jacket bullet or not

[huntnut]

I was told that you aren't supose to shoot jacketed bullets with blackpowder, is this true if so why? I have load some for my 45-70 encore pistol useing pyrodex and have not had a problem, Am I just been lucky or what? I have just bought some meister 405gr cast bullets to load for it for hog hunting, do I need to put gas checks on them?

[Cottonwood]

A jacketed bullet is nothing more than a patched bullet, just like a paper patch bullet.  So my advice would be if your going to use a copper patched bullet to use a grease cookie under said bullet along with a wad on top of your powder charge so your powder doesn't get fouled, unless you want to wipe the bore after each and every shot. 

Fouling does effect accuracy.

What the grease cookie does is help to keep the fouling associated with Black Powder or a Sub-BP powder soft, and yes even pyrodex has fouling when used.

JMHO

[cooper]

As far as I know, there is no problem with using jacketed bullets with black powder.

Montanan  -  I wouldn't have thought that you would need a grease wad with a jacketed bullet (I know you do need one for paper patched).  In my limited experience using jacketed bullets and black powder, I never used a grease wad and never saw the need for one - but again, my experience is limited. 

[Lead pot]

Some how I cant see using a copper Jacket bullet with Black powder.
Especially with out any lube, I would think you would leave a lot of copper behind.

Kurt

[Cottonwood]

Lead Pot, I personally would not do it, but the question was thrown out there by huntnut.  What ever is used cast with lube grooves, paper patch ie paper jacker or copper jacketed you still with the later need to use a grease cookie to keep the powder fouling soft.  Otherwise it will cake up and stick in the barrel like hard rock candy, and effect accuracy.

Personally I only use cast bullets with black powder loads.

[sharps4590]

Sure you can use the jacketed bullets.  I have with one rifle.  However, I use the Hawk bullets and they're annealed dead soft, about 25 on the BHN scale. I don't use the lube cookie but I do use a lubed felt wad.  This is on one particular rifle and the only reason I do it is because it came with about 100 Hawk bullets.  When they're gone it will be cast bullets only.  It's a double rifle and used purely for hunting.  I wouldn't use them for target work and unless I had received them with that rifle I wouldn't use them at all.  Can't see any reason for their use over black powder when cast or paper patched work so much better.

Vic

[Lead pot]

Once you use a copper jacket in the rifle it's tough to get the copper gilding smear back out,
It gets into the pores and especially in the tight corners of the grooves and when you trap the black powder fouling especially Pyrodex and when you use a copper solvent it reacts with the chemicals in pyrodex or the moisture black powder and pyrodex collects you just might end up with pitt city in the bore.
And once the copper is smeared on then the lead and tin of the cast bullet will cover that. It will be tough to get back the accuracy shooting cast bullets.
I use cast bullets in my 03-A3 looking down the bore with my Hawkeye bore scope that has 25x magnification you can see the lead over the copper and so far I have not been able to get the bore clean.
So take care.

Kurt

[Ray Newman]

TheLeadPot is ‘dead nuts on.’

‘bout 6-9 months ago there was a similar thread over on the Shiloh Sharps board. Kirk, the owner of Shiloh Sharps, reported that utilizing a metal cutting band saw he sectioned a badly pitted barrel. From what he observed, copper fouling formed over the BP fouling & the BP residue did its nefarious work….

If you do shoot copper & then change to lead, you need to very scrupulously clean the barrel. Any copper fouling will attract lead. There is a reason why the cast bullet bench rest shooters don’t shoot copper in their rifles.

Some opine that shooting copper will remove lead fouling. Numerous years ago, the NRA published an article on this method. Using a bore scope & examining patches, the NRA staff found that the copper jacket just smeared the lead over a greater surface area &/or the leading caused copper fouling to build up over it.