[amstutz]

I am having trouble finding jacketed .44 special ammo for "plinking" and target practice. Most of what I find (reasonably priced) is lead with no jackets. The jacketed hollow points are too expensive for me to use for target practice.
So, my question is: how hard is lead on the barrell of my Ruger Super Red Hawk? I have heard that it is best to use jacketed bullets to keep the barrell "cleaner" and easier to clean. All the .44 mag bullets I use are jacketed but I prefer to shoot .44 special on the range. Should I be concerned about shooting .44 special all lead bullets regularly?
Thanks.

[Squirrel_Slayer]

Not sure if they sell complete rounds or not, but if you reload, check out Berry's Mfg. They sell bulk boxes of 500 coppper jacketed rounds for the major pistol calibers for about 40.00 bucks where I am at.

[amstutz]

Relaoding is a problem. I do not do this at this time so i am limited to what I can buy from the factory.

[Catfish]

Don`t worry about shooting lead bullets. Your Red Hawk may have a rough bore and lead some, but it no big deal. Buy 1 box of lead bullets and fire 1 cylinder through the gun then look through the bore. If there is alot of lead stop, but if there is very little shoot another cylinder and look again. To clean the lead out simply fire a cylinder full of jacketed bulletd. The more rounds you put down the tube the smoother it will get. With my old Ruger balck Hawk I had no trouble putting 200 rounds down the tube before I would clean it with a cylinder of jacketed bullets. Shooting the lead out is far easier and more fun than useing a brush. If the barrel leads excesively you could fire lap it, but that probly won`t be nessary.

[robocop10mm]

Shooting jacketed ammo will not "clean out" the lead fouling. It will drive it deeper into the recesses.

If the barrel is broken in with a few boxes of jacketed ammo, leading should not be a huge issue. Cleaning is easy with a "Lead Free Cloth". Yellow chemically treated cloths that remove all sorts of nasy fouling from stainless steel guns. Cut a patch and run it down the barrel with a tight fitting jag and you will see strips of lead stuck to the cloth. Turn the patch inside out and do it again. Run a brush through the bore and clean like normal. Not a problem.

DO NOT USE THESE CLOTHS ON BLUED FIREARMS! They will strip bluing off as easily as lead.

[orangello]

CCI Blazer 44 Special 200 gr JHP Ammunition 50/box - Natchez Shooters Supplies Blazer 44 Special 200 gr JHP Ammunition 50/box

Not exactly cheap, but I don't own a .44.

[JTJ]

I used to load 44mag 240 gr semi wadcutters to 800fps and did not have leading problems. Very accurate and easy to shoot. The 44spl loads should not be fast enough to cause stripping. Look into the low power cowboy loads used in the cowboy shooting competitions.

[JonM]

when shooting lead and then jacketed or other way round clean the barrel and cylinders before swithing lead to jacketed or jacketed to lead. you dont have to but it makes it soooooo much easier if your not layering the fouling.