Too much lead fouling in 9mm barrel

Ironsight

Ironsight

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I have started reloading and shooting lead in my Ruger P89.

I have noticed lots of lead fouling in the barrel after only 10-15 rounds fired especially using dry lubed lead bullets (Speer). Other type would cause excessive fouling after 20-30 rounds

Besides, it takes forever to clean the barrel. I have to use special lead removal solution and even with that, it takes 45min to 1 hour to get rid of the lead residue.

Any experience or suggestion for a cleaner barrel after shooting lead in 9mm?
 
According to the Lyman manual, use a harder cast of bullet, or lower your velocities or both.
 
Use a Lewis Lead Remover, preferably while the barrel is still hot. Without it, I would've given up on shooting lead a long time ago.

Alternatively, shoot a few FMJs between your lead to clear the barrel.
 
lead

switch to any other hardcast bullet...
I have experienced, that Speer bullets are to soft...still have a box of five hundred Speer cal.357 158 gr bullets, I probably will never use, because they are to soft and smear the barrel with lead...

you could also reduce the load to about 700-800 feet per second...not sure if you semi will cycle...
 
barrel leading

I find that most lead bullets I buy leave lead in the barrel. to stop this I make my own out of Lyman #2 metal and this stops the leading.
to clean the lead out of the barrel you need a Lewis Lead Remover. this is made by L.E.M. Gun Specialties. Inc. P.O. Box 31 College Park, Ga. 30337.
I got mine from my local gun store. it uses a pull thru rod and fine copper screen and will scrape the lead out in a hurry.
if you treat your store bought bullets with Lee Alox this will help a lot and sometimes it completely eliminate the leading. hope this is helpful

Brownie
 
I shoot lead cast exclusively in almost every caliber.

Follow "Cerdan's" advice, shoot a few copper jacketed bullets at end of session. Clean up will be a breeze. Or don't do it and scrub yous ass off! Been down that road before!
 
Soft-swaged bullets with dry lube are your worst enemy for 9mm lead loads. In most 9mm's you can't get the velocity low enough to not lead and still cycle the action.

Hard cast bullets with high performance lube is the way to go--the other thing is the bullet diameter--most 9mm cast bullets are too small--if you chamber will allow you to use .357 diameter bullets this will virtually ensure no more leading--and often improves accuracy also.

FWIW, 44Bore
 
Yup.....9mm...hardcast bullet that is not too small for your barrel, experiment with .356 or .357, use good lube, can't go wrong. Those speers are swaged and made of pure lead, meant for 700fps. revolver loads.
 
Until you begin casting your own you are going to put up with commercial lead bullets that are sized to small. .356 is the minimum for 9MM for lead. I have found .357 better. You don't need overly hard bullets for the 9MM but certainly not soft lead either. Most of your lead fouling is caused by gas cutting due to undersized bullets or to hard a bullet which is often the case with commercial bullets. The base of the bullet obuterates and seals the barrel. To hard a bullet and you won''t get obuteration.

Turning to cleaning your barrel. Toss the chemical crap and don't buy a Lewis Lead remover. Go out and buy a package of 100% Copper Chor Bouy kitchen scrub pads. Wrap the mesh around a old cleaning brush. Two or three strokes and your barrel will be clean as new.

As an aside, is your barrel rough or nice and shinny and smooth. I have seen some new factory barrels that looked like they were chiseled out with a very old chisel!

I shoot my own cast bullets in all my 9MM guns and with the exception of the new M&P experience no leading. That said I use a soft lube and size my bullets .357. My Tanfoglio .40 cal with the polygonial barrel loves lead bullet and I never get leading in the barrel.

Hope some of this helps.

Take Care

Bob
 
I dunno about the P89. For some reason they seem to lead faster than some other 9mm's I've shot or owned. It's weird because the same reloads would lead the P89 and be minimal/normal in others.

Like mentioned, just shoot a few plated or jacketed and it goes away enough to make cleaning easy.

You're just going to have to play with the load/velocity and lube combination to keep that gun at acceptable levels.

