I started to buy some unjacketed lead bullets the other day and was wondering if they would lead up my barrel.I see where there are soft cast and hard cast and I am not familar with these.In the past I have always bought a jacketed bullet.Seems like the ones I looked at were MAGTECH 250 gr.LFN. I have been shooting a jacketed 200 gr.CCI, Please advise

John, cast lead bullets are the only thing I have ever shot in my .45 Colt Winchester '92 clone. I have only had minimal leading with these plain based bullets shot at 1100 fps. Most of the time, only powder residue brushes out of the bore, no lead shavings at all. I think lead bullets are great for plinking, targets, etc. as I can get a lot of shooting in for very little money. For hunting purposes, I would still select lead but would not reject jacketed bullets for specific purposes. Give those Magtechs a try, you might get hooked on them.

BTW, swaged lead bullets are soft, being almost pure lead. Cast bullets are harder and what is more often sold over the counter.

Thanks a lot Marshal, I will and all the rifle cartridges just seem different to me. You see I have always shot pistols and now I am really hooked the Win. 94's, Results to follow!

That's strange, the remington .45 colt ammo leaded the **** out of the 24" barrel on my winchester 94. I think I need to get some of that lead solvent and a boresnake to get that stuff out.

That's strange, the remington .45 colt ammo leaded the **** out of the 24" barrel on my winchester 94. I think I need to get some of that lead solvent and a boresnake to get that stuff out.John and GI,
If you both have shot a lot of jacketed, there may be copper adhered to your bore which could lead to leading when you switch over to cast lead bullets. If that happens, you might as well switch back to jacketed unless you like to spend an evening really scrubbing out a bore. Remember, I said lead is the ONLY thing I have ever shot through my '92. Sorry if there is a misunderstanding, I don't intend to purposely mislead anyone.

I should have been more specific,what I meant was I have always shot jacketed thru my pistols.I have only shot 40 rounds of jacketed .45 colt thru the 94,surely that is not enough to effect it in that way.Sorry if I mislead you in any way.I do appreciate your input, as I said earlier this is all NEW to me. Thanks again.

I should have been more specific,what I meant was I have always shot jacketed thru my pistols.I have only shot 40 rounds of jacketed .45 colt thru the 94,surely that is not enough to effect it in that way.Sorry if I mislead you in any way.I do appreciate your input, as I said earlier this is all NEW to me. Thanks again.

In some cases, ONE jacketed round may provide enough fouling to affect subsequent shooting with lead bullets. Before you try again, clean the bore thoroughly.

I ordered Marshall Stanton's Beartooth Bullets Technical Guide. What a wealth of info on removing both lead and jacketed fouling and shooting lead bullets in general. I recommend highly that you get one before switching from jacketed bullets to lead. I think it was $14 IIRC, money well spent.

I second the lead bullets in the 45 levers. My Trapper has only had Marshall's Cast bullets thru it, save for a handfull of cowboy loads my Mrs. tried.

I thought 45 colts were only supposed to be lead anyway?????:D:p:D

I run a coupled hundred lead, cowboy loads through my Marlin 1894 in between shooting holes in pigs using Buffalo Bore's 325 grain hard cast ammo, no leading.of the barrel. You'd be surprised at what the grand old .45 Colt can do using modern brass and powder with either jackted or lead bullets.