THIS might explain my rifles poor accuracy!

[Mauser GDog]

My Ruger 10/22 started shooting like absolute crap, could see bullet impacts all around my point of aim. It had been a thousand rounds or so since last cleaning so I figured it was just a dirty barrel & crown.

Go to run a bore snake through, but something in the barrel near the action was just blocking the metal weighted end from sliding through. Ran a rod down from the muzzle and this popped out into the action.

Far as I can tell, it's a bullet stretched out along the wall of the barrel. Stretched thin enough that the following rounds made it through but were going all over the place, perhaps they were damaged too on the way by?

Anyone ever see this happen before?

 

[Lead Loader]

Looks like carbon buildup to me, takes quite a scrubbing to get some of that out. Also most .22lr have a waxy coating on them, could be a buildup of that covered in carbon.

 

[Mauser GDog]

It just popped out in one piece with a little poke with the cleaning rod, and it's pliable like lead. The bore looks nice and clean after a few bore snakes, I really think it's a bullet....

 

[Griffin6869]

Never seen that before but I clean after each trip to the range so no time for build up

 

[legi0n]

I really think it's a bullet....

then it's a bullet
or it was a bullet
and if you melt it it may be a bullet again

 

[VanMan]

I've had this problem before, but only when shooting Remington Thunderbolts. It's a buildup of lead, not carbon. Doesn't happen for me with any other ammo.

View attachment 7470

 

[Mauser GDog]

You know what, I did put a box of thunderbolts through it between the last cleaning.
Wonder if something wih my mags are out of alignment, scraping the bullets along the chamber as they feed? Either way, I need to clean more often I think!

 

[VanMan]

You know what, I did put a box of thunderbolts through it between the last cleaning.
Wonder if something wih my mags are out of alignment, scraping the bullets along the chamber as they feed? Either way, I need to clean more often I think!

I don't think your mags would cause that. In my 10/22, this buildup was about 1"-2" down from the chamber and only happens with Thunderbolts. All other type of round nose lead ammo works fine. Have you experienced this lead buildup with any other ammo?

 

[Locos]

I've had pretty bad lead buildup from the Blazer black box stuff. After 200-300 rounds the inside of the barrel on my Mosquito looked like a cavern, no rifling to be seen.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

I had the same issue with my gsg using wildcats. I've never seen so much lead in a barrel before. Took a 25cal brass brush to get it out.

 

[5440fight]

Lead is poopy. I use copper jacketed, and never have issues. Plus, they are shiny, and don't put lead into my system, when I shoot a few hundred.

 

[Canada tail]

One more good reason to stay away from the crapington stuff

 

[Station27]

Had same issues using Thunderbolt's etc. A friend and I had been breaking in 2 different 10/22 and suffered extreme lead fouling, friend's 10/22 takedown contained what looked almost a whole bullets amount of lead in the barrel, (took about 2 hrs to get it all out). Always use premium ammo now with no issues.

 

[mark k]

I had the same thing from Thunderbolts years ago. My rifle stopped hitting the target at 50 yds. I moved closer, thinking my scope has died. To my surprise, I started getting elongated keyholes about 1.5x the length of a .22 bullet. I then looked down the bore to find a circumferential ring about 2/3's down the length of the barrel. It took me a long time to get it all out. Thankfully, there's no sign of a ring in the barrel.
I've shot my last Thunderbolt.

 

[VanMan]

I've had no problems with 40gr round nose lead American Eagle, Blazer 500 brick, Blazer 525 Bulk pack. The Blazer 525 did have a lot of waxy coating on them that would foul up my magazines, but shoot just fine if I clean off the excess wax. The most trouble free ammo seems to be the Federal 525 bulk packs. By accident, I found that shooting some copper washed/plated rounds after some Thunderbolts actually helped clean out the barrel. I wanted to see if the Thunderbolts would still produce a leading problem in a well broken in Ruger 22/45 Mark III. After ~100 rounds, the groups opened up from 1" at 10 yards to about 6"s. Decided to finish off a couple of mags of Federal 525 before I headed home and found by the 2nd mag, the groups had returned back to 1". Also noticed some tiny flakes of lead on the shooting bench. No lead buildup to be found in barrel when I got home and cleaned it. Have about 6 bricks left of the Thunderbolts, so eventually may try loading the mags with alternating Thunderbolt and copper washed/plated ammo just to use it up in my Ruger 22/45's. Going to keep this nasty stuff away from my High Standards and Browning Medalists ...

 

[Station27]

I've had no problems with 40gr round nose lead American Eagle, Blazer 500 brick, Blazer 525 Bulk pack. The Blazer 525 did have a lot of waxy coating on them that would foul up my magazines, but shoot just fine if I clean off the excess wax. The most trouble free ammo seems to be the Federal 525 bulk packs. By accident, I found that shooting some copper washed/plated rounds after some Thunderbolts actually helped clean out the barrel. I wanted to see if the Thunderbolts would still produce a leading problem in a well broken in Ruger 22/45 Mark III. After ~100 rounds, the groups opened up from 1" at 10 yards to about 6"s. Decided to finish off a couple of mags of Federal 525 before I headed home and found by the 2nd mag, the groups had returned back to 1". Also noticed some tiny flakes of lead on the shooting bench. No lead buildup to be found in barrel when I got home and cleaned it. Have about 6 bricks left of the Thunderbolts, so eventually may try loading the mags with alternating Thunderbolt and copper washed/plated ammo just to use it up in my Ruger 22/45's. Going to keep this nasty stuff away from my High Standards and Browning Medalists ...

Great point....that is what I ended up doing to get rid of those T-Bolts. The barrel fouling was so bad, with key holing that we actually spoke to Ruger since we thought it was the rifle.