Prepping a Barrel for Cast

[dale2242]

I have been casting since the 60s. Mostly for handguns.
I have cast 10s of thousands of handgun boolits and some for rifles.
I know the "experts" say to clean all of the copper fouling from the bore. I will be doing that as it seems to make sense.
I want to develop some cast loads in my rifles. The 218 Bee for now.
They say to shoot a number of cast loads to condition the bore before shooting groups.
Is this necessary? If so, how. many shots?
Is there a way to tell if the bore is conditioned to shoot groups?
Thanks, dale

[ShooterAZ]

I don't know if there's a way to "tell". I just clean out the copper fouling and go shooting. After that, I just use Hoppes #9 and patches to swab the bore. Some say to never use a bore brush, I follow that line of advise. There's another group who say they never clean the bore, but I always do.

[mdi]

I'm kinda "on the fence" on this subject as I've read from both sides. I read that prepping a barrel for shooting cast bullets starts with extra cleaning, getting every substance out of the barrel (copper) and having absolutely clean steel only on the ID of the barrel. And I've also read, by a gun writer that has edited a cast bullet handbook and has had many articles on bullet casting published, that he has often gone from jacketed to cast and back to jacketed with no more than normal cleaning, and had no ill effects. Besides, I've not been able to tell if there is any difference. I've tried "super cleaning" a couple times, getting the barrel down to nekkid steel, but perhaps my shooting style won't show any small improvement, if any, as I got no less barrel leading and no better accuracy...

Several of my guns have never had a jacketed bullet down the bore since I've owned them (I believe new guns are tested at the factory with jacketed ammo) so I have very little to compare and I'm doin' fine with my home cast bullets through my plain old shooters...

[JSnover]

"Conditioned for groups"? I dunno. Besides cleaned and broken in (another argument in the making), shoot a group from a clean bore. Then another after a fouling shot. Another group after two foulers, etc. Your barrel will tell you when it's ready.

[vagrantviking]

The precision rimfire crowd very often shoot a handful of "fouling" shots when switching ammo before doing serious group testing. There's probably something to it. Those guys certainly shoot well enough to see if there's an effect.

I shoot very little jacketed and it's usually just handguns where I switch back and forth so haven't worried too much about super cleaning. Can't even remember the last time I had an issue.

[blackthorn]

"Conditioned for groups?" Shoot every shot as if for best group. If groups improve, MAYBE the gun has become "conditioned for groups". If groups do not improve, the gun was obviously as "conditioned" as it is going to get right from the get-go.

[lightman]

I usually clean the barrel really well before changing bullets, either jacketed to cast or cast to jacketed.

[MyFlatline]

I really don't see the issue. Copper Bullet, Copper Gas check..I have never worried about changing up and have never had any problems. If you read enough gun rags they will tell you to shoot jacketed to clean out lead. I truly believe it is blown out of proportion. Toss that out the window tho, if you have a leading issue.

Happy New Year All

[HangFireW8]

When switching to cast, I clean the barrel well, but not stripping 100% copper, unless it happens to have a real copper fouling problem.

Then I put my current lube (or NRA 50/50) on a patch and run it through the bore, make sure the chamber is clean and dry, and it's ready to go.

[Hick]

I clean the bore annually whether it needs it or not. Between shooting sessions I run a bore snake through the bore and check it with a bore light to make sure there is no leading. I switch back and forth between cast and jacketed depending on what I feel like shooting any given day. I usually go shooting twice each week. My 30-30 hasn't had its annual cleaning yet, but yesterday it was still hitting the smallest gongs I could find at 100 yards. I don't think it matters fur fun shooting-- though the precision shooters might have a different situation.

[44Blam]

I figured that conditioning a bore for cast meant shooting 50 or so full power copper rounds to smooth out any little burrs and then use some copper cleaning agent to defoul the barrel...

[Peregrine]

I of course, have also heard that you need to remove copper fouling before shooting cast but I think that's assuming heavy fouling and a long time since you last cleaned it. If you're having a leading issue certainly a thorough cleaning is in order one way or another. I haven't had any issues switching back and forth between cast and jacketed without any special cleaning in between, albeit without huge round counts yet.

Actually my barrels seem to get much cleaner the more I shoot cast in them, I suspect it may be the dracon filler I use acting like a built in patch with every shot.

[winelover]

I really don't see the issue. Copper Bullet, Copper Gas check..I have never worried about changing up and have never had any problems. If you read enough gun rags they will tell you to shoot jacketed to clean out lead. I truly believe it is blown out of proportion. Toss that out the window tho, if you have a leading issue.

Happy New Year All

My sentiments, exactly.

Winelover

[trapper9260]

I had prepped a new barrel to shoot cast and after shooting 10 rounds I clean the barrel and did that till I had 100 round in it and I had keep checking the barrel to see the rifling and also what it show on paper of the groups. After all done my groups close up and the rifling had clear up and shiny.

[richhodg66]

I figured that conditioning a bore for cast meant shooting 50 or so full power copper rounds to smooth out any little burrs and then use some copper cleaning agent to defoul the barrel...

I recently bought a brand new rifle as a dedicated cast shooter and pondered this. Been loading up small batches of jacketed loads and shooting ten or so then cleaning, I'll stop at about 100 rounds and clean it and start cast loads through it.

Not sure if this is right, but it seems some jacketed might be good to smooth it up, I had some laying around anyway and figured if nothing else, it would give me an idea of what the rifle is capable of. I don't shoot many jacketed bullets anymore and I shoot a lot of different things. I've never seen anything definitive about barrel break in for cast, but figure copper fouling can't be good, so I'll clean it with some stuff designed to remove copper when the time comes. More than 99% of my gun cleaning any more is with Ed's Red.

[WILCO]

Was told it doesn't matter.

[JSnover]

I have heard of groups getting a little loose when switching from copper to cast, even after cleaning but after a couple rounds they settled back down to normal. Can't say I've seen it myself.

[Texas by God]

I switch back and forth without cleaning on my rifles that use both type bullets. On my dedicated boolit shooters, I just load and shoot. Hopefully they get broke in along the way. I generally don't clean my bores unless they get rained in. YMMV.

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[blackthorn]

I switch back and forth without cleaning on my rifles that use both type bullets. On my dedicated boolit shooters, I just load and shoot. Hopefully they get broke in along the way. I generally don't clean my bores unless they get rained in. YMMV.

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When out in the rain, or bush, a strip of electrician's tape over the muzzle keeps out any type of unwanted stuff.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Also could use a finger cot (first aid thing used for finger splinting and water protection, sorta like a miniature condom) for muzzle protection; Those shouldn't act as a muzzle blockage but COULD affect POI potentially. I haven't tried it, though.