A quick update.
I started to get failures to extract on nearly every round. The empty would wind up just sitting behind the chamber, on top of the next round in the magazine. The slide would start to pick up the next round, and everything would come to an abrupt halt.
If I only loaded one round, the gun would cycle and then push the empty back into the chamber.
If the chamber was oiled the gun would work for a few rounds, then the fun would start again.
I replaced the recoil and magazine springs, but nothing changed. I cleaned the bejeebus out of the barrel and chamber with the same lack of result.
I figured the chamber was corroded, and I could see and feel some pitting at the very front of it.
Rather than find an old barrel that someone might be selling because it also sucks, I bought a new one from a place with the excellent name of In Lead We Trust.
In Lead We Trust
Here it is:
It is marked so it can't be passed off as original.
It dropped right in with no fitting.
I took it to the range yesterday, which was an adventure all unto itself. Lots of folks with new Christmas guns, which they waved to and fro with much merriment. I put 50 rounds downrange, a mix of round nosed ball and flat pointed ball. Not a single malfunction, and the new barrel was at least as accurate as the old one. Back in business.
The dark blue looked strange to me, so once I knew it worked I hit it with some blue-be-gone in the areas that showed.
I'll shoot it a little more before I carry it, but I'm happy with this new barrel, and based on my sample of exactly one I can say these barrel makers turn out a good product. Now if they would only make magazines for these things.