vaporizing lead off the base of the bullet. The lead builds up slowly in the riffling. Imperfections in the bullet base make this problem worse. The edge of the bullet base can actually be eaten away, resulting it crappy accuracy.

It's not always the soft swaged bullets that are the offenders. If the bore is oversized a hard bullet will allow the combustion blow by gases to eat away at the sides of the bullet due to the poor fit. A soft bullet will swell to fit and produce less leading.

A hard bullet in an undersized bore will sometimes smear lead as its force fit into the forcing cone.

On the topic of cleaning the bore. I recently bought a Redhawk. The cop that had it before me was one of those bore-brushes-ruin-bores types. The lead was so thick the riffling was entirely covered. It shot 6-inch patterns at 21 ft. I cleaned it and it still shot poorly, due to an oversized bore, but far better than before. Sure, cleaning causes some minimal wear, but if it's not clean it's not accurate. If it's not accurate you might as well use a starter pistol. The simple rule of thumb is "When you are done, put down your rod."

Thanks for the info fellas!

Woodrow,
I hope I can help you with the cleaning issue.I am an instructor for concled and carry classes in KY. As part of the training I cover cleaning as one of the many topics we cover. Combined with my experance in the M.P. core I can tell you with out a dought you will never find a gun of mine with a dirty bore.
Here is some information that will help you
when cleaning your bore. There are 3 kinds of bore brushes you can use:
steel brushes - The major down side to these are if they get janed in your barrel as you clean or if you are not careful when cleaning you can scar the inside of your barrel causing serous damage. The only advantage is they are the strongest brisles you can use.
nylon brushes- On the exact oppsite side of the spectrum the nlon brushes are so soft it is nearly imposable to do damage to your bore. But the soft brushes make it a real pain to get the job done.
brass brushes- These are a great combonatio of the two previous options.The brass is stoung enough the properly clean the bore. On the safe side they are also week enough to break off without doing damage if not properly inserted.
Also as outhers have mentioned to you your accuracy is at steak with a dirty bore.
I hope I have been of help and wish you luck in your search.