My friend has a Colt Cadet pistol with a huge amount of lead in the barrel. It is so bad, cases are apparently being extracted while under pressure as evidence by bulged cases and blown primers. It is like the bullet struggles to even get down the bore, which is further evidenced by something I doubt anyone will believe. The owner, a former machinist who knows how to measure things could not fit a precision rod any larger than .160" outside diameter down the bore. These rods are in a few thousandths increments. That is about a whopping .060" smaller than it should be! It is not as bad now due to some cleaning (see below).
The rifling is just visible and appears very shallow, but I think there is a ton of lead in the grooves. A recovered bullet showed lines of copper and massive lead smearing everywhere else. The gun shoots key-hole shots (bullet is sideways) at short distances.
I was still having a hard time believing this much lead could be in the barrel, but then the owner showed me what he had gotten out of the barrel already. He had in a Ziploc bag, a CHUNK of lead over an inch long and about 180 degrees around that he managed to knock loose out of the barrel. Plus lots of other lead crumbs.
I tried cleaning the barrel, but it pretty much comes out clean. I think I am just polishing the lead sitting in the grooves. The gun has a few thousand rounds through it and has been cleaned periodically. Mostly with Hoppes.
How the heck do I get this much lead out and return this gun to a safe firing condition?
Thanks.
- Phil
The rifling is just visible and appears very shallow, but I think there is a ton of lead in the grooves. A recovered bullet showed lines of copper and massive lead smearing everywhere else. The gun shoots key-hole shots (bullet is sideways) at short distances.
I was still having a hard time believing this much lead could be in the barrel, but then the owner showed me what he had gotten out of the barrel already. He had in a Ziploc bag, a CHUNK of lead over an inch long and about 180 degrees around that he managed to knock loose out of the barrel. Plus lots of other lead crumbs.
I tried cleaning the barrel, but it pretty much comes out clean. I think I am just polishing the lead sitting in the grooves. The gun has a few thousand rounds through it and has been cleaned periodically. Mostly with Hoppes.
How the heck do I get this much lead out and return this gun to a safe firing condition?
Thanks.
- Phil
