Barrel leading: am I getting any

[nemesisenforcer]

I've been shooting cast slugs out of my Winchester model 70 30-06 recently. It's the Lee 180 grain round nose gas check mold. I gas check them and use about 25 grains of SR4759 for a velocity (estimated) of 1800 fps.

I didn't see any severe fouling but I figured there had to be some in the grooves so I finished off a box I had loaded up and cleaned the barrel. I soaked the bore with Kroil and pushed through several tight patches. They came out dirty, but didn't push any lead ribbons.

Am I not getting any fouling or am I not getting it out?

[waksupi]

Sounds like you are doing fine. Don't clean the bore again, unless accuracy starts to drop off. Leave that fouling in the bore. Otherwise you need to shoot several rounds to bring it back to the top condition again. Treat a cast boolit rifle like a .22. The less cleaning the better, generally.

[williamwaco]

Here is what leading looks like.
Note that it will be harder to see in a .30 caliber rifle than in a 35 caliber handgun.

http://reloadingtips.com/pages/index-leading_problems.htm

Use a bore light and check from both ends. Remove the bolt and look through the action, then through the muzzle.

[cylinderman]

+1 on keep an eye on the bore and don't clean too much. A clean bore may have a noticeable ammount of lead in it after only a couple rounds, inspect after 25 rounds no change. Then 100 rds later even less lead. Most of the time my cleaning consists of a chamber brushing followed by dry patch to take the loose stuff out.

[Survival Bill]

Thanks you would not believe how long I have been trying to find good info/photos like this thanks for the link!
I got no leading at all so far yee haa (doing the happy dance LOL) I must be doing something right!


Sounds like you are doing fine. Don't clean the bore again, unless accuracy starts to drop off. Leave that fouling in the bore. Otherwise you need to shoot several rounds to bring it back to the top condition again. Treat a cast boolit rifle like a .22. The less cleaning the better, generally.