# Lead Bullets and "Leading"



## bcampbell (Nov 6, 2009)

Whenever I'm buying .38 Special for my wife's Chief Special, I notice that lead bullets are often the only thing available. Is this ok to shoot on a regular basis as long as I thoroughly clean the gun afterwards? The guy at the range talked my wife out of shooting it because of buildup in the barrel, but I think it was just because he was trying to get her to buy the range ammo. 

I'd like to buy the lead .38 because they are significantly cheaper. Also, how are they for defensive uses?


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## gunnersmith (Aug 10, 2009)

Yes he was trying to sell you some ammo. As long as velocity is below 1300 fps+_ leading should not be an issue. If you are pushing magnum velocity you can get gas checks which help reduce leading. As for cleaning the bore just fire a couple of cylinders of jacketed bullets, that will clean a large portion of the lead out of the bore.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

gunnersmith said:


> ...As for cleaning the bore just fire a couple of cylinders of jacketed bullets, that will clean a large portion of the lead out of the bore.


*No! Don't do that!*
That will "iron" the lead that much deeper into the pistol's barrel.
_All_ lead bullets will lead your barrel, regardless of the velocity at which they're fired. Period.
Leading must be cleaned out of your gun's barrel, or accuracy and reliability will suffer. Period.

There are three ways to get rid of leading:
• Clean the lead out of the barrel, and then switch to jacketed bullets.
• Clean all the lead out of your barrel every time you come home from shooting, using a brass-bristled brush on a cleaning rod, solvent, and lots of elbow grease.
• Clean your barrel well enough, but don't worry about the lead. Then clean the lead out of your barrel less often, using a Lewis Lead Remover (from Brownell's) and a lot more elbow grease. (This is what I do.)

_Gas checks_, small cups added to the bases of lead bullets, are useless to you, because you are not reloading your own ammunition. You have no reliable way to ascertain if the lead-bullet ammunition you're buying has gas-check bullets. Almost all cheap, lead-bullet cartridges don't.
I believe (but don't absolutely know) that at 1,300 fps you will observe significant leading. You'd need to stick to under-1,000-fps loads, I think, to keep heavy leading from occurring.

Lead-bullet ammunition will kill people. It is, however, inefficient and less powerful than the full potential of your defensive weapon.
You own a gun that cost $600.00 or more. Why skimp on the ammunition you will shoot from it, with which to defend your life? That's false economy.
Lead-bullet ammunition is fine for practice, but only if its recoil and sight setting duplicates that of your full-power carry ammunition.

If this doesn't answer all of your questions fully, feel free to PM me.


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