Does my rifle need to be dedicated to shooting cast?

[fatelvis]

I have been shooting my Rem 700 in 222 with jacketed bullets for years, and love the accuracy. I would like to start trying it with cast boolits. I know to clean the bore of all copper deposits before attempting to get good groups with my boolits, but my question is: Can you switch between shooting cast and jacketed bullets, without a thorough cleaning between? Does the fouling "pile up" in layers, is accuracy diminishing, does it raise pressures over time, does it make the cast Boolits Gods unhappy, etc.? I am interested to hear your opinions. Thanks Leadheads.....

[osteodoc08]

Clean out the copper fouling, well, fouling in general
and go to town.

Its nice to have a dedicated CB plinker especially when you start finding "the load" and have brass separated and prepped specifically for that gun.........but isn't required.

You should check for lead fouling before sending jacketed down range, but otherwise you're good to go.

[DerekP Houston]

erm I suppose I should have asked this question but never got around to it. I switch between factory ammo and my reloads all the time for handguns (only thing I cast for so far). My reason being when I take other people to the range or loan ammo, I don't want the liability or risk. If it is in my guns then shoot whichever. My wife is not as keen on hearing the difference between shots (aka squib) so i don't want her to risk injury, I send boxed ammo. I clean my guns between range trips either way and haven't noticed any difference.

That being said, i was at the range friday with a coworker and witnessed another lane have a squib load. The shooter found it, but this was brand new factory ammo fresh from the box. He was as shocked as me though the gunsmith knocked it loose for him in a quick minute.

[Scharfschuetze]

I clean my guns between range trips either way and haven't noticed any difference.

Solid answer that.

Most of my antique military rifles enjoy only cast boolits given their value. My 30/30 and other hunting rifles get a diet of both while my match and varmint rifles usually only see jacketed bullets.

[Shiloh]

Short answer, no.
Clean the leavings if any from the previous diet.

SHiloh

[Digital Dan]

I think it's OK to have a rifle that goes both ways.

Some of us take the opportunity to justify buying another gun.

Play it like you wish. The Lyman 225438 ain't a bad place to start, assuming it is properly sized and of suitable alloy. They trot along at 2300 fps from my Hornet without complaint.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/Lyman225483_zps3xhgu9ja.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/Lyman225483_zps3xhgu9ja.jpg.html)

50 yards, first try:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/IMG_4111_zpsa99j6j6c.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/IMG_4111_zpsa99j6j6c.jpg.html)