Leading in Barrel

[Durabledan]

I have a new 22A that just had 50 cci mini mags. thru it, and when it was disassembled for cleaning the barrel had severe leading in two of the grooves and 1 of the lands.
It is the 5.5" barrel and the leading is about 1/2" back from the muzzle.
I shot 50 rounds from the same box with my ruger MKIII with no sign of leading.
Can this be cleaned or should I send it back to S&W. Its really bad,effected grooves are full and run about 3/4" length.
Looked pistol over and ran a clean patch thru bbl. before going to range,but did not make close inspection of bbl.
All suggestions are appreciated.

 

[SMSgt]

That doesn't sound particularly good. It sounds like there may be some roughness in the rifling. Hopefully this will resolve itself with break-in.

Soak it with Hoppes or some other good solvent, wrap a piece of Choreboy scrub pad (Make sure you get that brand name) around a brass cleaning brush and scrub it out. The one time I had heavy leading it came out in long slivers.

Check it frequently for a while. Do not continue shooting with a heavy buildup of lead. If it continues having this problem after 500 rounds or so (no magic number) I'd give S&W a call.

 

[Smithhound]

I would think that leading would be considered 'normal wear and tear', it is a natural part of shooting lead bullets, lead is soft, it gets annealed to the grooves. Give it a good cleaning, use a good solvent and a brush and add alot of elbow grease. Once you get it down to a more managable level run a patch soaked with 'Kroil' a super penetrating oil thru and let it sit over night, brush again, use solvent again and repeat. The lead should eventually let go.
Once you get it as removed as you can, apply J&B bore paste to a patch and scrub the bore with this. It is mildly abbrasive paste which will most likely remove the lead that is left and, when applied vigorously will also serve to smooth the rough areas of the bore. This will take time and effort. Each time you shoot it repeat this but within a short time the bore will be 'lapped' by the paste and leading will not be severe.
RD

 

[Poohgyrr]

Only 50 rounds? Wow, that sounds abnormal to me, especially since the other pistol did fine (ie, normal). Sounds like a rough bore to me, but I'd clean all the lead out, and shoot it again. If it happens again, I'd phone S&W. They should pay shipping both ways - especially if you mention the Ruger runs that ammo without trouble.

Geez. No way should any ruger run lead better than a Smith. Sacrilege!

 

[XPman]

Only 50 rounds? Wow, that sounds abnormal to me, especially since the other pistol did fine (ie, normal). Sounds like a rough bore to me, but I'd clean all the lead out, and shoot it again. If it happens again, I'd phone S&W. They should pay shipping both ways - especially if you mention the Ruger runs that ammo without trouble.
Geez. No way should any ruger run lead better than a Smith. Sacrilege!

I agree, no way should that barrel lead up like that... You might try using something like Rem. Clean, or JB and polish out the bore a bit, but I doubt you would ever get it smooth enough...
BTW-Ruger does have some good shooting RF pistols...
Have a good one...XPman...

 

[Durabledan]

Thanks for the replys guys.
I have had many Smiths over the years,and even the old K38 shooting my wheel wgt. reloads never leaded like this.

 

[Yiogo]

My Mark 111 doesn't seem to like lead. I get FTE's and FTF's so I stopped using unplated lead. I use copper plated. I will do the same on a Mod 3913 Smith I just bought. Jawge

 

[Jose_Luis_G]

I have a new 22A that just had 50 cci mini mags. thru it, and when it was disassembled for cleaning the barrel had severe leading in two of the grooves and 1 of the lands.
It is the 5.5" barrel and the leading is about 1/2" back from the muzzle.
I shot 50 rounds from the same box with my ruger MKIII with no sign of leading.
Can this be cleaned or should I send it back to S&W. Its really bad,effected grooves are full and run about 3/4" length.
Looked pistol over and ran a clean patch thru bbl. before going to range,but did not make close inspection of bbl.
All suggestions are appreciated.

I don't know how difficult can be to find mercury, but in Spain we still have places to buy.
Mercury is the best lead remover I've ever seen, far distance from any other solvent.
Put a cork in one end of the barrel and drop enough mercury inside to soak at least half inch -vertical barrel.
After putting your finger, or another cork in the other end, shake for a while leght wise.
Drain the barrel in a coth placed on top of a glass recipient.
The mercury will be filtrated and the lead will remain in the cloth.
That is the way to recover most of it for later re-use.
End with a pass or two with a nylon brush.
My two cents.

 

[rogerstg]

FWIW, I've found that pushing a jag with a patch through the barrel to be pretty effective at removing lead. With solvent of course. Use two patches if it's not a tight enough fit.