Shooting jacketed bullets after shooting cast

NotQuiteSane · October 11, 2002, 03:47 AM

I'm planning to buy a 10mm soon (how soon depends on my finances)

I enjoy reloading, and will for this pistol. I also plan to shoot cast bullets. now I know after shooting cast ammo, one should clean out the barrel.

but lets say for the sake of arguement, I goto the range, shoot a few hundred rounds of cast, and then reload my defensive rounds. on my way home, before I can clean it, I have to use it.

My question is, how dangerous is this really? should the gun be ok?

for that matter, what about shooting a string of the SD ammo after the cast to maintain proper practice? is it a "non-problem"?

NQS

sleeping dog · October 11, 2002, 06:49 AM

I've shot jacketed rounds after shooting lead in a rifle. Never a problem. The lead bullets I use are pretty hard, they don't leave much in the grooves.

Regards.

Southla1 · October 11, 2002, 08:58 AM

back in my younger days I had shot about 20 of the old Winchester "LubAlloy" rounds in my .357............this bullet was a leading SOB. All it had was a copper "wash" on a very soft lead bullet. Damn thing leaded up so bad the bore looked like a shotgun...........the grooves were filled with lead..........my solution to clean it without scrubbing? Shoot it out with a hot loaded jacketed bullet.....................I dont recommend this knowing what I know now..........but if the leading is not severe it should be safe to shoot jacketed bullets after lead.

PS: You can bet I never bought another box of that W-W round.

john kilgore · October 11, 2002, 09:20 AM

It depends:

It used to be common knowledge that to get lead out of a .357mag barrel from shooting .38spls that you only had to run a few rounds of jacketed ammo through it, and it would strip most of the lead out. Then you ran a bronze brush through it and got out the rest. Accuracy was usually "off" a little with the first two or three rounds but nothing else was hurt; unless you had a significant amount of fouling in the chambers from shooting .38spl in magnum cylinder, in which case extraction may be a little tight. Also a little brushing fixed this.

However, with 10mm, you are talking a little different proposition.
If you're talking about a S&W 610 revolver, the same as above will apply.

If you're talking about a Glock mod20, your going to have problems.
The Glock is not warrantied for shooting lead bullets- factory or reloaded- the lead builds up quickly in the polygonal rifling due to the bullet "stripping" the groove's. Some have called this "skidding", Elmer Keith called it "tripping". With my G-20, I found that after 25-40 rounds that accuracy had totally dissappeared and bullets would start tumbling on most every shot.
This is why Federal discontinued loading the lead bulleted "American Eagle" 10mm load. They now use a jacketed FMJ.
Same thing happens with my G-22 (.40 S&W).
If you follow up shooting lead bullets with a jacketed bullet loaded to nominal spec's (read "hot" in .40 or 10mm), then you run the real risk of spiking pressures and a blown case or worse.
The only blown case heads I've ever had were with these two calibers-in Glocks. So be prudent if you're shooting one of these with lead bullets.
If you do shoot lead bullets through these or guns with similar rifling, it is a simple matter to just take out the barrel and run a tight brush through it to get most of the lead fouling out, and run another two or three magazines through it before repeating the process.
For other guns such as 1911's, ect. and revolves, a jacketed round after shooting lead bullets will only and "get the lead out".

NotQuiteSane · October 11, 2002, 02:39 PM

Quote:

If you follow up shooting lead bullets with a jacketed bullet loaded to nominal spec's (read "hot" in .40 or 10mm), then you run the real risk of spiking pressures and a blown case or worse.

Right, thats my worry. I'll be using a witness, so I might not have the same problem, but if I did, talk about a bad day.

perhaps a quick cleaning after shooting is called for, enought to get the (majority of) lead out.

NQS

Hal · October 12, 2002, 06:54 PM

I look at it this way when going from lead to jacketed. It takes all of 2 min to scrub the bore with a bronze brush to get out any possible accumulation of lead. Why tempt fate?

