Swapping out barrels using the same slide?

Gastech2

Gastech2

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Hello everyone, I have been considering buying a second 9mm barrel for my p226 to shoot lead cast only and was wondering if there would be any issue with wear or breaking in using the same slide for two barrels.

At my gun club they only allow lead cast on the indoor range and was hoping to take advantage of it more.
Only reason I'm concerned is I'v heard of issues where barrels leading up quickly after shooting lots of jacketed bullets. My other restricteds have only ever shot lead cast so this is new to me.

This is my first post on the forums page and looking forward to others input.
 
First off if your barrel does lead up at all then you are using bullets made from the wrong alloy or that are the wrong size. Some of my own handguns see a steady diet of nothing but cast bullets but do not lead up at all.

For a while I shot 500 cast lead from my CZ Shadow and didn't get any leading. At least nothing that I noticed in among the regular powder fouling. I only stopped using the cast loads because locally I can get Berry plated bullets for cheaper than I can buy cast bullets.

So my advice is to not worry about something that is quite likely to not be an issue. But do cover your bases by checking the bore at the end of each evening. The best way to do that is run a patch or two only down the bore to clean out the fouling. Then inspect the bore. If you see a crusty buildup along the edges of the rifling between the lands and grooves then pass a bore brush down the barrel over some clean paper. Inspect what comes out on the paper and on the brush to see if it's a metallic grey or if it's just crusty fouling.

My bet is that it's nothing more than crusty fouling if you have anything at all.

Oh, and when I did shoot the cast bullets in my Shadow? It gave me significantly tighter groups than I normally got with jacketed. Like about 20 to 25% tighter. It did that pretty well for the whole time I shot that batch of cast loads. You may or may not see the same sort of thing with your Sig. Some of this depends on the bullet fit to the bore.
 
This does not make any cense. You shoot cast or jacketed in your other guns?
Cast lead bullets usually cause leading in grooves of rifling, more so in guns that have smooth lands and grooves. Jacketed ammo that has copper or brass jackets, can wear out barrel faster than led cast bullets, however they don't contribute to leading that much.

Any new barrel will have to be fitted to your slide, some are drop fit some would need filing and fitting to sit properly and function as the original barrel.


Gastech2 said:
Only reason I'm concerned is I'v heard of issues where barrels leading up quickly after shooting lots of jacketed bullets. My other restricteds have only ever shot lead cast so this is new to me.
Click to expand...
 
What I heard was the issue is when you switch from one to the other, even with cleaning if you have a little copper remaining in the barrel it will cause the lead to build up in those areas. My other 45 and 357 have only ever seen lead from day one. This p226 is new and the first pistol I'v shot jacketed bullets with and just don't wanna mess up the barrel switching from copper to lead and back again.
 
During my shooting of that one batch of 500 cast I switched back and forth from cast to jacketed and never noticed any sort of degradation in how the gun shot.

I've also never seen any sort of common mention of this warning. And in truth I've never seen even one mention of this as an issue. So I suspect you came across a worry wart or two out there.
 
I have been shooting P226's for some 20 years now and I shoot both lead and jacketed bullets and have never had an issue. My advise is, keep your money from buying another barrel and
simply make sure you clean your barrel well before switching from lead to copper and vice versa. If you worry about a little copper wash in the barrel, use wipe-out or a good copper solvent and be done. Ditto for cleaning lead, use a good cleaner and you're good to go.

Many ranges that demand lead bullets may allow plated bullets that do not leave lead dust and do not damage back stops since they are essentially lead as far as impact. Check it out.

Gastech2 said:
Hello everyone, I have been considering buying a second 9mm barrel for my p226 to shoot lead cast only and was wondering if there would be any issue with wear or breaking in using the same slide for two barrels.

At my gun club they only allow lead cast on the indoor range and was hoping to take advantage of it more.
Only reason I'm concerned is I'v heard of issues where barrels leading up quickly after shooting lots of jacketed bullets. My other restricteds have only ever shot lead cast so this is new to me.

This is my first post on the forums page and looking forward to others input.
Click to expand...
 
I shoot both flavours in many different pistols. never seen a problem.

If I shoot jacketed, I leave some good copper cutter in the barrel over night to get it clean.

For the led bullets, I just give the gun 4 passes of a bronze brush when I take it from the range bag on the way to the locker.
 
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