slivers of lead...

shot about 600 rds of 22 LR rimfire thru my Ruger Mk II the other day, using LRN (lead, not copper plated), and while cleaning it, I noticed a portion of the barrel didn't let a cleaning patch slide down very easily, in fact it was quite hard. I brushed some of this stuff out, and it appeared to be slivers of lead, shaped like when you clip your fingernail. I eventually cleaned this all out. It appeared to be built up in the chamber or lead of the rifling.

I'd never seen this before. I've always shot jacketed centerfire, and this is my first experience shooting large qtys of full lead rounds thru a pistol.

Should I expect more of this crapola, or is something wrong with my gun ? If I shoot copper plated rimfire exclusively with this gun, will this problem recurr, other things being equal, assuming the bore is not damaged ?

Any advice or education appreciated.

What kind of ammo did you use? I would try other ammo manufacturer bullets before you write the gun off.. (lead won't hurt the bore.)

It was mostly Federal AM22 40 Gr. LRN - nice stuff - apparently. What gives with these large slivers of lead ?

wrightd":x9rsi4r6 said:

It was mostly Federal AM22 40 Gr. LRN - nice stuff - apparently. What gives with these large slivers of lead ?

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You shot 600 rds of uncoated lead ammo, you are going to get some lead fouling after that. Either clean the gun more often or shoot some copper coated ammo after about 50-100 rds of lead.

wrightd":3eiwsul8 said:

It was mostly Federal AM22 40 Gr. LRN - nice stuff - apparently. What gives with these large slivers of lead ?

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A certain amount of lead is normal and not to worry about. Lead is a lot softer than steel so it obviously can't hurt your pistol. You get enough leading, though, and it will hurt your accuracy.

With large slivers, I'd wonder if there is an alignment issue from the magazine into the chamber, or if you have a rough spot on the feedramp.

BTW, some copper (not steel) ChoreBoy wrapped around a bore brush will ream lead out quickly and easily.

And where can I get copper choreboy ? I've never seen the stuff.

wrightd":2ilfig95 said:

And where can I get copper choreboy ? I've never seen the stuff.

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Where I live, they have it at Ace Hardware.



Their website at http://www.choreboyscrubbers.com/metal.htm has a "Where to Buy" link.

Thanks very much J Frog. I'm going to grab some on the way home from work. I think I've still got lead on a couple forcing cones. This should be the ticket !

Thanks Man.

I have the same problem w/my Mark II/III and Win Xpert LRN.
So now I just shoot a few LRN first and finish the day w/copper wash bullet. Once the barrel gets hot, it gets very bad.

Don't buy ChoreBoy imitation from Walmart. They are steel w/copper wash. I get mine at Elliot H/W. They are getting hard to fine - the real copper kind.

thanks for the heads up on choreboy imitation. i'd hate to put anything but a pure copper mesh down the bore. Thanks Much !!!