October 11, 2002, 03:47 AM	#1
NotQuiteSane Senior Member Join Date: October 11, 2002 Location: Klamath Falls, Jefferson Posts: 142	Shooting jacketed bullets after shooting cast I'm planning to buy a 10mm soon (how soon depends on my finances) I enjoy reloading, and will for this pistol. I also plan to shoot cast bullets. now I know after shooting cast ammo, one should clean out the barrel. but lets say for the sake of arguement, I goto the range, shoot a few hundred rounds of cast, and then reload my defensive rounds. on my way home, before I can clean it, I have to use it. My question is, how dangerous is this really? should the gun be ok? for that matter, what about shooting a string of the SD ammo after the cast to maintain proper practice? is it a "non-problem"? NQS __________________ Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. -- Daniel Webster Right the wrongs with the Bill of Rights Smith for Prez!

October 11, 2002, 09:20 AM	#4
john kilgore Senior Member Join Date: August 27, 2002 Location: east georgia Posts: 125	It depends: It used to be common knowledge that to get lead out of a .357mag barrel from shooting .38spls that you only had to run a few rounds of jacketed ammo through it, and it would strip most of the lead out. Then you ran a bronze brush through it and got out the rest. Accuracy was usually "off" a little with the first two or three rounds but nothing else was hurt; unless you had a significant amount of fouling in the chambers from shooting .38spl in magnum cylinder, in which case extraction may be a little tight. Also a little brushing fixed this. However, with 10mm, you are talking a little different proposition. If you're talking about a S&W 610 revolver, the same as above will apply. If you're talking about a Glock mod20, your going to have problems. The Glock is not warrantied for shooting lead bullets- factory or reloaded- the lead builds up quickly in the polygonal rifling due to the bullet "stripping" the groove's. Some have called this "skidding", Elmer Keith called it "tripping". With my G-20, I found that after 25-40 rounds that accuracy had totally dissappeared and bullets would start tumbling on most every shot. This is why Federal discontinued loading the lead bulleted "American Eagle" 10mm load. They now use a jacketed FMJ. Same thing happens with my G-22 (.40 S&W). If you follow up shooting lead bullets with a jacketed bullet loaded to nominal spec's (read "hot" in .40 or 10mm), then you run the real risk of spiking pressures and a blown case or worse. The only blown case heads I've ever had were with these two calibers-in Glocks. So be prudent if you're shooting one of these with lead bullets. If you do shoot lead bullets through these or guns with similar rifling, it is a simple matter to just take out the barrel and run a tight brush through it to get most of the lead fouling out, and run another two or three magazines through it before repeating the process. For other guns such as 1911's, ect. and revolves, a jacketed round after shooting lead bullets will only and "get the lead out". __________________ "There is no such thing as a second place winner in a gunfight" Bill Jordan

October 11, 2002, 06:49 AM	#2
sleeping dog Senior Member Join Date: March 2, 2000 Location: MI Posts: 536	I've shot jacketed rounds after shooting lead in a rifle. Never a problem. The lead bullets I use are pretty hard, they don't leave much in the grooves. Regards.

October 11, 2002, 08:58 AM	#3
Southla1 Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 19, 2000 Location: Jeanerette, La. Near the Posts: 1,999	back in my younger days I had shot about 20 of the old Winchester "LubAlloy" rounds in my .357............this bullet was a leading SOB. All it had was a copper "wash" on a very soft lead bullet. Damn thing leaded up so bad the bore looked like a shotgun...........the grooves were filled with lead..........my solution to clean it without scrubbing? Shoot it out with a hot loaded jacketed bullet.....................I dont recommend this knowing what I know now..........but if the leading is not severe it should be safe to shoot jacketed bullets after lead. PS: You can bet I never bought another box of that W-W round.

October 12, 2002, 06:54 PM	#6
Hal Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 1998 Location: Ohio USA Posts: 8,563	I look at it this way when going from lead to jacketed. It takes all of 2 min to scrub the bore with a bronze brush to get out any possible accumulation of lead. Why tempt fate?