Cylinder Deposits

[Rclark]

All,

.44Spec BH Flattop Cylinder.

Just curious what you think of what could cause it. I haven't seen this in my other revolvers to this extent if at all. It doesn't come off with Hoppes 9.

Note that the gun is very accurate if I do my part.

 

[ronto]

Try other brands of ammo and see if they do the same thing.

 

[Rclark]

Try other brands of ammo

Thanks... But I reload. Haven't bought a box of ammo in 30 years other than .22LR . Just wondering if anyone knows 'why' it may be doing this. To tight a cylinder gap? Forcing cone needs to to 11 degrees... maybe? Curious more than anything as it shots fine. Virtually no leading in the barrel.

 

[rugerguy]

could be too much of a gap, too tight a forcing cone, too soft of lead.....blow by (lead splatter) should clean off with Hoppes & a brush, OR one of those Lead Away clothes,,,BUT do NOT be agressive, they can and will remove the bluing, great on stainless guns

 

[cellar701]

I'm with Dan - must be some sort of blow-by. What does front of cyl look like after firing? And what does the forcing cone/back surface of barrel look like? I would stick with Hoppes and stay away from the lead-away cloth on the blued gun - in my experience, too easy to take the blue off...

 

[edfardos]

my stainless super redhawk has these marks, as do others. I'm not sure what causes it. Hoppes doesn't really get it off, but i never really scrubbed. It wont get any worse, and kinda looks cool imho. The marks are very similar to what you see on the face of the cylinder, which also will not come off.

I worried about it for a few minutes, and in my research somebody mentioned a "silicone cloth" which I've also seen at gun stores. Maybe give that a try and report back?

--edfardos

 

[slofyr]

.... Hoppes doesn't really get it off....

Try Simple Green and a tooth brush [preferably someone else's ], you will be surprised. It's safe for blue or stainless. I clean cylinders with Simple Green in an ultrasonic and they come out spotless, even the cylinder face donuts are gone. Cleaning manually with a brush takes longer, but it works.

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

I use Hoppes #9 and a bronze brush (tooth brush style) on my stailess RH. Removes 99%

 

[44shootist]

Might just be some real dirty powder, try a different type maybe something faster burning.
To clean the cylinder I use a product called lead clean cloth, my guns are stainless and the back of the cylinder turns black after fireing, so I cut a chunk off the lead clean cloth and rub it way, works well.

 

[tek4260]

Show us a pic of your forcing cone. It may be a touch out of spec or have a ridge in it.

Does it lead?

 

[louiethelump]

I believe it to be vaporized lead deposited from the gases. I get it a lot with bullets that are too hard (commercial "hard Cast" usually) that are really made for heavy loads. The light loads don't bump the bullet up big enough to really fill the throats and you get some blow by of the bullet. I suspect you will also find it on the inside of your barrel. It just cleans easier from the barrel with a brush that you don't want to use on blue finish. I usually WET it with Hoppes and let it sit awhile and then clean it off with a nylon brush. A little scrubbing and it comes off. If you are in a hurry, wet it good with Hoppes and use 0000 steel wool WHILE IT IS WET and it will take it right off.



The above is theory other than the part about how I get it off. That is fact.

 

[Bucks Owin]

You'd just finished a chrono session with PB cast bullets and hot burning double base 2400 right? :?

 

[Rclark]

a chrono session with PB cast bullets and hot burning double base 2400 right?

Quite True. You may have hit on it as I hadn't noticed this before.... I had shot over 80 or so stiff (15g of 2400) loads with 15BHN SWCs during the tests..... I had shot a lot of other loads before this and never noticed the condition until recently... Just might be!

I did cut forcing cone to 11 degrees anyway at lunch today. Can't hurt.... Forcing cone looked good though from what I could tell after a very good cleaning (before the cut). Nice and shiny after the cut!

 

[J Miller]

Ditch the hard cast Bevel Based bullets. Go to a reasonably hard FLAT base bullet and I'll bet most that goes away.

Nothing wrong with 2400.

Joe

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

I believe it to be vaporized lead deposited from the gases.

Bingo! We have a winner!

Every time you fire a cast lead bullet a tiny bit of the lead vaporizes at the base of the bullet. This is the same stuff that gets deposited in your chambers if you fire 38 Specials in a 357 Mag revolver, and it is the same stuff that gets blasted onto the cylinder face. The combination of heat and high pressure blasts the vaporized lead and carbon onto the steel. That is why this stuff is so hard to remove and does not just melt away like most other fouling with a standard solvent. It usually takes some solvent along with some abrasion and elbow grease to remove these deposits because the heat involved and high pressure has made them adhere much better to the steel. I'd be willing to bet if you looked closely at some of your other revolvers you would see a bit of the same stuff in the cylinder flutes, maybe just not as much. Some feature of this gun has made it more noticeable, perhaps the barrel/cylinder gap.

Bottom line is, I never worry about that type of deposit on my revolvers. I don't fret about the cylinder faces getting the circular patterns blasted on them either. It really does not hurt anything. I just keep shooting them.

 

[Rclark]

I don't fret about it either .... but this is the first time (I've shot a lot) I've seen them in 'quantity' on cylinder of just this particular revolver . That's what prompted the question. Normally these just 'rub' off and that's that.... These require a good scrub.

Now I cleaned most of the deposits off last night. Today I went and shot around a 100 Skeeter loads. The deposits are back even with new 11 degree cone (accuracy unaffected btw) . So, not the stiff 2400 loads! Now the only thing different is I am shooting Missouri brand bullets rather than Rimrock. Thought I'd try another brand for no reason other than the heck of it.... I think I'll go back and shoot a 100 rimrock bullets next after another scrub... Anyway, the search continues!

On a side note : Grip on gun does matter. I remember saying that my .44Spec shoots to POA with the skeeter load with rear sight all the way down. Well, about 8 months ago, I change my two hand grip from opposing thumb on back of shooting hand, to thumb along side shooting hands thumb (both pointing down range). Anyway ... now I shoot higher on the same load ... just different grip! Anyway ... grip does matter! Filed rear sight blade down and we are back to normal with Skeeter load.... A little cold blue and it looks just like the original.

 

[Three44s]

I use the lead away cloth on my stainless guns but you'd have to be careful with bluing.

For reduced adhesion of powder and lead deposts, I like CorrosionX.

It really works. Inside, outside you name it!!!

Three 44s

 

[Ia.redneck]

following this thread closely. I have a Single Six 32 mag that does the same thing. Hard to remove.

 

[JWhitmore44]

following this thread closely. I have a Single Six 32 mag that does the same thing. Hard to remove.

Mine does too, seems I've read that this was fairly common with the first round of guns shipped when they first came out. One of the things that helped a lot was to open up the cylinder throats or make sure you are shooting bullets the same size as the current throats. I think the throats usually run around .312 .311 and lead bullets run around .314.

As far as cleaning it I usually used lots of Hppes or Break Free and a brass tooth brush type of brush. Still takes a lot of scrubbing. I may have to try the soak it for a while approach.

 

[Hondo44]

This an age old issue. About a third of my guns develop these deposits including .22s and my new 44 FT. No correlation to bullets, powder, caliber or brand of gun. I don't worry about it and soak and scrub it off when I give my guns a thorough cleaning once a year or so. You'll find it under the top strap right above the Bar/cyl gap as well.

A coating of MPro-7 CLP before a shooting session minimzes it however.