How much leading is normal for rimfire revolvers?

[glocke12]

I have a ruger single six convertable that probably has 500 rounds total through it...

After every 50 rounds I made it a point to clean it using a pull through cleaning kit using both patches and brushes...

Today, I used a cleaning rod on it for the first time along with a 22 caliber brush, and was amazed to see some rather large pieces of lead come out..There are probably 2-3 pieces that came out, my guess is they range in size from 0.5 mm to 1-2 mm.

I have no idea if this is normal or is to be expected with rimfire revolvers or revolvers in general.

Also, I am seeing a fair amount of lead build up on the top strap, directly above the forcing cone...is this normal also??

[glocking26]

I would say it pretty normal depending on the cylinder gap. I bought a new Smith Wesson 43c 22lr and it was the same way. The cylinder locked up after 20 or so rounds. I couldn't deal with the hassle and sold it. I bought a 22lr kit for my Glock 19 and couldn't be happier. Good luck with yours.
Mike

[slickracer]

That amount of cleaning seems excessive. I shoot 200+ rounds out of my S&W 617, S&W17 and Single Six without cleaning. I will say the rounds get harder to chamber in the Single Six but barrel fouling is minimal. The leading you are seeing on the top strap is normal.

Are you shooting Remington Thunderbolt by chance?

[Delkal]

Cleaning every 50 rounds in a .22 RF is excessive unless you have a BIG problem.

Unless your pistol is not locking up properly or you have a huge (dangerous) cylinder gap there is absolutely no reason to clean that much. Yes, you may get a little top strap leading and if the rounds get hard to seat (after hundreds of rounds) give the cylinders a quick brushing.

As a disclaimer I (almost) NEVER clean my .22 barrels. The bullets are lubed, season the bore and it shoots itself clean.........Just clean the fouling off the rest occasionally but NEVER touch the bore.

BEFORE I get flamed....please do your own internet search on this. Look up the part where Olympic shooters will rarely clean their barrels during the season and if they do they shoot 100's of rounds to get it to "settle in" before another match. And if their groups don't look like one shot.....they lost.

Been doing this for over 30 years and none of my bores have a speck of fouling. If I'm hunting and get caught in the rain I will use a patch or two on the bore but rarely ( since I learned) use a brush.

[harold63]

A friend of mine does his own hand loads with lead bullets out of a PT 99. After 20 or so rounds, if you look through the barrel, you can't hardly believe a bullet would go through it, but they do. Lead buildup around the forcing cone like you mention may indicate it is shaving, a bit.

[PennsyPlinker]

My .22 revolvers go for a very long time without any cleaning at all, and no problems even with cheap bulk load stuff. Every now and then there is a little bit of shaving. I am by no means an expert, but you might want to investigate the timing of the cylinder. It my be just a little off or a little loose, and that could be causing the problem.

Investigating the timing for me means checking lock up on the cylinder by pulling the trigger for each chamber, lowering the hammer, and holding the trigger back while wiggling the cylinder back and forth. If it moves too much, that is likely your problem. My solution at that point is to deliver it to the local gun smith for expert advice. I suspect that fellow poster CDI would be reasonably close to you. He is a great guy, and knows his stuff.

[Steve_NEPhila]

I have shot about 20,000 rounds of .22 LR in the last four years and have not experienced bore fouling like you describe. This ammo was shot through a mix of pistols and revolvers. The revolvers regularly get a nasty bit of build up around the top strap and forcing cone. One trick I found with my S&W 617 revolver was that just a small amount of crud under the extractor would easily lock up the revolver. A quick wipe with a under the extractor and the side of the cylinder that mates with the extractor will keep this at bay. I do have a few questions:

-Are you absolutely sure what you are seeing is lead?
-Have you used different types of ammunition equally? (I know, .22 LR is hard to find these days)
-Is the revolver under warranty? (I would send it to the factory before sending it to a local gunsmith if it was)

[lonehiker]

check the end of the cylinder holes for leading, it can be hard to see, i had this problem with my 22 lr revolver, it caused excessive leading of the forcing cone and barrel

it got so bad it was tumbling bullets

most 22 lr revolvers are lead magnets

[mrnyman]

All .22 revolvers lead a lot , its the nature of soft lead ammo but, CONVERTIBLE revolvers lead even more because they are neither Fish nor Fowl, its a .22 that is designed to shoot both .22 lr and .22 mag, so the dimensions are way off.

[glocke12]

I have shot about 20,000 rounds of .22 LR in the last four years and have not experienced bore fouling like you describe. This ammo was shot through a mix of pistols and revolvers. The revolvers regularly get a nasty bit of build up around the top strap and forcing cone. One trick I found with my S&W 617 revolver was that just a small amount of crud under the extractor would easily lock up the revolver. A quick wipe with a under the extractor and the side of the cylinder that mates with the extractor will keep this at bay. I do have a few questions:

-Are you absolutely sure what you are seeing is lead?
-Have you used different types of ammunition equally? (I know, .22 LR is hard to find these days)
-Is the revolver under warranty? (I would send it to the factory before sending it to a local gunsmith if it was)

I am pretty certain what came out is lead...only other thing it could be is a piece of the barrel which isnt good either. I still have the pieces and will take photos of them this weekend if I have time.

I have several different types of 22 here..but I have not done a scientific comparison of them.

Revolver is under warranty. Its a ruger so their warranty service is pretty good. Its been back once because the front sight kept coming close, and I was having trouble getting good groups with me so I had them look at it.

On the sheet that came back they claim they "repaired front sight hole, adjusted barrel, replaced front sight", and they test fired at 15 yards. 6 shots grouped within an inch.

As far as lockup goes, the cylinder definitely has some wiggle when I do the test described by pennsyplinker...the same test performed on my beretta stampede showed that revolver has no lockup issues..