Pistol bullets in Rifle

[jednorris]

I shoot 30 - 1 ratio lead bullets in my .45/70. The man I bought my Browning 1885 Rifle from admitted he cleaned it from the muzzle. I have been told that shooting a jacketed bullet in the Rifle will take out any lead buildup and possibly remove any burrs from the muzzle. I do not have any Rifle bullets, but do have some jacketed .45 240 gr. Pistol bullets. Would shooting a Pistol load with these bullets accomplish anything ?.

[BigAlofPa.]

45 acp?

[Don McDowell]

Shooting jacketed in a barrel after lead only irons the lead deeper into the lands.
Shooting a 45 pistol bullet will probably give you copper fouling on top of any lead you left in the barrel..

[BigAlofPa.]

Why not just clean it the old fashioned way? If it's real bad soak the bore over night and have at it in the morning.

[NSB]

BigAloPa got it correct. Just clean it and don't try "cleaning" it with jacketed bullets. Why do you think you have "burrs" in the muzzle. You can clean a gun from the muzzle if you do it correctly. Some people use a bore guide and some are just very careful.

[john.k]

worst burrs in the muzzle I ever saw were from a guy who read he should slug the barrel.......he did .....several hits with a claw hammer driving a bullet in.......now thats burrs.

[NSB]

worst burrs in the muzzle I ever saw were from a guy who read he should slug the barrel.......he did .....several hits with a claw hammer driving a bullet in.......now thats burrs.

Ouch!

[Ateam]

I am going to go out on a limb and say your 45/70 is .458ish, most 45 pistol bullets are .452. not gonna work.

[John Boy]

Every firearm has a listed nominal bore & groove dimension. Shooting any bullet with a smaller groove diameter than listed for the firearm ... the bullet will not obturate in the grooves and your barrel will lead up. Rule of thumb: lead bullet diameter 0.001 to 0.003 greater than groove diameter provides the best obturation

[Mytmousemalibu]

Can't vouch for rifles per say but I have used jacketed to somewhat delead pistols. I ran several attempts of SNS coated bullets through my carry optics gun and it leaded horribly. I ran some cheapie Tula box ammo through it and it took most out.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

There are a whole lot of folks that practice shooting a couple jacketed bullets after shooting lead to remove lead fouling, it does work. With a 45-70, a .458 diameter would work best. There are many people who clean from the muzzle, by choice or necessity. Savage 99's, M1 Garand's, M1A's(M14), and most(all?) revolvers. Properly done , cleaning from the muzzle does no harm. The barrel-maker Obermeyer has commented than it is safer to clean carefullyy through the muzzle than through the chamber - a barrel can be simply shortened and/or recrowned while damage to the throat from improper cleaning requires rethreading and rechambering.

[Don McDowell]

I've heard this stuff about jacketed bullets taking the lead out of barrels,,, but no one has ever said what sort of jacketed bullets they are using that has a sharp and hard enough edge to scrape that lead out. Jacketed bullets will take the lube fouling from cast bullets out, and I believe that's where folks get confused.

[NSB]

Your barrel is going to be .4565-.4570". Any pistol bullet is going to be .451-.452". Just isn't going to work based on that alone. The meaning of .45cal is all over the map regarding pistol vs rifle bullets......just not the same thing.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I've heard this stuff about jacketed bullets taking the lead out of barrels,,, but no one has ever said what sort of jacketed bullets they are using that has a sharp and hard enough edge to scrape that lead out. Jacketed bullets will take the lube fouling from cast bullets out, and I believe that's where folks get confused.

This is a "your mileage may vary" but for me, it unquestionably removes lead. The Tula 9mm I used was regular 115gr. ball ammo but it was steel jacketed. However I have had plain 115/124 copper jacketed ball work just as effectively. It was most definitely lead and smeared Hitek. I had brushed some out and seen the lead slivers come out. I was getting frustrated and shot jacketed in hope of blowing it out and surprisingly it was dramatic less fouled after.

[Don McDowell]

you might be shocked at how much lead that isn't in there comes out if you run a flannel patch soaked in pure gum spirits of turpentine on tight jag down that barrel.

[country gent]

Most jacketed pistol bullets run in the .451-.452 dia. 34 cal rifle barrels will be in the .458-.459 dia so .006-.007 bigger than the bullet. Even with the right sized bullets I believe what you get with the jacketed is a smoothing and "leveling" of the lead deposits in the first description this under sized bullet with leading present will probably leave a very even .003 to .004 layer of lead down the bore.
For most deposits a good solvent new bronze bore brush removes leading pretty quickly. I use a mix of Kroil shooters choice at 50-50 and brush. let this soak 15-20 mins after brushing and run a tight patch and jag thru. Most will come out quickly. As Don mentioned turpentine is also a good lead remover.

[Knarley]

I've used some stuff called "Lead Cloth". Boy, it fits tight, but the lead comes right out with it.

Shooting undersized bullets is just going to add to your dilemma..

[indian joe]

I shoot 30 - 1 ratio lead bullets in my .45/70. The man I bought my Browning 1885 Rifle from admitted he cleaned it from the muzzle. I have been told that shooting a jacketed bullet in the Rifle will take out any lead buildup and possibly remove any burrs from the muzzle. I do not have any Rifle bullets, but do have some jacketed .45 240 gr. Pistol bullets. Would shooting a Pistol load with these bullets accomplish anything ?.

Nothing at all wrong with using a cleaning rod from the muzzle end - just use a bore protector on it - cut off cartridge case works -------lot of guys using bore snakes these days - many military rifles got ruined crown from use of pull throughs in the old days - I am predicting history repeats with bore snakes.

[BigAlofPa.]

Or you can do the old copper scubber padding around a bore brush trick. But be sure it's pure copper. Not the coated steel stuff.

[Wayne Smith]

And nothing you want to put down your barrel is likely to take out steel burrs, if there are any there.