Rick H.
Member
Life being what it is, I haven't had much opportunity to play with my Model 52-2 that I had the Clark barrel installed on a month or so ago. I finally had a second chance to take it to the range yesterday and put about 30 rounds thru it of mixed reloads, no new ammo. I used a Ransom Multi-Cal rest and shot at 10 yards. The pistol has a 1 MOA Trijicon RMR on it. I was not only interested in accuracy potential, but also in how difficult the barrel would be to clean after the fact. The picture I have included was 5 rounds of reloads with Hornady 148 gr HBWC bullets using Solo 1000 powder. From my perspective I think the pistol shot very well with the new barrel and I need to move out to 25 yards with it to see how it performs at that distance. Hopefully I will do that soon.
When I got home I looked at the barrel with my borescope and sure enough there was accumulated lead at the end of the chamber and beginning of the rifling. I figured to be in for a bit of a job cleaning this lead out, but much to my surprise I made 10 passes with a new barrel brush saturated in Hoppe's and 5 passes with an old brush with some copper strands wrapped around it also soaked in Hoppe's and viola! A perfectly clean barrel! I was happy as a lark in spring! No cussing and a bunch of elbow grease! Just a nice clean barrel. I also looked at my empty cases and noticed they did not have the usual "waves" in them that both my S&W barrels leave on empty cases. These cases were very straight with no evidence of blow by on the sides.
I have no connection to Clark Custom Guns nor do I get anything from them to talk up their products. I am just passing on my personal experience with their M52 replacement barrel. I hope my good fortune continues and if it does I will send them my safe queen M52 for installation of a new barrel. I wasn't sure if they would have to alter the slide lock to accommodate their new barrel, so I sent them a replacement to alter if needed. I wanted to retain the ability of re-installing the OEM barrel if needed or wanted later on. I also had them install one of their new barrel bushings while saving the old one for the old barrel.
All in all I am very pleased with how my M52 turned out at this point. Options are super limited when it comes to replacement barrels on these pistols and it is nice to have a well known, reputable establishment doing this work.
Rick H.
When I got home I looked at the barrel with my borescope and sure enough there was accumulated lead at the end of the chamber and beginning of the rifling. I figured to be in for a bit of a job cleaning this lead out, but much to my surprise I made 10 passes with a new barrel brush saturated in Hoppe's and 5 passes with an old brush with some copper strands wrapped around it also soaked in Hoppe's and viola! A perfectly clean barrel! I was happy as a lark in spring! No cussing and a bunch of elbow grease! Just a nice clean barrel. I also looked at my empty cases and noticed they did not have the usual "waves" in them that both my S&W barrels leave on empty cases. These cases were very straight with no evidence of blow by on the sides.
I have no connection to Clark Custom Guns nor do I get anything from them to talk up their products. I am just passing on my personal experience with their M52 replacement barrel. I hope my good fortune continues and if it does I will send them my safe queen M52 for installation of a new barrel. I wasn't sure if they would have to alter the slide lock to accommodate their new barrel, so I sent them a replacement to alter if needed. I wanted to retain the ability of re-installing the OEM barrel if needed or wanted later on. I also had them install one of their new barrel bushings while saving the old one for the old barrel.
All in all I am very pleased with how my M52 turned out at this point. Options are super limited when it comes to replacement barrels on these pistols and it is nice to have a well known, reputable establishment doing this work.
Rick H.
