Which bullets for my Glocks?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Uncivil

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
224
Reaction score
0
Location
Tulsa
What is leading? How do you know if you got it and what are the detrimental effects? Why do you have to clean so thoroughly after shooting jacketed ammo before lead?
 

NikatKimber

Sharpshooter
Staff Member
Special Hen Moderator
Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
20,793
Reaction score
1,520
Location
Claremore
Leading is small amounts of lead from the bullet being left in the bore of the barrel. As mentioned in previous posts, amount of leading varies. If the bullet is soft going too fast in a dirty barrel, you can get enough lead in the barrel that it is visible, even enough that you can flake it off. I had this happen with some of my own cast bullets that were nearly pure lead before I knew that I needed to clean the barrel, the bore of one of my .38s looked like a smooth bore. All lead bullets will leave some lead behind, the goal is to minimize this. This is done by using harder bullets for faster velocities, different bullet lubes, and starting with a clean barrel

The reason to clean before switching from copper to lead and vice versa, is that no matter what kind of bullet used, there will be some small trace amount of it left in the bore. This is referred to as "fouling." This will be there even if you cannot "see" it. Copper fouling from jacketed bullets will cause lead bullets to lead the barrel faster, or lead fouling will increase the rate of copper fouling. This is the reason I have a couple guns I shoot only one or the other through.
 
Joined
Jun 13, 2005
Messages
10,040
Reaction score
3,039
Location
Blanchard
OK...Leading. Thats what shooters are calling lead buildup inside the barrel after lead bullets are shot through it.

Most commonly occurs when improperly sized lead bullets that are too soft are shot at velocities too high. If you look at your reloading manual you will sometimes find the same weight bullet listed with one being lead and the other jacketed. They will list different powder loading for each. You may also find * indicating special notes about using lead.

The idea of cleaning before shooting is to prevent the lead buildup.

There is a lot of controversy about lead removal. Some shooters say shoot lead and then shoot jacketed and it will clean the lead right out. Then clean as you normally would.

Other shooters say that if there is too much lead, it could cause excessive pressures like a barrel obstruction and blow your gun up.

In my early days of reloading and shooting. (late 70's) I used to shoot lead quite a bit. Didn't know a thing about sizing or the different loadings and lead mixtures. After about 100 rounds, you couldn't hardly see the rifiling in my barrel. I later found out two things. I was very lucky that I hadn't blown myself up and the S&W model 66 is a tuff gun.

Research and choose wisely Grasshopper.
 

Old Fart

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
22,400
Reaction score
6
Location
XXX

NikatKimber

Sharpshooter
Staff Member
Special Hen Moderator
Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
20,793
Reaction score
1,520
Location
Claremore
Like said, not on purchased bullets. I was referring in general to lead bullets need to be sized. So either verify they are sized the way you need them, or if you are casting them yourself, you will need to size them.

Good question.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom