Deleading

[rtparso]

I have been shooting lead bullets with my XD45. After 100 rounds I have to scrub the barrel to get the lead out. After the first pass with a bronze brush (about 20 strokes) and a couple dry patches I can look down the barrel from the chamber and about the first inch is leaded to the point that I can't see the rifling. To get the lead out I have to repeat the scrub process about 5 times. What am I doing wrong?

[Breadman03]

I'm interested in lead, but haven't made the leap yet. It sounds like your boolits are the wrong size or being pushed too fast.

Try slugging your barrel and sizing your boolits to the correct size (I think .002 over bore). The other option is to reduce your load to a velocity within the range your boolits work well in. I think lead is good to about 1000 fps.


As far as removal, I hear a bunch about wrapping a small piece of Chore Boy around a bronze brush and applying liberal elbow grease is one of the better options.


Good Luck!

[Duane]

Back years ago, when I was shooting a lot of lead, a friend suggested that I try a Lewis Lead Remover.

LEWIS LEAD REMOVER - Brownells

It worked GREAT.

But I also learned that firing a handful of copper jacketed bullets after a long range session did pretty much the same.

At that time, I'd fire a bunch of practice lead, and then clean out the barrel with my jacketed carry ammo.

I haven't used my Lewis Lead Remover in several years, because I only shoot jacketed bullets now.

But it does work very well.

Duane

[jon45xdtac]

I shoot lead cast bullets in all of my pistols, including my XD45 Tactical. I don't have any leading whatsoever. Slugging your barrel is necessary to know what size you need to size your bullets to. I tumble lube the bullets and then size them to 0.451". I don't re-lube after sizing. The load that I use is 4.5gr of W231. This reliably cycles my gun while providing a nice "soft" target load. All brass is usually within 2-3 feet of where I'm standing.

You have a few variables to play with. If you are casting your own, you can change the alloy of the lead by adding tin or antimony, but I find that wheel weight lead already has a good mix. I personally don't add anything to the alloy since this works well for me, but I know others do. If you're purchasing lead bullets, the manufacturer probably already has a good alloy mix. You could double check their hardness with a hardness tester. I've heard good things about the Lee hardness test kit, but haven't used one myself.

The easiest variables to change are the bullet sizing and the powder charge. I'd start with slugging your barrel so that you have a baseline to start. You'll want to size to the maximum diameter that the lead slug measures, which is the valley of the barrel's rifling. If you are purchasing bullets, these may already be sized to the diameter you need, but you should still do this to make sure. The next step I would recommend would be to look at the starting load that you can use for the powder you are using. Personally I try to use the lowest powder load that will cycle the gun reliably. This reduces fatigue on the brass so that you can load them more times. The low end of the range should also give you a lead free barrel.

Like I mentioned, I am not experiencing any leading in my gun. I hope this helps. Good luck!

[jon45xdtac]

I regards to de-leading, I did have a problem with my 9mm with leading because I was using a load that was too high. I was able to remove all of the lead by tapping a lead bullet through the barrel. This pushed all of the lead out of the riflings. It looked like fingers of lead coming out of the ends of the barrel when I did this. This will also slug your barrel at the same time. I found this process to be much easier than scrubbing and scrubbing to still not get it all out. If I were you, I'd tap a bullet through to de-lead the barrel, and then measure the bullet to see what size the barrel is. Good luck!

[fredj338]

Your bullet are likely undersized &/or too hard. I run 0.452" bullets in all my 45s; 1911s, XD, whatever. I use a medium hard alloy 10-12BHN for casting my own. Run @ 750-1000fps offers little to no leading. SO check your bullet dia, at least 0.001" larger than groove, 0452" works in most guns. Then check your loading technique. Most guys crimp too much, all this does is size the bullet down further. Pull a bullet, check the dia. If it went in @ 0.452", it should come out about that. I have pulled many rounds where even jacketed bullets get sized down by over agrresive crimping, as small as 0.449"! That is always going to cause leading in the throat. A really hard bullet undersized is worse as it never bumps to fill the bore.
ChoreBOy is a great little tool for lead removal. Wrap a bit around an old bore brush ad some Kroil & give it 3-4 strokes, follow w/ a patch & done. Leading is almsot always a poor bullet fit. FIx that & you shouldn't need the CB.