Why can't Glock barrels be adequately cleaned of lead?

Handguns » Glock

Site Notices

TNVC Partners With Envision Technology - MARS Rangefinder & RAIL Family, MARS-Lc In-Stock!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Why can't Glock barrels be adequately cleaned of lead?

Posted: 8/5/2017 8:59:46 PM EDT

Yes, I know, you shouldn't shoot lead in a Glocks polygonal barrel. Everyone knows that. Lead will build up, over pressure, blow the shit out the gun. Why? Why can lead not be scrubbed out of Glock barrels? If someone cleaned the barrel every 100 rounds, why would it ever be an issue? If you aren't shooting butter soft bullets, you aren't going to build up enough lead in 100 rounds to cause over pressure.

Thoughts?

Posted: 8/5/2017 9:01:09 PM EDT

[#1]

It's not that lead can't be scrubbed out of the barrel. It's that it builds up as you are shooting, and can lead to problems.

Posted: 8/5/2017 9:11:45 PM EDT

[#2]

Quote History

Quoted:
It's not that lead can't be scrubbed out of the barrel. It's that it builds up as you are shooting, and can lead to problems.

View Quote

FPNI

Posted: 8/5/2017 9:19:04 PM EDT

[#3]

Lots of people shoot lead in Glock barrels, they are good reloaders amd know what they're doing.

Posted: 8/5/2017 9:20:04 PM EDT

[#4]

Well, of course it builds up as you are shooting. Unless you shoot several hundred rounds at a sitting though, I'm not seeing an issue when shooting fairly hard bullets.

Posted: 8/5/2017 10:20:47 PM EDT

[#5]

Alloyed lead to harden the lead up or powder coating the lead are alternative to prevent it from leaving build up. Good friend of mine alloys his lead and will shoot hundreds of rounds and have very little to no lead in the barrel at the end of the range session.

Antimony and tin can be added to harden antimony will be the harder alloy.

Posted: 8/5/2017 10:57:19 PM EDT

[#6]

Its the alloy.

As others have said, pure, soft lead will build up and could damage a barrel, but properly constructed alloys are hard enough to avoid this fate......

With that said, I have run into some pure lead 9mm bullets (estate sale) and instead of tearing them down and recasting, I have shot them, but I do so intermixed 1 for 1 with my FMJ reloads...... I have had no problems with these rounds.

I would advise you to use quality casted bullets, or cast your own if you like, but just watch out for non-commercial reloads... this is where you may have issues.

Posted: 8/5/2017 11:06:51 PM EDT

[#7]

The problem is that (at least some) lead alloys don't have enough tensile strength to get the bullet to correctly follow the polygonal rifling.

So the bullet can kinda skid down the barrel and leave a notable amount of lead in the bore. Enough to rapidly create an overpressure situation.

Posted: 8/5/2017 11:24:13 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Yes, I know, you shouldn't shoot lead in a Glocks polygonal barrel. Everyone knows that. Lead will build up, over pressure, blow the shit out the gun. Why? Why can lead not be scrubbed out of Glock barrels? If someone cleaned the barrel every 100 rounds, why would it ever be an issue? If you aren't shooting butter soft bullets, you aren't going to build up enough lead in 100 rounds to cause over pressure.

Thoughts?

View Quote

Can't answer such a hard question - as I have been shooting thousands of lead rounds through my gen 1 G17 and gen 2 G21 for many years.......

Posted: 8/5/2017 11:58:24 PM EDT

[#9]

Im sorry for not having anything to actually add to the conversation, I own a Glock and I saw this thread and I was confused.

We are talking about reloaded rounds made with poured lead bullets, right?

Posted: 8/6/2017 1:18:14 AM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
Im sorry for not having anything to actually add to the conversation, I own a Glock and I saw this thread and I was confused.

We are talking about reloaded rounds made with poured lead bullets, right?

View Quote

No.

Posted: 8/6/2017 1:31:31 AM EDT

[#11]

For many years ( at least 25) I have shot a huge amount of cast lead through glocks ( no super secret alloy either just whatever commercial cast bullet I happened to buy) without issue.
After every 100-200 rounds I lock the gun open run a dry brass brush through the bore about 3 times followed by about three dry patches and the lead is gone. No big deal. Ignoring cleaning of such a simple quick nature for an extended period of time can cause a significant lead build up, and shooting a hard jacketed bullet in a severely leaded bore can cause problems for sure, but almost every case of glock kaboom with lead can almost always be traced to an over pressure reload that has little to do with what the bullet construction is/was.

Posted: 8/6/2017 8:28:21 AM EDT

[#12]

Lead in Glocks works perfectly fine except for lube smoke is more than FMJ smoke on firing. Its bullet selection and non smart reloaders causing problems.

To do:

1- slug bore to get proper diameter for cast bullets. It is less the alloy than the exact diameter needed to avoid leading.

2- buy proper cast lead bullets at half cost of FMJ

3- properly reload

I use cast lead in half dozen 9mm and .40 Glocks. Zero leading.

See www.dardascastbullets.com for instructions and bullets. The best.

Posted: 8/6/2017 8:43:26 AM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
Lead in Glocks works perfectly fine except for lube smoke is more than FMJ smoke on firing. Its bullet selection and non smart reloaders causing problems.

To do:

1- slug bore

2- pour proper cast lead bullets at fraction of the cost of FMJ

3- properly reload

I use cast lead in half dozen 9mm and .40 Glocks. Zero leading.

See www.dardascastbullets.com for instructions and bullets. The best.

View Quote

Fixed.

Posted: 8/6/2017 1:55:15 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
Lead in Glocks works perfectly fine except for lube smoke is more than FMJ smoke on firing. Its bullet selection and non smart reloaders causing problems.

To do:

1- slug bore to get proper diameter for cast bullets. It is less the alloy than the exact diameter needed to avoid leading.

2- buy proper cast lead bullets at half cost of FMJ

3- properly reload

I use cast lead in half dozen 9mm and .40 Glocks. Zero leading.

See www.dardascastbullets.com for instructions and bullets. The best.

View Quote

The friend of mine who does this when he goes to the range he digs up the backstop and sifts out the bullets he collects into pickle buckets. Goes home melts them down into an iron skillet skims of the copper and makes ingets of lead that he eventually cast into bullets. He also alloys antimony and tin into his lead and makes some great reloads.

Posted: 8/14/2017 9:36:50 AM EDT

[#15]

Proper fit first, decent lube/coating, reasonable alloy. None of these matter if you're loading method disturbs them.

I can go well over a thousand rounds with no significant leading.

If I get it wrong when trying something new all copper Chore Boy wrapped around an old bore brush to fit tight run dry through the bore pushes it right out.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Why can't Glock barrels be adequately cleaned of lead?

Handguns » Glock

Win a FREE Membership!

Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!

You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us