I remember seeing a discussion on dealing with lead in the revolver barrel from cast bullet shooting. The recommendations ran the gamut from using lead removers to just shooting jacketed bullets to remove it. For the last part, I thought, that sounds crazy, shooting jacketed bullets? I hadn't had lead in my revolver barrels for some time - I know that the hardness and quality of the cast bullet can have an effect on this, as well as type of powder and bullet velocity. For a long time, I had generally shot 100 rounds at a time through my 38 Spl, 41 Mag, 44 Mag, and 45 ACP. It was invariably 50 rounds of cast bullets followed by 50 jacketed bullets (almost always reloads); not due to anything more than looking to shoot as much as possible, but not spend as much on jacketed projos. All this time I never had any real lead buildup in any pistol barrel.

Then recently I and my cousin went to the range and fired a bunch of cast bullets through both single-action revolver. 100 cast bullets through each revolver. They have a good degree of lead in them, which will come out with some good cleaning. But that never happened with the 50/50 cast/jacketed shooting. Maybe it does mean something.

sput, I've never liked the concept all that much. I feel you push/scrape some of the lead out but then the jacketd mat'l. plates over the lead in the bbl making it even more diff. to remove (lots of rounds though). I find bullets sized to the bore dia. or cyl. dia. on a revolver, give little leading if cast to at least WW hardness & lubed. I've noticed flat based bullets lead less than bevel based. SOme powders also burn very hot (ie, tighGroup) for the initial ignition & these melt the base /side more than slower powders like Unique & 2400.

Are you casting your own bullets or purchasing? When I stopped casting my own, I started using those Laser Cast bullets with a touch of silver in them for hardness. I have had zero problem with leading from them. They are very accurate in all my handguns and come in handy around the full moon with that silver content.

I am not to big fan of the process of shooting the jacketed bullets to clean the barrel, You will layer copper over lead which becomes a mess to clean later. The best lead remover I have used was the outers foul out. Cleaned the bore quite well.

John

Been doing a lot of cast bullet shooting over the last five years from a .41 and 44. Titegroup powder, as previously mentioned, really aggravates leading, and velocities approaching 850 fps and I get lead build up.

I've found Kroil and a bronze brush really helps clean the lead out. Guy at Dillon told me that, and I bought a can and it works.

I wouldn't recommend shooting copper over lead, for previously mentioned reasons.

Outer used to make a lead removal cloth that works great cut int patches. It pulls the lead out quite easily w/ no brushing.
jet, try using a slightly slower powder. Some believe fast burners like TG cause more leading than something like Unique. I've hd great results w/ Unique under cast bullets in just about every pistol caliber I have tried from 9mm-45colt.

I used to have problems shooting lead bullets in my Dan Wesson 44mag until I found out the cylinder throats were to small. I bought a reamer from Brownells cut them to the proper size and presto no more lead problems and smaller group size.

With my Taurus 454 Raging bull I switched to jacketed bullets only to much trouble cleaning the lead out of the compensator.

A good quality cast bullet should not present any significant problems. Next time in the supermarket get one of the copper chore girl scrubbers. Cut a piece out of it and wrap it around your bore brush. Does a great job with most any cleaning solution.

Outers foul out worked the best for lead! If leading is a constant problem, have the barrel slugged to check the dimension. Gas checks are also a good way to help prevent leading and keeps it cheaper than jacketed as well.

John

My S&W revolvers suffered from lead build up but the bullets are soft.When I read an article in Handguns about 180 gr hard cast bullets from a Ruger BH in 357 penetrating front to back thru a coyote I had to have some Gas Checked Cast Performance Bullets for my BH's in 41mag, 45lc & 15" Encore Pistol Barrel in 454 casull haven't had any leading problems at all.I use Blue Dot,H 110 & W 296.

Ive been shooting jacketed bullet to clean lead out of guns for over 25 years and its never hurt a thing. Lead is a lubricant and i doubt if your ever going to get a jacketed bullet to foul over top of lead. Now if you gun is leading badly theres something wrong with either your bullets or gun that should be fixed. A little leading after 300 or so rounds is no big deal and a cylinder full of jacketd bullets will clean it out. It is a rare day that i brush out a handgun barrel. When shooting cast bullets a barrel seasons to the lube just like you season a cast iron skillet and takes a number of bullets on a clean barrel to settle in and shoot. even when I run a few jacketed bullets through a gun (and only do it if leading is bad enough to effect accuracy and thats rare) Ill shoot about a dozen cast through it before i retire from the range. A good gun running cast can shoot many thousand rounds before leading is a problem that cant be taken care of with a couple jacketed bullets. Ive got revolvers that the round count is in the thousands that havent even need a jacketed bullet. end of the day i clean the cylinder and the outside of the gun and wipe them down with a little oil and oil that ratchet face and the clyinder bushing and call it a day.

If you are getting leading you have problem with the alloy hardness, the bullet diameter, barrel frame constriction, rough barrel, cyclinder throat is way to small for the barrel.
Why not figure out what the problem is and solve it rather then treat the symptom, barrel leading.
I clean my handguns every thousand rounds even if they don't need it.
Jim

Try a Lewis Lead Remover.