will a coated bullet?

[Lloyd Smale]

push out light leading like a gas checked or jacketed bullet will?

[P Flados]

Yes.

Back when I first started using PC, I still had a quantity of "old loads" that caused bad leading. After one trip where I was "using up" the old loads, the leading on one gun took a ton of work to remove most of it. I quit scrubbing with traces of residual leading that did not want come out. Next trip to the range, I shot a batch of HF Red ASBB PC coated rounds. When I went to clean the gun later, I wiped out some loose powder and then found the bore completely clean.

On a number of occasions since then I have noted light leading & fired a few of my HF Red ASBB PC to get the bore back to zero lead residue.

[Walter Laich]

Cool, didn't know this
thanks for info

[Lloyd Smale]

thanks. I guess leading hasn't been a real issue to me in the past. If I buy a gun that tends to lead up I dump it. But that said when I go out and shoot 3 or 4 hundred rounds out of a handgun (or rifle) I routinely shoot a couple jacketed or gas checked bullets in it before I leave for home.

[Grmps]

Properly coated and sized Hi-Tek bullets prevent leading and also clean the barrel.

[runfiverun]

a proper naked lead boolit will scrape leading out of a barrel too.
I done a pretty good test of leading up a 41 mag barrel over and over with some lazer cast bullets, then shot it out with a lyman 410610 gas check boolit without the gas check installed on top of 4grs of titegroup.

[Dragonheart]

I would question whether the lead was really out of the barrel or has it just been polished into such a fine layer that is still coating the steel?

[runfiverun]

a few passes with a brush and a patch of red/black cloth will tell you real quick.

[swheeler]

a few passes with a brush and a patch of red/black cloth will tell you real quick.

Even a white patch will work, just tilt it back and forth under good light or sunlight, sparklies equal lead.

[popper]

When I first started with HF white 40sw, I noticed light leading, more coated didn't clean it but it didn't build up. Now when cleaning I do notice a few sparkles on the patch, probably just alloy 'dust' that gets 'run-over'. About anything that doesn't create more leading will clean the light stuff out. After a lot of shooting cast I put a couple jacketed or GCd through.

[P Flados]

Last Friday, I had an opportunity. I had made up some 38 & 357 using my new Lee 125 RNFP for my son's Dan Wesson.

As I was sizing the boolits, it was clear that they were going through too easy. Looking at them I noted only small fraction of the OD was touching my 0.3575" sizer die.

I loaded the 38s with 3.1 gr Titegroup over BLL coated boolits. The 357s got 6.8 gr Titegroup under ASBB HF red PC coated boolits (Hodgdon max for a 125 Jword is 7.5 gr).

This gun tends to lead with anything that is even just a little smaller than my sizer.

Sure enough after the finsihing off the 38s (probably close to 80), there was heavy leading in the first couple of inches into the barrel. Previous exerience with this gun was that leading removal would take a good 15 Minutes of hard scrubbing with bronze wool wrapped around a wire brush to get to near clean (98% lead removed).

Fired one cylinder of the PC coated 357s and noted about 50% of the leading was gone. Fired another 6 and at least 90% of the leading was gone. After then next 6, the barrel was totally clean of any lead.

We had previously adopted a practice doing the bulk shooting (BLL target loads) first and then finishing up the session with some 357s. I was surprised at the quantity of leading from the 38s, but it was nice to come home with a clean barrel.

FYI, after I finish off the current inventory of BLL coated 125 boolits, I will be lapping the mold to get them to drop as close as I can to 0.358".

[Multigunner]

A zinc alloy boolit will scrape away both lead and copper fouling.
They used a musket ball with a zinc washer affixed to the base to scour out built up fouling from musket bores during the Civil War. These came packaged in paper cartridges to be used after a certain number of rounds fired.

IIRC wounds caused by these had the Confederacy accusing the Federals of using poisoned bullets. The washer probably carried a lot of lead and other fouling into the wound channel.

[Dragonheart]

Last Friday, I had an opportunity. I had made up some 38 & 357 using my new Lee 125 RNFP for my son's Dan Wesson.

As I was sizing the boolits, it was clear that they were going through too easy. Looking at them I noted only small fraction of the OD was touching my 0.3575" sizer die.

FYI, after I finish off the current inventory of BLL coated 125 boolits, I will be lapping the mold to get them to drop as close as I can to 0.358".

Buying a Lee Mold is "Like a box full of chocolates".