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.22 Revolver barrel leading. Help!

deadly_punk

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 20, 2012
134
1
35
KY, USA
Hey all, I'm in a bit of a quandary and would appreciate some advice.

Here's the background:

I have an old NEF R92 that I was given by my Grandpa when I was a kid. It was abused and looks like crap, but I kept it around in hopes of someday getting it back in action and as a somewhat sentimental thing. Long story shorter, I finally got sick of its poor accuracy. Barrel was pitted, crappy crown, and would have needed a lot of work and this is a target/hunting weapon anyway, so I wanted a longer barrel. I did some research, and ordered a 6" HR 939 "Ultra Sidekick", slab-side barrel from Numrich's. Local gunsmith removed the old 3" barrel and replaced it with the new 6" barrel. Since I was putting the barrel onto a R92 frame, I was not able to get the standard rib and front sight. Instead, we installed a simple brass bead. Have to say the old junker looks pretty sharp now, actually. Refinish of the frame and grips may be forthcoming.

Initial tests proved that the barrel is indeed a shooter. After a little filing of the front bead to square up and change point of impact, I had a nice little ~1.25" group on steel resting right on the top edge of my front bead at 25 yards. This was with Remington "Thunderbolt" HV LRN bulk ammo.

Thusly encouraged, I proceeded to put another 50 or so rounds on steel from standing at 25 and 50 yards. By about round #75, I was missing EVERYTHING! I went back to the bench and tried to hit a 10" steel @ 25 yards. Nothing. Proceeded to try paper @ about 10 yards. After emptying 9 shots at the paper, I got a 15" pattern splattering the paper. All of the shots indicated that the bullets were tumbling and entering the paper sideways.

Stopped shooting then and headed home. Barrel was severely leaded to the point of filling the grooves completely from the throat to about 2" from muzzle. I worked on it a little and got a lot of lead out, but need to work on it again. Unfortunately, I had to make a trip out of the country a couple days later and won't get a chance to shoot it again for another several weeks.

Have any of you ever seen anything like this before? Where should I start after getting it clean? What's the best way to get the lead out? I have never had this kind of leading even with my cast reloads in .357. New game for me. Any help greatly appreciated!

-Deadly Punk.
 
Re: .22 Revolver barrel leading. Help!

Some barrels have excessive tooling marks from the rifling process. You can take a bronze brush and work out the lead, but ultimately you will need to figure out what is going on, if it has excessive tooling marks they need to be removed.

David Tubb sells a product called Final Finish which are bullets and ammo (in the case of 22LR they are loaded) that are impregnated with a lapping compound, I have heard good reviews on his products with centerfire rifles that exhibit excessive fouling.

TUBBS Final Finish 22LR system

Kirk R
 
Re: .22 Revolver barrel leading. Help!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: The Mechanic</div><div class="ubbcode-body">http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm#Lead ...</div></div> Yes

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: The Mechanic</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...and then just start shooting jacketed. Don't clean the krap out of the barrel it is a .22 and I don't thing lead in the barrel really screws accuracy in a pistol that much.</div></div> No

A good .22 will shoot well, as evidenced by your early groups. The ammo sounds kinda soft to lead so badly, but indeed you might need to lap that barrel a bit before it will act right. Do clean it up well and do use a heavy bronze brush on it, maybe even a SS spiral brush to grab that lead and smooth up any machining marks.

I do suggest changing ammunition until that barrel is "shot in" a bit. This was not uncommon not too long ago.

Once that barrel has smoothed out a bit, your leading issues should go away.

Oh, and don't hesitate to talk to the gunsmith who put it on there for advice on how to properly lap that barrel.

But, whatever you do...DO remove the leading in there.

Good luck and good shooting!
 
Re: .22 Revolver barrel leading. Help!

Thanks for the links and info! I'm going to start by using the "chore boy" scrub method and then try a few hundred rounds of copper washed stuff and see how she does. If that doesn't work I'll look into lapping of some kind.

Can't wait to take this old wheel gun on out there on steel!