Leading in smoothbores

[rich pierce]

Do you folks experience/deal with/worry about leading in the barrel of your smoothbores, when using any kind of shot (birdshot, buckshot or round ball) naked against the barrel?  And how do you deal with it if you do?  When I have shot birdshot in my smoothies I have not found it to be a problem when I clean the gun, even an original double.

[roundball]

I know it shouldn't be there so I don't let it stay there for fear it would have moisture / fouling trapped under it.

For example, I ran across some bags of old chilled lead shot, which as you know is pretty soft due to very little antimony.
When I ran lengthy pattern testing sessions, then cleaned the bore, I noticed faint gray traces of lead.
(Don't recall getting that using magnum hard shot)

Next range session after pattern testing was finished, I fired a half dozen tight fitting PRBs and the tight patch weave caught / dragged all the lead residue off the bore walls.

I don't shoot bare round balls, can't comment on that.

[Bentflint]

I have seen leading in my 28ga one time. Shot a lot of balls that day, didn't count them so I don't how many. The air was very dry that day so the fowling was too. We had 12 knock down steel plates in woods and 2 of us were shooting them as fast as we could. Knock them down, set em up and do it again.

Of the course the guns got fowled bad. When cleaning, the first patches came out jet black. The first one or 2 had little silver flecks in the black. I think all the lead was stuck to the fowling as it all came out with normal cleaning.

I have never seen it with shot. When loading shot I seat a thin shot card on the powder, a spit soaked 1/4" 20ga felt on that, shot charge covered with another card. The only reason I put the card over the powder is to stop the slobber getting to my charge.

[James Rogers]

For those with interest in traditional/period complaints/solutions, an extremely smooth bore was often touted to reduce similar problems they had.

For modern shooting, a brush powered by a hand drill makes a quick clean up, especially after many rounds at the clay birds.

[Daryl]

4-ought steel wool cleans out leading incredibly well, without any harm whatsoever to the barrel. so does a few strands of copper Kurly Kate or Curly Kate kitchen scrubbers wrapped around an undersized bronze brush.

I've not had leading that I've seen in my smoothbore when shooting shot. I use quite tight fitting wads that seem to keep leading down, however they are only tight in the choke. I use spit around the perifery of the wad as a lube for trap shooting.

For hunting, I have pre-lubed commercial wads.

[James Rogers]

Yes Daryl,

Forgot to add that my brush has steel wool wound around it.