Hi All: This is a long story so bear with me. I have to finally break down and ask a question of those no doubt more knowledgeable about shooting lead bullets than I. I have a couple of M-52-2's and absolutely love shooting them. If you own one, you know what I am talking about. In one of my 52's whenever I shoot it, I get a ring of lead around the leade area of the chamber. This ring of lead does not normally extend into the barrel and would appear to be confined to the area just in front of where the case ends. If not cleaned out completely this ring will continue to expand and eventually work it's way into the rifling.

I am not sure why this ring of lead appears where it does, but I do know that it is an absolute bear to get rid of. The typical fixes are almost useless where this ring is located. I have tried Chore Boy strands around a brush, a Lewis Lead Remover and even some Lead Out solution from Shoot R products. Normally I would give the Lewis Lead Remover the nod for getting rid of this lead, but I think what happens is the brass "cleaner" gets lifted slightly when it comes in contact with the rifling and it doesn't scrape to the very end of the chamber. So far the only thing that removes this lead buildup is Semi-Chrome polish on a super tight patch and multiple passes in and out of the area. I am not sure what is in Semi-Chrome polish, but I believe it contains a given amount of ammonia.

So now that I have explained my problem, I would like to find a solution to eliminating this lead buildup in the first place. I normally run Hornady 148 grain HBWC bullets that have a dry lube on them. They seem to give me the best accuracy of the bullets I have tried. I tried lubing the Hornady bullets with White Label 45-45-10, but still had the same problem. Today I tried some coated bullets from Acme Bullets and still had the ring of lead. I thought the Acme bullets would help, but not so. At this point I am kind of grasping at straws.

I use Solo 1000 powder in my reloads including 9mm and .45 ACP. I am beginning to wonder if I should switch to a slightly slower powder like Winchester 231 as perhaps the Solo 1000 burns too hot? Quite some time ago I tried some plated bullets, but the pistol didn't like them much. I am open to any suggestions from the forum members as I am sure many of you have shot M-52's and may have been down this road before.

Now here is the kicker to my story. This ring of lead in the chamber is almost imperceptible to the naked eye. The only way to see it is with a bore scope. Some may say I am being too picky about this, but I have run into this problem before with another M-52 that I bought. The pistol was in terrific shape but I noticed the ring of lead when I got it home and looked at the barrel with my bore scope. When I finally got the lead out I noticed the barrel was pitted all the way around the end of the chamber and the pits had been filled in and covered by the lead and of course the gunstore I bought the gun from would not take it back. I had Clark replace the barrel in that gun and eventually sold it to a friend.

My next move is going to be trying some 231 powder to see if that makes any difference. If I am missing something please let me know. I love these pistols, but the labor intensive cleaning is killing me. Thanks in advance.

Rick H.