Model 17-9 Help!

[DrSpaceJam]

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on these forums gleaning information for a while now and finally I have an issue that needs input from people more experienced than myself (which is just about everyone).

I have a Model 17-9 that I purchased second hand. It's my first .22LR revolver. It wasn't in perfect condition, but it appears that most of the problems it had were cosmetic and cause by it's previous owner being a bit negligent. There was a tremendous buildup of lead around the forcing cone and it seemed to be shaving a great deal of lead from my rounds. I took it to a gunsmith who cleaned it up and reported fixing a slight timing issue with the chambers. That was what I expected.

I got it back the other day. I love this gun dearly, but the early issues make me treat it a bit like a sickly child and any sign of problems makes me crazy with worry. So, after a little under fifty rounds, this is what the cylinder face looks like AFTER some cleaning:

This just seems like a lot of fouling for so few rounds, and it's incredibly difficult to remove. Furthermore, it looks a lot like the gun did before the gunsmith after a range session.

On top of that, when I cleaned the barrel, I found a few little shards of lead. They looked like tiny streamers of silver. Again, another common finding with the gun pre-gunsmith, and I'd figured this was pretty much the definition of 'shaving'. Somebody had told me it might be an ammo issue, but this happens with copper-washed ammo, bare lead, and all types of brands from cheap Remington Thunderbolts to CCI Minimags.

I'm just wondering if the gun is working normally, this type of fouling is standard, and some little shards of lead are normal? Am I being paranoid, or did the gunsmith trip fail me? I freely admit to being entirely unfamiliar with .22 revolvers, so all this stuff might be normal.

Any help at all is appreciated. I love shooting this thing but I don't want to mangle it, and I don't want to be constantly worrying in the back of my mind that something is wrong with it. I have a few gunsmith options in my area if in people's opinion it still looks like something is wrong.

Thanks for any help, it's hugely appreciated.

 

[scooter123]

You need to pay a visit to a local auto parts shop and spend about 10 bucks on a set of shim gages for checking valve lash, this will span a range between 0.0015 to about 0.030 inch. Then check and report what your Barrel/Cylinder gap is with the cylinder held towards the rear of the revolver and with the cylinder held towards the front. This will tell us what the base Barrel/Cylinder gap is and how much End Shake you have in your revolver. Because I suspect that part of your issue may be excessive B/C gap but can't say that is actually the case without that vital measurement. BTW, the gap is measured by determining the thickest gage shim that can be slid into the B/C gap with a slight bit of drag.