.22 Revolver Lead Build-up

RCrosby

History: (Which some of you may recall from previous threads.)
Pietta SAA clone. Forcing cone extremely rough resulting in extreme buildup of lead and debree in this area. Finally located a chamfering tool and forcing cone is now smooth and pretty.
Accuracy is still poor, however, and I've discovered that at 25 yards many bullets are keyholing. As best as I can tell the crown is not the problem. There is, however, quite a bit of lead buildup in the barrel proper. Wondering if this may be related to the earlier forcing cone issue? In the process of cleaning barrel with brass brush and Shooters Choice and will follow with Outers Foul Out if necessary. I've never had a problem with barrel leading in .22 L.R. before but with the .22 supply situation being what it is I've been forced to shoot everything from Ely/Remington to Remington and Federal Bulks as well as some Armscore.
Has anyone experienced leading problems with any particular brands of .22's??
Thanks for listening. I'll be reporting back as the journey continues.
Rob

perry shooter

plug barrel fill with Kroil and let sit for 48 hours lead will FLOAT out with one stroke of a brush.[^][:)]

navc130

Keyholing is a sign of not being stabilized. Possible causes: (1) lead build-up in the bore causing the bullet to not engage the rifling, (2) bore size too large causing hot gases to melt the lead, (3) cylinder chamber size too small causing the bullet to be sized down under the bore size enabling the hot gases to melt the lead. (4) a rough bore, examine with a magnifying glass. Just my thoughts.

rufe-snow

My take on your problem, is that you have been shooting Remington Thunderbolts. They have to be the worst fouling ammo, that I have ever used. Pistols that I have shot them in, almost defie cleaning by standard practices.

What I have done is to flood the bore with WD 40, than drive a G.I. ,223 bore brush down the barrel with a plastic hammer. Big chunks of lead, come out of the rifling. Eventually after most of the lead residue has been removed. The barrel can be cleaned using standard methods. Needless to say, I've given up shooting Thunderbolts.

beantownshootah

quote:Originally posted by RCrosby
History: (Which some of you may recall from previous threads.)
Pietta SAA clone. Forcing cone extremely rough resulting in extreme buildup of lead and debree in this area. Finally located a chamfering tool and forcing cone is now smooth and pretty.
Accuracy is still poor, however, and I've discovered that at 25 yards many bullets are keyholing. As best as I can tell the crown is not the problem. There is, however, quite a bit of lead buildup in the barrel proper. Wondering if this may be related to the earlier forcing cone issue? In the process of cleaning barrel with brass brush and Shooters Choice and will follow with Outers Foul Out if necessary. I've never had a problem with barrel leading in .22 L.R. before but with the .22 supply situation being what it is I've been forced to shoot everything from Ely/Remington to Remington and Federal Bulks as well as some Armscore.
Has anyone experienced leading problems with any particular brands of .22's??
Thanks for listening. I'll be reporting back as the journey continues.
Rob


No, I've never had an issue with barrel leading with any type of .22LR with any gun.

Obviously, some .22s are dirtier than others, and will create powder type fouling, but I've personally never had an issue with leading. Not saying its not possible, but I've never personally seen it.

All the .22 bullets by major manufacturers are made on automated high pressure swaging machines. Chance of some being so out of spec they'll lead up a barrel is virtually nil. Bullets like that probably won't even load into many guns with tight chambers. Eley ammo in particular is high grade match ammo, and it undergoes rigorous quality control. . .again, chance of this being so out of spec it would lead up your barrel is practically zero.

Yes, your gun barrel leading absolutely could be due to earlier forcing cone issue, and in fact I'd say this is HIGHLY likely. If the bullets are scratched into an irregular shape in the forcing cone, they won't just lead up there, but lead debris will also be forced down the barrel with subsequent shots and will severely lead up the rifling as its forced into the grooves by passing bullets.

In turn, if the rifling is badly leaded, it won't engage the bullet and that alone could be responsible for the keyholing you've seen. So it all *could* be caused by the rough forcing cone.

As mentioned above, a poorly sized bore could cause leading, but that's practically unheard of from a gun from a major manufacturer (and Pietta, I think, would qualify). The way barrels are manufactured, its pretty tough for one to be created with a bad bore diameter. Bad finish. . .yes. Bad bore diameter. . .probably not.

I think before you should do anything else, first step is to scrub the barrel until its clean and lead free. Be careful not to be too rough. If any only if that doesn't fix your problem, then you could consider other issues (eg make sure cylinder gap is OK, cylinders are smooth and OK, forcing cone and muzzle crown OK, etc).

62fuelie

Measure the forward area of each chamber to be sure they are not smaller than the bore of the barrel. If the bullet is swagged down by a small chamber exit it won't engage the rifling properly and the amount of slippage in the bore may account for the leading. The bullets would not be properly stabilized and accuracy would suffer.

bpost

I would slug the bore. if it is too big the bullets will just skip down the barrel and lead badly. I have never had a lead issue with any 22 LR ammo even after thousands of rounds without cleaning. Something is wrong with your guns barrel, chambers, or throat if it is leading the bore.

v35

In addition to the above, misalignment of barrel and chambers could also be an issue.
If rough rifling/bore/chambers are the issue, you can get a barrel lapping kit.

gunnut505

Logic sez that if the forcing cone was rough, and bullets were actually hitting it; the brand of ammo is irrelevant.
Same with smaller chamber exit holes; too small and the bullets don't hit the forcing cone at all (unless your bore and chambers are wildly misaligned).
Your keyholing problem won't go away until you get all the debree outta the barrel, and look down it to see if your cylinder is misaligned with your barrel.

Winston Bode

I bought one of the Colt semi .22s that was supposed to be called a "cadet" bad the barrel would lead up until it looked like a smooth bore. I don't believe it was the ammo as I was also shooting a high standard and a smith and wesson at these range that day and had no problems other than the Colt. I could fire the Colt pistol with no problems but some where between 50 & 60 rounds it would lead up and keyhole shots. I finally had to sell it.