ORIGINAL: TUK101
I was just wondering if I am just imaginining things? After firing off 35 rounds of cast 240gr. reloads out of my Marlin 1894 44 Magnum rifle yesterday I could not believe how dirty it was. It was still shooting well, but dirty as could be. Is this due to the lube they put on the bullets burning up in the barrel, or are lead bullets just way dirtier than the jacketed ones? I know that in the 22's the lead bullets always foul quicker in it too. Maybe this is just common knowledge, but I thought that I would throw it out there and maybe somebody would have some tips for me.
Well, using cast bullets
can result in a dirtier weapon after firing - usually a handgun- because lead itself tends to smear off and dirty things up, (you can write notes on a piece of paper with a cast bullet) AND cast bullets often are loaded tolower pressures than a lot of jacketed ammo - this may cause incomplete combustion and more dirt.
In addition, the lubricant on the bullets sometimes burns, (depending on what the lube is), and the carbon from that source can be "greasy-dirty" as well.
After firing tons of .38 Special factory lead-bullet wadcutter target ammo, a lot of it in semiautos, I can state that some lead-bullet ammo is pretty dirty stuff..... home-made or factory production!