newbie question of the day

[pharmpoke]

How obvious a thing is barrel leading? What does it look like, how do you know? Any photos?

[Gunslinger]

Pretty obvious if you push your bullets to fast without a gascheck and/or don't size the bullet to match your barrel. Looks like grey silver stripes in your barrel. You'll will notice your accuracy dissapearing before you notice anything else.

Pictures as well as tons of info on the main reasons to leading and how to avoid it are available on this forum. Enjoy your reading :coffee:

[dromia]

You'll notice it on the target as your groups go all to cock.

If leading didn't spoil accuracy then it wouldn't worry me.

It can be anything from grey streaks in the barrel to sleeves of lead coming from the muzzle.

The trick is to avoid leading by getting good boolit fit, alloy appropriateness and a suitable lube for the intended purposes and ability of the firearm.

[Wayne Smith]

In my experience if I don't use a bore light or good reflected light I am prone to miss a little leading. When my white patch comes out grey is a good indication for me!

[jonk]

There are several levels of leading. Going from absolutely none, which I think is a pipe dream, to a very small smear that wipes right out (pretty common) to a smear that comes out but requires brushing) to small shavings to thick clumps and smears, to truly filling up the rifling.

The early or light stages aren't so obvious but if you plug her up really good you'll see it at the muzzle and in the accuracy department.

[kir_kenix]

Leading can range from barely noticable, to a grey sheathing that coats the whole inside of the barrel. Good way to check for it is to use a cheap LED white light and shine it down the barrel from the opposite side of you. This will hely you see all the rifling and determine the amount of leading that you have.

In pistols, I really don't worry about very light leading, as I usually have more then one pistol in that caliber that I load for, so I dont tune a load for a specific gun. Just one that will function all the guns in that caliber.

Trust me, you'll notice leading when you get it bad...and you'll tweak your load to prevent it so you don't have to scrub that barrel clean again.