I have a 617 6 shot with a 4" barrel. It is a very accurate gun. It is tight and I find no flaws with it. BUT it will lead up after a couple of boxes. If I use just lead bullets with no copper plating it will lead up within a box of ammo. I have looked the forcing cone over and bore and they are very nice. I do not have access to a bore scope. I know that I could see inperfections easier with that.

Any ideas of why this happens? And what to do about it?

Thanks, John

That sounds normal.

Your post doesn't say what your ammo is or if you have tried other brands.
If you had this problem with only one or two brands you may want to try others. Rimfires can be picky about what you feed them.

J. Lippold

Sorry, I neglected to mention that I have used several brands of ammo. Both plated and unplated. I have never had a 22 revolver lead up like this one. I have shot thousands of rounds in my other two smith K 22's and rugers and have had very little problem with leading. Except for Winchester wildcats. They will lead anything I shoot them in.

I don't know what is up?

John

John: I had a 617 - 10 shot with the same leading problem. I finally gave up on it and sold it. Went back to shooting my early K-22s - problem solved.

__________________
Living a dream - S&WCA #2364

couple of boxes = 100+ rounds......sounds pretty standard for .22 ammo.....bring a boresnake or a cleaning rod and patches and problem solved

__________________
Kris
OGCA, NRA LM

What would fire lapping do?
Or just a regular lapping job?
Would that help smooth out the bore so it wouldm't lead up? Or am I way off base?

John

This is the correct answer- sell it.....to me

The thinking for a situation like yours is that various imperfections in the barrel are causing the leading. Lapping takes whatever small burs, etc out, thus eliminating the lead problem (if that was the problem). I've read from several sources that have used this successfully to improve accuracy, though no accounts I personally know of on a 22 were used for leading.

If you have not already done so, try some bulk pack Federal 36gr. HP. They're very accurate in all of my K22s without any deteriation in accuracy or noticable barrel leading ahead of the forcing cone for several hundred rounds. Other types of cartridges give troublesome leading in the same barrels. I think having more bullet lubricant is very important but whether the bullet has the copper wash doesn't matter.