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Originally Posted by Dennis6474
2. I am getting a small amount of lead in my barrel and am trying to use mercury to remove it and not having a lot of luck. How long should I leave the mercury in the barrel.
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I don't believe that I'd use mercury for anything. It's a dangerous heavy metal the downside of using it far outweighs any benefit that you might imagine.
Most leading is susceptible to normal cleaning techniques and solvent. A good brass brushing should help. Leading is caused by one of several problems, mostly caused by bullet fit, charge weight, or alloy hardness. Wheelweights are generally a bit harder than pure lead and have to be driven faster if they don't fit the bore. If the bullet is undersized when it hits the bore, the gas flowing around the bullet will melt the lead and push it ahead of the bullet (we call this gas-cutting). If the lead is too soft, it will not hold the rifling and you'll see leading as a result. Using lead bullets is a balancing act, and it's one that is very satisfying after you figure it out.
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3. The .38's are showing around 825fps. is this slow enough to prevent leading. I am using 3.4 gr of Bullseye.
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I've seen bullets lead at that speed, but shooting soft bullets at that velocity is not generally a problem. You might want to re-check your charge weight. My standard load for a 148 grain wadcutter in the .38 special is 2.8 grains of Bullseye. It's a very accurate target load. For midrange work, I step up to 4.3 grains of Unique under that same bullet, or use a 158 grain SWC.
Lead bullets are different from jacketed bullets. Not better or worse, just different. With them come different challenges and once you figure out the challenges, I think you'll find that casting and shooting your own bullets is very satisfying.