Removing copper from barrel before shooting cast boolits

[Centaur 1]

I see this mentioned a lot, remove any and all copper from your barrel before shooting lead. Does this make any difference when shooting a gas checked rifle round? I can understand this if it was a solid lead boolit, but logically I have to think that with a gas checked boolit, removing the copper wouldn't matter.

[Three44s]

The gas check is not an end all cure all. You'll need to clean out the old copper and powder deposits first.


Three 44s

[dromia]

It depends on your rifle really. Some don't need to be cleaned but others do.

I suspect that it is a function of the level of coppering and how good the boolit fits to groove diameter.

Me I like to get as much copper out as possible, patch and patch about with Eds Red and ammonia, as its one less variable I have to think about as I develop my loads.

The gas check doesn't seem to be enough to make the boolit perform as a jacketed.

Jacketed bullets get away with some copper fouling in barrels because they are usually under groove diameter and also that bit more robust so less likely to get deformed as they travel down the bore as a lead boolit.

Cast Boolits of good groove fit are more susceptable to deformation due to copper fouling.

But then again I could be wrong. :-D

[bowenrd]

Seems like the more lead I shoot the better the rifle performs. I assume it is because after each shooting session the rifle gets a good cleaning. Less copper better shot groups. The rifle also becomes much easier to get clean.

[geargnasher]

My experience has been that copper fouling, no matter how slight, grabs lead. Lead adheres to copper by abrasion alone, so the boolits rub off metal in the copper-fouled areas, particularly near the chamber end of the barrel where copper fouling is usually the worst. Use a quality copper fouling remover until it's ALL gone for best results.

Copper fouling is the reason I no longer shoot j-words in any of my guns, actually haven't for years now.

Gear

[Rocky Raab]

I agree fully with geargnasher on this.

I have only one "cast only" rifle, but it didn't shoot worth a hoot until I'd cleaned the bejabbers out of it. Now that the bore is absolutely copper-free, it handles cast bullets with no leading issues whatever - and puts them in small groups, too.

[white eagle]

I see this mentioned a lot, remove any and all copper from your barrel before shooting lead. Does this make any difference when shooting a gas checked rifle round? I can understand this if it was a solid lead boolit, but logically I have to think that with a gas checked boolit, removing the copper wouldn't matter.
good practice is all
you are rite
gas checks do leave deposits of cooper
but no as much as their full checked brothers :Fire:

[Wally]

How about Aluminum gas checks?

[pdawg_shooter]

Copper may mess up bare lead but it doesn't seem to bother paper patched bullets any. I switch back and forth in my 30cals all the time with no problems. Fact is I think the paper removes copper fouling.

[303Guy]

Copper ... doesn't seem to bother paper patched bullets any.That's an interesting observation!


... the copper-fouled areas, particularly near the chamber end of the barrel where copper fouling is usually the worst.I alway thought copper fouling was worst toward the muzzle. Then again, maybe it's 'cause I don't have too many new barrelled rifles around. The one new barrel saw some 500 cordite machinegun rounds early in its life so would have been somewhate polished up toward the chamber end. It's the muzzle end that gets the copper fouling and leading. I have a few hundred paper patched boolits planned for that rifle to polish up the remainder of the bore for plain lead boolits.

[Bret4207]

If you ever see the inside of a barrel through a bore scope you'll see what that fouling looks like up close. Hooks and jagged edges that act like a saw on lead alloys, and it builds up and get;s worse and worse. Some barrels are much more forgiving than others, but for best shooting a clean barrel is best.

[geargnasher]

303Guy, most of the sporter rifles I've seen, and I've decoppered quite a few of them for friends and such with my Foul Out III, get a heavy buildup starting about two inches ahead of the leade and extending for the first third to half of the barrel. It seems to decrease further out toward the muzzle as a general trend in the guns I've seen. I don't deal with many military guns, though.

As for paper patching, the paper protects the lead from the copper-fouled areas, and where the patch gets cut through on the sides of the lands, copper fouling is usually pretty scarce. Copper loves to accumulate in the middle of the lands and grooves.

Gear

[1Shirt]

I am with Dromia on this one. I get as much as possible out of the bbl, but am never quite sure that I have gotten all of it out. Have a 375 H&H CZ that shoots cast like a million bucks. However it copper fouls badly after just 3-5 rounds of full power loads (that also shoot very well. I have just come to accept that as a reality.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[Char-Gar]

I am one of those guys who are true believers in removing all the copper fouling before shooting cast bullets. I do need to note, that is is almost impossible to get 100% out as there will be trace amounts in the pores of the steel. These trace amounts will do no harm as they don't abrade the bullets as they pass down the barrel.