Lead vs Copper Jacket

[Lexington-1]

Gent

I'm new to rimfire.

I went to purchase my first box of ammo. I asked the store owner his recommendation. He said I should avoid lead ammo and buy copper jacket instead. He said that lead tends to leave residue in your barrel. Eventually the build up will start to effect accuracy. Even with cleaning, he said you can never completely get rid of the lead in the rifling groves and that I would save myself a lot of headaches down the road by sticking to copper jackets?

I'd like to hear your opinion as to weather this is good advice or not.

Thanks

[Izzy43]

Gent

I'm new to rimfire.

I went to purchase my first box of ammo. I asked the store owner his recommendation. He said I should avoid lead ammo and buy copper jacket instead. He said that lead tends to leave residue in your barrel. Eventually the build up will start to effect accuracy. Even with cleaning, he said you can never completely get rid of the lead in the rifling groves and that I would save myself a lot of headaches down the road by sticking to copper jackets?

I'd like to hear your opinion as to weather this is good advice or not.

Thanks

Assuming you are talking about .22lr there is no such thing as a copper jacketed .22lr round. All are lubricated in some fashion one of which is a copper wash (chemical process) that serves as a cheap lubricant. Under the lube is lead. All and I mean all match grade .22lr ammo has a lead bullet lubed by some type of wax, or tallow or some proprietary mixture of different substances. None are copper washed. I have shot over 40,000 rounds of lead bullets thru various rifles and pistolas with only one leading problem. That was when I shot some 22lr rounds in the cylinder meant for .22Magnums in my revolver. Dumb mistake on my part but it really leaded up the cylinder and barrel.

In short I think the store owner who you spoke to is weak on his information about .22lr ammo. Nearly all bulk ammo is copper washed and the reason for that is its a cheap way to apply a lubricant to the bullet. However I have read where some semi-auto rifles and pistols prefer the copper washed bullets as they do not gum up the actions as quickly as the lubed lead bullets.

[2shotjoe]

So its all a lie?



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[Izzy43]

So its all a lie?



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Are you asking me? If you are, copper plated is not "copper jacketed". Plating is a chemical process, copper jacketed is a thin piece of copper molded around the lead bullet..22WMR, .17HMR and the majority of center fire ammunition is copper jacketed. Copper jacketing is primarily done due to the velocity of the bullet to prevent heat generated in the barrel due to the speed to prevent the lead from melting and quickly leading the barrel. Hope that clears it up.

[Chaos47]

This comes up all the time.

"Lead" ones are not just straight up lead they are covered with wax.
99% of all match grade 22LR ammo is going to be wax coated not plated rounds.
Such as eley, you know the stuff they shoot in the Olympics thru their super accurate super expensive rifles. If wax is good enough for them its good enough for you.

IMO wax coated bullets leave less residue then plated.
But it is a highly touted myth that they are worse.

Izzy is right, there is no jacketed 22LR ammo, they are either plated or "washed" which pretty much means painted on...

All that said I run 525 Blazer Value Packs thru my 22LRs pretty much exclusively. (Other then match ammo)

[ejhc11]

The CMMG rimfire uppers are recommended by Shadow65 to run plated ammo to minimize the wax buildup in the action.

Otherwise most ammo will work fine, you only need to find out what works best in your firearm since each one shoots a little different.

I have guns that like the dreaded Remington Gold Bullets, shoots accurately and reliably while others prefer the Blazers and others Winchesters or Federals and of course all like CCI ammo, SV HV etc...

[SB1964]

Lex, Good advice given. Keep your Gun Clean & simply try different Brands & types of Ammo. Hollow Point vs Solid etc. Everyone with .22 experience will tell you what their Gun shoots best, with MATCH Shooters (generally) being very Particular, or more so anyway...

I like the Federal Bulk 38-40 Grain Hollow Points, or American Eagle (same thing)

GO HAVE SOME FUN!!!

[Safety1st]

Just get a .22 WMR. Copper jacket and more energy at 100yds than the hottest .22lr at the muzzle! Win win.

[Lexington-1]

Thanks for the clarification gents!

When he mention copper I automatically assumed he mean copper jacket instead of copper plated. I understand the difference now.

Izzy43 said: However I have read where some semi-auto rifles and pistols prefer the copper washed bullets as they do not gum up the actions as quickly as the lubed lead bullets.

Izzy, I think this may be the reason why he said I should use copper since I have a semi-auto.

Izzy43said: That was when I shot some 22lr rounds in the cylinder meant for .22Magnums in my revolver. Dumb mistake on my part but it really leaded up the cylinder and barrel.

Izzy, the guy at the shop said the very same thing to me. That some guy brought his revolver in and that it got all gummed up from using lead. Doubt it was you though. Maybe because of that experience with his customer he probably figured it was best to stay away from wax lead and just use the copper plated .22

[Mail Clerk]

Gent

I'm new to rimfire.

I went to purchase my first box of ammo. I asked the store owner his recommendation. He said I should avoid lead ammo and buy copper jacket instead. He said that lead tends to leave residue in your barrel. Eventually the build up will start to effect accuracy. Even with cleaning, he said you can never completely get rid of the lead in the rifling groves and that I would save myself a lot of headaches down the road by sticking to copper jackets?

I'd like to hear your opinion as to weather this is good advice or not.

Thanks

Lexington,

Wether it's lead or copper coated bullets they all foul your bore so sooner or later it's actually the muzzle of your barrel that determines bullet accuracy. In reality the bore doesn't need cleaning typically because of this. I actually only clean my bore twice per year and only pay attention to making sure the chamber and muzzle is clear of excess lead build up everytime I return home.
The bore in reality plays a small part in barrel accuracy and so based on other forums I usuall just runs a couple wet patches through and the brush in and out a couple times and dry it.

Mail Clerk

[mkane]

Not sure about the bore not being a contributor to accuracy. We have a Rock Creek 5 groove, Shilen 4 grove, Benchmark 2 groo& Shilen Octagon. They all shoot different.

[fredridge]

Something I found out recently is that our local indoor range requires the plated.

They no longer allow plain lead

[Lifeon2whls]

Something I found out recently is that our local indoor range requires the plated.

They no longer allow plain lead

I don't know why...if you shoot a plated round and are able to capture it in water/balistics gel/etc...you'd see that most of the plating is gone by the time it makes it to the target. When the round splashes on the backstop, at that point there is no difference between plated or non plated...you pretty much have the same amount of lead ended up in the range. That said, I've been able to take my finger nail and scrape off the plating on some rounds.

I never use them and never have a problem.

[fredridge]

Don't k ow either. Jus their rule.

Maybe city rule or something.

I just recently learned of a range in Commerce that closed partially because of elevated leaf levels in neighboring houses

[MyOdessa]

For high velocity .22 I prefer copper washed ones, for standard velocity I prefer lead .22.

I noticed that if I use high velocity lead .22, they leave too much lead in the barrel, while standard velocity ammo does not. I suspect that copper wash allows higher melting point, thus barrel does not lead as much with high velocity .22. Without any experimentation, just my guess, velocity is the key factor in lead vs. copper wash .22 bullets. All high quality .22 LR ammo used in Olympic competition are standard velocity.