# Is it possible to clean the lead out of a lead-fouled barrel with FMJ rounds?



## joepeat (Jul 8, 2015)

This guy claims it's so, see the very bottom of the page. Has anyone here had any experience with this?

Removing Lead Fouling from Gun Barrels


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## krunchnik (Nov 27, 2011)

I have always heard that the FMJ just further galls the lead into the barrel.Although I have fired full power jacketed bullets after using lead bullets and have had no ill effects.I use Kroil and a brass bore brush to remove any lead deposits my pistols get.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

My experience is the exact opposite of that of the guy who wrote the recommendations: Jacketed bullets actually "ironed" the lead more tightly onto the barrel's rifling.

I used to practice with lubricated-lead-alloy bullets, firing a couple of hundred rounds every weekend. The bullets and their lubricant were best quality, but nevertheless there was lead residue left in the barrel. I did not remove this leading until the night before I went to our monthly competition.
Once in a while, I did not have the time to remove the month's-worth of leading. In those cases, when I used jacketed bullets in competition, I found that the leading was not only still there, but also much harder to remove, when I finally got around to doing it.
My solution was to switch to lubricated lead bullets for both practice and competition. Then, if I somehow didn't have the time to remove the month's leading before competing, I wouldn't make matters worse.

I suggest that the guy who wrote the recommendations either did not see the ironed-on leading after he had used jacketed bullets, or he was shooting through a really slick, lapped barrel. (The barrels of my pistols are off-the-shelf stock, and not lapped to slick smoothness.)

My favorite solution to leading is a tool which used to be called the Lewis Lead Remover. Brownells sells it, but its name has changed. It is a bore-diameter rubber plug, over which you place a piece of bronze screen (like window-screen material). You pull it through the barrel. One pass usually does the job.
Bronze screening has no effect upon the barrel, but it readily scrapes the leading out. (Steel is stronger than bronze, which is stronger than lead.) A little force is required, but not much.


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## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

joepeat said:


> This guy claims it's so, see the very bottom of the page. Has anyone here had any experience with this?
> 
> Removing Lead Fouling from Gun Barrels


While this may or may not "work" to remove lead fouling, is not really the main concern. The concern should be: what does shooting a jacketed bullet through a partially obstructed bore do to the pressure-curve of the ammunition that has to be contained by the firearm? The guy that tried this was using a break-open single-shot hunting handgun which is strong enough to be chambered in several bottle-necked rifle calibers; a bit of extra pressure in a pistol-caliber cartridge will not cause any safety problems in this gun.

In some autoloading pistols, a portion of the chamber over the feed ramp area is less supported than it is in revolvers or single-shot pistols, and if pressures are boosted too high, then the case can fail (blow-out) over the ramp area, allowing high-pressure powder gasses to escape from the chamber and blast into the (plastic, if it's a Glock) frame, where they do very destructive things to the internal parts (and your hand/fingers, if a polymer frame cracks, as it often does in these cases).

I would never recommend firing a pistol (or indeed, any firearm) with a partially obstructed bore, for any reason short of a life-or-death situation that developed at a moment's notice. Clean it like it's supposed to be cleaned, and keep all your fingers (and your pistols/firearms) in one piece.


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

I would rather just scrub the hell out of the bore to get that lead out. Just like DJ Niner said, the extra pressure could be a disaster.


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