titanium cylinders and lead ball

[SquarePizza]

Based on my other carry gun thread I have been thinking of redoing my 649. Getting it coated black and maybe swapping the cylinder out for one of the midway titanium replacements. Saving a few ounces would be pretty nice.

I've read the cleaning threads. And in each thread people say "well I don't use lead so I don't have to worry there..."

Well I ONLY shoot lead.

Has anyone actually lived with a ti cylinder and fed them lots of lead ball? The worry seems to be leading, but I never found a serious deposit issue with my guns before, so I'm not sure why this would be a worry with titanium.

 

[Spokes]

I have shot 2 to 3 box's of lead target loads out of mine. A real headache to Clean . I would never get another revolver with titanium cylinder...

 

[reddog81]

so I'm not sure why this would be a worry with titanium.

I'm not sure what the worry is either... I've got close to 2,000 rounds through my 929 and at least a couple hundred through a 325 PD with most of those being powder coated lead bullet, some regular lead bullets and some jacketed. I haven't experienced anything unusual.

The biggest concern with Ti is using the appropriate cleaning solution and the fact that magnum loads can scorch the cylinder face. I have experienced either of these problems with my loads.

 

[MWC2068]

I wouldn't worry about it. I got mine to use and not polish it back up to put it in a museum to look shiny. The titanium coating is porous and the cylinder chambers need "seasoning" almost like a castiron pan does. This stops the brass casings from sticking in them. The titanium should not have anything to do with causing leading in the gun. As also stated that aggressive cleaning can damage the coating or finish. I wipe my 929 down and just run a dry bore snake through the chambers and the barrel every now and again and it's ready to go again. In the last 2-3 years I have run well over 20,000 plus rounds of coated lead through the gun and the bore is still like a mirror and I have not had ANY problems with leading.