I think we are in violent agreement. You can't use lead bullets in polygonal barrels.
The Confederacy had a fine rifle with polygonal rifling, and found excessive leading back then. So it isn't a recently discovered problem.
Dont tell Whitworth....
Sorry, can't get the link up there. Anyway, the Whitworth rifle wasn't prone to lead fouling, it was more prone to black powder fouling to maintain its precision and ease of loading. It used FITTED, hardened for the era, polygonal bullets and required more field maintenance than undersized patched balls, for obvious reasons.
It was also miles ahead of its competition when it came to accuracy.