Too bad... the P89 is a fun shooter. Not the best gun out there but fun all the same.
 
Had same problems with my Hp and CZ. Changed to a hard cast bullet and always finished the shooting session with a few rounds of jacketed ammo to "clean" out the lead.:dancingbanana:

Fiorgobas
 
Thanks for all the useful information.

The barrel on my P89 looks rougher than my 0.45. Having said that, I have used speer bullets for my .45 and never had excessive leading. I assume that is due the much lower velocity of the bullet.

Now regarding shooting jacketed to clean the lead; is there a fear that due to the over excessive leading, may cause over-pressure and possible kaboom. This has always been my fear. Adding to the problem, my club, does not allow the use of FMJs.

Thanks
 
Griffoneur said:
Follow "Cerdan's" advice, shoot a few copper jacketed bullets at end of session. Clean up will be a breeze. Or don't do it and scrub yous ass off! Been down that road before!
Click to expand...

I do this sometimes but I'm a bit uneasy that it will somehow harm the barrel of the pistol due to high pressures.

Comments?
 
Try heavier bullets, I use 147 gr cast bullets in my 9mm, a good bullet is the 147 gr RN for the 38 super if you don't cast your own.
 
If you are having true leading problems and it certainly sounds like you are shooting jacketed bullets itsn't going to get the lead out nor will going to heavier bullets. It sounds like you have a rough barrel and yoiu will get leading with lead bullets and copper fouling using jacketed.

Nothing wrong with you using lead bullets just go to the chor boy pads and cleaning the lead out takes about a minute. A couple of passes and your barrel will be like new again.

If you do shoot jacketed windex with ammonia will get the copper fouling out as fast as anything will and it will take some time to clean up your barrel IF you use jacketed bullets. Make sure you finish cleaning the barrel with Hppes #9 and then a clean patch.

With a rough barrel you are caught between a rock and a hard spot. Lead bullets will certainly lead up the barrel and jacketed will cause copper fouling. On balance the lead is easier to clean up from my experience.

Take Care

Bob
 
Canuck44 said:
Turning to cleaning your barrel. Toss the chemical crap and don't buy a Lewis Lead remover. Go out and buy a package of 100% Copper Chor Bouy kitchen scrub pads. Wrap the mesh around a old cleaning brush. Two or three strokes and your barrel will be clean as new.

Bob
Click to expand...

Do you mean Chore Boy? Never heard of Chor Bouy and I want to make sure I am looking for the right thing.

Rick.
 
Yes Chore Boy, don't know where the heck the "u" came form. Just make sure they are 100% copper. IF it doesn't say on the package run a magnet over them. If it doesn't cling it is copper. The method will clean your barrel of lead very quickly. Run a Hppe #9 patch thru the barrel afterwards. It will come out blackish. That is from the copper mesh. Next patch should be clean.

Let me know how you make out.

Take Care

Bob
 
The heavier cast bullets can help for two reasons, they are made of a harder lead alloy and can be loaded to slower velocities which can also help reduce barrel leading and still give reliable functioning. I have a Ruger P89 and this works for me, the only pistol that I ever owned that was horrible/impossible with cast bullets was a Sig P226, it is long gone now.
 
"The heavier cast bullets can help for two reasons, they are made of a harder lead alloy and can be loaded to slower velocities which can also help reduce barrel leading and still give reliable functioning."

Have you ever tested the hardness of the bullets? Commercial casters use the same alloy for their entire line of bullets. Leading is mainly caused by gas cutting, usually from using to hard a bullet which fails to obuterate and seal the bore. That and the fact commercial casters are forced to use hard lube due to shipping requirements which is not near as useful as soft lubes. A visit to the back of the range is useful. You will find bullets with lube still in them, a sign the lube was not consumed in the barrel where it acts as a sealer. With uneven cosumption comes inaccuracy. within reason and certainly within pistol velocities, the velocity of the bullet has little to do with leading. A rough barrel as is the case here appears to be the main contributer to his problem.

Take Care

Bob
 
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