ks1911

I'm new to reloading for pistol. I've loaded and shot about 3,000 rounds over the last couple of months and the load I have sort of settled on, seems to excessively lead my gun barrel. Gun function, ejection, feeding, and recoil with this load is sweet. The leading has not resulted in diminished accuracy (at least that I can tell, given my consistently crappy marksmanship) so much as its almost impossible to get the barrel perfectly clean. I do not have a chronograph and at this point have not chrono'd this load. I'd appreciate any suggestions. BTW its 45 ACP.


Load:
Powder: 4 gr Clays
Bullet: 185 gr LSWC, Brinell 18, .452 diameter
Primer: Win
Case: Mostly RP

Pistol:
Ed Brown 5" Special Forces

alfack

The only thing I can think of is try a jacketed bullet or maybe a .451 diameter, though I don't think 1/1000 is going to make that much difference. Are those bullets lubed? Maybe what you are experiencing is a build up of lube in the barrel?

Tubby45

Bullet diameter could be wrong. Did you slug your bore?

Bullet hardness is too hard and isn't sealing the bore. Switch to softer alloy. Multiply BHN number by 1422. That is the chamber pressure needed to seal the bore. Doing so is a hair under 26000. No way a 45 is going to reach that pressure safely.

Leading is: Deposits of bullet alloy that have been smeared into the surface of the gun's bore. In extreme cases,

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P95Carry

Agree with Tubby - odd as it may seem low velocity bullets are better softer - keep the high hardness stuff for fast rounds . 357, 44 mag - and those are best gas checked.

Get a Lewis lead remover, or equivalent - drawing a bronze gauze thru the barrel does a great job of removing lead build up.

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QKShooter

Suggestion. Try J-B Bore Bright as a final cleaner for your barrel and then finish with a patch very slightly damp with BreakFree - FP-10 or WeaponShield.
J-B Bore Bright is available from Brownell's.
Some barrels will just always Lead Up and foul heavily until they get micro-polished.

The Final Finish For Your Barrel, Improves Accuracy, Reduces Cleaning Effort
A micro-fine bore cleaning and finishing compound that works as both a cleaner and a final polish to help keep barrels free of fouling and shooting their absolute best.
Regular use gives your barrel a mirror-like finish that helps prevent the build-up of accuracy robbing copper fouling, plus greatly reduces cleaning effort.
Clean your barrel as you normally would, then after cleaning with J-B Compound, follow with J-B Bore Bright to achieve a super clean, final polish.
At the range, regular use of J-B Bore Bright between strings of fire minimizes the accumulation of jacket fouling to help maintain consistent accuracy.
As a bore cleaner, the soft, oil-paste formula liquefies as you use it to quickly remove fouling, copper, lead, and powder residue in rifles and handguns, plus plastic deposits in shotgun bores.
Because J-B Bore Bright is absolutely non-embedding it wipes easily from the barrel with a dry patch.
You never need to worry about Bore Bright harming your barrel.

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ks1911

Thanks for the suggestions. Missouri Bullet Co also offers the 185 gr LWSC with a BHN of 12, going to give those a rip.

edr9x23super

I used to have those problems years ago, then I discovered the easy way to remove lead and copper fouling. I cannot tell you how many products I tried by Lewis, outers, etc. Then one lucky day a buddy owed me money, and instead of paying me, he gave me this gadget he bought called a foul-out II by Outers.

That turned out to be the best darn bore cleaner I have ever used, period. I use it once every 10 cleanings or so because of the price of the chemicals, but it is awesome. it uses an electrochemical process similar to the plating process, except in reverse to remove fouling in your bore. it runs on 4aa batteries, but mine came with an AC adapter, and you just basically run the metal rod into your bore, fill it with chemicals, and walk away for a couple of hours. when you come back, you just clean the fouling off of the metal rod.

And your bore is absolutely sparkling clean....After that I coat a patch with flitz and polish the bore.

MidwayUSA - Outers Foul Out 3 Bore Cleaning System

There is the link to the latest model. It may seem pricey, but this thing turns your bore cleaning into a verrryy easy affair...

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Sheldon J

Yeah I have been wanting one of those for a long time but am too cheap to buy one.

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jbailey

KS1911,

You didn't say in your post whether or not you use the Lee Factory Crimp Die, but I'll mention this just in case you do.

The FCD is very handy for correcting out of spec rounds, and I am not bashing it at all, but when you use the FCD on lead rounds, it will deform the lead bullet enough to allow the hot gasses to "blow by" the bullet, cutting the sides of the bullet and depositing this lead in your barrel.

I have been using the same load as you (4gr Clays) with a 200gr LSWC, not sure of the BHN (local caster), but I get very little leading. But I do get "some". To remove it, depending on how many rounds I 've shot, I'll use some bronze wool wrapped around an old brush, or if not much lead, I'll put two patches on a 45 cal. jag to make it real tight in the barrel and this will shove the lead out. There is also a Lee cloth lead remover product that you cut up into patch size pieces and place on the jag. The Lee product works well, but I mostly use patches.

Hope this helps,

Jim

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Tubby45

Not all of them. Depends on the opening measurement at the sizing ring. None of my FCDs will swage down lead.

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