I have loaded soem medium jacked bullets in all pistol calibers and fire 3 aftre about every third session with cast bullets. This seems to blow the lead out (or iron it so flat i can't see it.)
I was convinced that shooting jacketed bullets after shooting cast was the cure to lead fouling in handguns and rifles until last year. I ran some hard cast 195 gr bullets a little too quick (1800 fps) down the bore of my 1:8 .308 and I think the bullet pushed through the rifling like a piece of cheese running across a grater. The same bullet does well in our 1:10 and 1;12 .30/06 barrels at 1800, but the fast twist Krieger fouled badly. I wasn't concerned, I fired a few rounds of jacketed ammo to scrub the lead out, then proceded to fire a group with some of my carefully crafted 220 gr MKs in Lapua brass. They shot into a foot! This is quite disturbing for a load that had previouslly shot into the .1"s, and could break clay birds laying on the back stop on demand from a half mile. Now I was worried! But at first I assumed I had a scope problem, it hadn't even occurred to me that the barrel was fouled after shooting the jacketed bullets through it. I checked all the mounting screws and the tracking of my S&B against the bore sighter and it seemed OK. I swapped scopes and shot again, and again the group was out to lunch. Then slowly the realization that I had a fouled barrel dawned on me. Sometimes I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree.
Now I have visions of a smooth bore barrel, the grooves filled to the top with lead, protected by a layer of copper, suitable only as a tomato stake! Tomato stakes aren't big sellers in Chruchill!! I dug out my old Outers electric bore cleaner and tried the Lead Out solution, but I couldn't get a ground anywhere on the GunKoted barrel, and the wire lead wasn't long enough to reach the receiver. As much as I dislike scrubbing an expensive match barrel, even with a bore guide and a coated rod, thats what I did, with Kroil and JB Bore Cleaner. I pushed a patch wet with Kroil through the bore, let it sit for an hour to give it time to get under the fouling, then would give the barrel a scrub with the JB. I'd then clean out the JB with Hoppes soaked patch, then patch the barrel dry and examine the patch for tell-tale grey. A few days later I had the opportunity to shoot again and saw that the accuracy had returned. I must say I gave a sigh of relief.
A couple of months ago I received Veral Smith's book "Jacketed Bullet Performance with Cast Bullets". Veral is the fellow behind LBT (Lead Bullet Technologies). When I saw his recommendation for the copper scouring pad wrapped around a bore brush, used dry, I grabbed my .44 Vaquero that I could clearly see the fouling in, and tried it. Veral Smith was right, lead fouling is easier to remove than copper fouling . . . when you go about it the right way. Now ya tell me!
I discovered my .308 would shoot the cast bullets accurately and without significant fouling when I dropped the velocity down to 1200 fps, but there seems little point as I have a broader range of useful velocities and comparable accuracy with my slower twist .30/06s.
