Forums / Gun Discussion / Lead ammo , does it hurt your firearm?

It's a softer metal. I'd go with no.

they will not hurt the barrel.you may find that they actually shoot better.i have had this experience before.

Glock says not to use lead in their barrels because the type of rifling causes the softer metal to foul the barrel quicker, raising pressures too high. Weapons with conventional rifling do just fine. I've shot lead from many different guns and never had a problem. Think about it; most .22LR rounds are lead. Lead is a softer metal, like ssrs10 said, but that means it is actually easier on your barrel than copper. I always fired a couple jacketed rounds every few magazines or cylinders with the theory that the copper jacketed round would push some of the lead fouling out. Whether it actually works that way or not, I don't know. So I guess to make a short story long, lead is fine.

i have heard and believe that lead rounds actually "lubricate" your barrel. you guys have lubed your barrels before , right?

Not good in the Glock barrels infact I am ordering a secound barrel for my glock for this reason. I don't know of any other guns that say it's bad.

is an ecological thing. The green tree huggers have said that lead is bad for the health of the earth. I guess the manufacturers just made a move away from it. Besides if they make ammo more expensive, we shooters won't shoot so much. Well another failed socialist program! I too am buying an aftermarket barrel for my Glock19. It will be ported on the end and be about 3/4" longer than stock. It is a match barrel, so better performance, less barrel climb and it is stainless steel, so it is impervious to lead, dirty ammo. Got to be a win-win.

I have looked at Wolf, Glock and a few others. Does my rational make sense? Longer barrel more accurate? Stainless less foulable?(I am making up words now)

I've used lead in my Glock stock barrel, and I just ran a brush down the bore every few magazines. I didn't buy the lead bullets, a buddy shooting a 1200 dollar race gun kept jamming with them and didn't want them any more. Free ammo is a good thing. The reason we have copper jacketed bullets was originally because the higher velocities rifle rounds were driven at required a harder material to keep the bullets from coming apart in the air. I've thought about getting a match barrel for my Glock, as well as a backstrap reduction and having the rear of the slide smoothed out to prevent the slide bite. I like the stock Glock, but I'm starting to like the idea of having my own custom carry gun. DAMNIT, RUN, OFF TOPIC AGAIN, DUMMY!! FLOG YOURSELF!!

Your gunna flog yourself, Bwhahah take some video and pimp yourself out while your at it. :)

Anywya I was looking at a Wolf barrel and compenstor, I thought it would look cool if nothing else.

I'll go with bar-sto if anything, but not compensated. I hate compensated barrels for defensive guns. If you have to fire from a retention position, that hot gas will get jetted right into your face. Not cool.

I was going to buy it for target shooting. I would ofcourse leave the stock barrel in it while it is in my house or concealed on my person.

The indoor range i went to recently does NOT allow lead rounds. They say the lead is toxic, which I know it can get into your system if it's airborne. Maybe it's a Kaleefornya thing. Anybody die from lead poisoning at the range oh say in the last 100 years or so?!?!? Would have to be confirmed of course!

live fire!!! LOL

And it is possible to inhale enough lead dust in an indoor range to be harmful, but that would require a shitload of ammo and no ventilation system. Most indoor ranges have good ventilation fans to draw out the gunsmoke.

uhhh aint there lead under the copper jacket anyway? What are you supposed to shoot?

Lead is very difficult to be poisoned with. 3 things, length, amount and type of exposure. If you consistantly eat pain chips you will get lead poisoning because of the complete ingestion, high lead content paint chip and the build up of lead due to the consistancy.
If you shoot lead rounds twice a week in a ventilated area you are breathing lead vapors which are exhaled not causing a great dosage of the lead, plus you are recovering from the exposure because the consistant dosing is absent.
I know many had loaders who have shot for decades, loaded and had no problems.
Do not forget we have natural lead everywhere in our daily life. Food, water cigars. When I am in Canada, the tobacco products list the lead content. Toxicity begins at a linear rate inversly proportional to your time-dosage and times of exposure.

hasnt hurt my glock 21sf, and yes, for plinking, i use fmj, they are the cheapest.

There re quite a few lead-free facilities now, and there are all-copper rounds and frangible rounds made with other materials that can be used there. The new Thunder Ranch in Oregon is all lead-free I believe.