Ammo ... or ... What ?

[exfebee]

Picked up a real nice clean 686-4 Snubby yesterday.
Took it apart, Cleaned, Hoppe'ed it, & oiled it up properly. Put it back together. Boy .. it clean. No scratches.. & probably no fingerprints on it. Put two S&W Nyclad Chief Special 38s, 129 grain into the cylinder. The spacing between the cylinder and the barrel is excellent .. can hardly see daylight between the two. Fired both shots. Had black donuts in front of each cylinder hole. This ammo is about 30 years old. Is this particular ammo dirty or a problem exist ? Thanks for your replies and suggestions.
Carl

 

[SAFireman]

nothing but a cleaning

No problem...just a good cleaning to take of the deposits.

 

[Krull]

Normal,all stainless revolvers get that "black donut" after shooting,means you've used it-now go shoot it more!

 

[Dogguy]

The black "donuts" around the front of each chamber is normal.

 

[hoppes-no9]

The spacing between the cylinder and the barrel is excellent .. can hardly see daylight between the two.

Your eyes may not see much of a gap, but hot gasses at 15,000psi have a way of finding small openings.....

As others have said, what you're seeing is normal