Barrel fouling in a 357 Marlin?

[CROWMAN]

Ever since I've had my Marlin 357 I've used 'Copper washed' bullets, mainly as they are cleaner to handle when reloading and they have given me good results.

I did a bit of gallery shooting for the first time the other evening and talking to a few fellow shooters there they said why not use 'hard cast' Kranks bullets, their opinion was no lead fouling of the barrel using them, also discussion as to use 357 or 358 bullets.

Can I have opinions, views on the use of 'hard cast lead bullets', particularly how do you decide which to purchase 357 or 358? also are these bullets lubricated? do you need to use lubricated bullets?
Thanks for any/all replies.

[Korium]

Yes, they are lubricated. The coloured ring (usually red or blue) you see around the bullet is the lubricant. There are various types of lubricant for lead bullets and varying application techniques, but it’s not essential knowledge unless you’re casting them yourself.

What size to use is typically determined by ‘slugging’ the bore. You hammer a soft piece of lead through the bore with a wood or brass dowel, then measure the piece of lead to determine bore size. Ideally the lead bullet should be one or two thousandths larger than bore diameter.

It’s kind of a pain to do. Since choices are usually quite limited on factory bullet diameter, I usually neglect slugging the bore and just pick the largest diameter bullet available within reason - I wouldn’t use something abnormally large for calibre without measuring first.

If the bore does lead, a Lewis Lead Remover will clear it up easily. For best accuracy, you’re meant to decopper the bore when switching from plated or jacketed to lead - I haven’t experimented with omitting this step to see if it’s really necessary.

[CROWMAN]

Yes, they are lubricated. The coloured ring (usually red or blue) you see around the bullet is the lubricant. There are various types of lubricant for lead bullets and varying application techniques, but it’s not essential knowledge unless you’re casting them yourself.

What size to use is typically determined by ‘slugging’ the bore. You hammer a soft piece of lead through the bore with a wood or brass dowel, then measure the piece of lead to determine bore size. Ideally the lead bullet should be one or two thousandths larger than bore diameter.

It’s kind of a pain to do. Since choices are usually quite limited on factory bullet diameter, I usually neglect slugging the bore and just pick the largest diameter bullet available within reason - I wouldn’t use something abnormally large for calibre without measuring first.

If the bore does lead, a Lewis Lead Remover will clear it up easily. For best accuracy, you’re meant to decopper the bore when switching from plated or jacketed to lead - I haven’t experimented with omitting this step to see if it’s really necessary.

Many thanks for the info.

Looking at the Kranks selection, available in 180gr is either 357 or 358, the chap I spoke to used 357 without 'slugging' and found them to be ok, with no fouling.
i suppose that if you had a tighter barrel and used a 357 bullet you would experience more fouling even with a 0.001" lesser bullet?

[Black Beard]

Yes, but it is down to the increased pressure in the smaller barrel. If you don't push them too fast, they will be fine. Conversely, if they are hard cast, you might find lower velocities are less accurate than softer alloys.

[lightning22]

I run cast through my Lee Enfield, not cleaning before switching from copper to lead tends to result in lead fouling in my rifle.

I don’t know how variable the bore size is in the Marlin, but doing a pound cast of the throat revealed that my .303 is actually a .314.

[svincett]

Hi ,

I use GM hard cast lead .38/.357 158gr in my Marlin 1894 CB

I get them from Kranks, it says .358 on the box but are ok

I use them for gallery rifle & cowboy action shooting

Loaded with 3.2 grains of titegroup/ bullseye or hp38

They're as consistent as me !

Cheers Vince

[mag44uk]

I doubt you will buy any lead bullets that arent lubricated somehow.
0.358 is the minimum diameter I would use in any 357 caliber firearm.
Undersize hard bullets going too fast are the main reason for fouling.
Hard cast sounds like its great but it isnt.
You need bullets that are at least 1 thou over bore size.
I use home cast bullets sized to 0.359 using lead that isnt hard.
A correctly matched bullet to your bore kept below 1500fps will work fine.
As they have done for the past 150 years.