Can't seem to get my barrel clean.. is this normal?

[swiftwrx06]

I've been noticing some build up of either lead or copper in the barrel of my USP .45, and enough of a build up in the chamber that it was occasionally making it difficult to manually eject a chambered round. I had almost always cleaned it after every shoot with weaponshield so I was never concerned with buildup of any kind until rounds started sticking in the chamber. So I cleaned it out real good with a lewis lead remover and both Proshot Copper Solvent and Proshot Lead Solvent. Looking down the barrel it looks much better, much smoother with a mirror finish. No more buildup is visible in the chamber and rounds no longer stick when manually ejecting them. But when you look down the muzzle end at the rifling at the right angle and in the light, grey streaks are still visible running down the rifling. Here's some pictures of what I'm talking about.





The gun has about 12,000 rounds through it, is this just normal wear or is that lead that is still stuck in there? Also, I've never shot lead through this gun but I've recently been shooting copper washed reloads which I think might have something to do with the buildup. Any insight or words of wisdom?

[thefirstndsecond]

When you use cleaner do the patches come out clean?

I have the same kind of thing on my glock.

I clean until the patches come out clean...

[swiftwrx06]

When you use cleaner do the patches come out clean?

I have the same kind of thing on my glock.

I clean until the patches come out clean...

Yes, the patches are coming out clean.

[MichaelVain]

I don't think this is an issue, after 12,000 rounds, you have to expect some wear and tear.

I'm curious about the buildup around the chamber though where you were having ejection issues. Did you just ignore this area or just wipe it down previous to the cleaning to spoke of?

I normally just give this a pass through with the chamber brush and scrub the edges with a toothbrush.

[swiftwrx06]

I don't think this is an issue, after 12,000 rounds, you have to expect some wear and tear.

I'm curious about the buildup around the chamber though where you were having ejection issues. Did you just ignore this area or just wipe it down previous to the cleaning to spoke of?

I normally just give this a pass through with the chamber brush and scrub the edges with a toothbrush.

I'd always scrub the chamber and barrel with a bronze brush, CLP, and patches till they came out clean. So no, I didn't just ignore it, but I guess my scrubbing and CLP wasn't enough for it.

[hornady]

By copper washed reloads I am assuming you are talking about plated bullets, Berry to name one, If so these are a very soft lead bullet with a thin copper plating, and should only be used with a Mid-range load. I could see were these bullets with a hot load could fail and cause lead skidding in the barrel much like shooting a very hard cast bullet too slow would.

[bogey1]

a little fouling isnt bad for a barrel, actually its more accurate than a super clean barrel. at least that holds true for rifles.

[MichaelVain]

for my pistol barrels, I usually just leave the barrels to soak for about 10 minutes in MPRO-7. After that I just scrub and use a toothbrush. Maybe try soaking to get some of that stubborn stuff off.

[swiftwrx06]

By copper washed reloads I am assuming you are talking about plated bullets, Berry to name one, If so these are a very soft lead bullet with a thin copper plating, and should only be used with a Mid-range load. I could see were these bullets with a hot load could fail and cause lead skidding in the barrel much like shooting a very hard cast bullet too slow would.

Yes, I think copper washed and copper plated are the same thing, correct me if I'm wrong.

for my pistol barrels, I usually just leave the barrels to soak for about 10 minutes in MPRO-7. After that I just scrub and use a toothbrush. Maybe try soaking to get some of that stubborn stuff off.

I also let the barrel soak for a while after running a wet patch through. Should I keep at trying to get the streaks out or just consider it normal wear that's not going away?

[MichaelVain]

I would consider it normal. If you've noticed degradation in accuracy then maybe it's a problem. HK barrels are pretty good, you should be good for a nother 12k rounds.