Yesterday I took out the new 4" 686 Plus. I ran 100 rounds of CCI Blazer 158 gr .38 LRN and 50 rounds of Remington 125 gr .357 SJHP through the gun. It shoots like a dream and man that thing is loud. I was expecting some heavy recoil from the .357 but it was very manageable. Firing double action or single action I was getting 2" groups at 50 feet and a bit under that at at 21 feet.
Then I took the gun home to clean it. The appearance of silver spray paint on my fingers should have hinted at the job I faced. I spent an hour on the barrel and cylinder and maybe half an hour on the frame. I was getting nowhere with the Hoppes #9 and the Break Freeso I let it sit for eight hours to loosen everything up and worked on it some more. Most of the lead is out of the barrel except for a few stuborn peices just ahead of the forcing cone and a bit at the end of the chambers and most of the discoloration is off the outside of the cylinder.
Is this normal? Should I be spending four hours scrubing a gun? If so it sucks. Would firing either FMJ or semi jacketed bullets leave less lead in the barrel and on the frame? How do I get that last bit of lead out of the barrel?
Then I took the gun home to clean it. The appearance of silver spray paint on my fingers should have hinted at the job I faced. I spent an hour on the barrel and cylinder and maybe half an hour on the frame. I was getting nowhere with the Hoppes #9 and the Break Freeso I let it sit for eight hours to loosen everything up and worked on it some more. Most of the lead is out of the barrel except for a few stuborn peices just ahead of the forcing cone and a bit at the end of the chambers and most of the discoloration is off the outside of the cylinder.
Is this normal? Should I be spending four hours scrubing a gun? If so it sucks. Would firing either FMJ or semi jacketed bullets leave less lead in the barrel and on the frame? How do I get that last bit of lead out of the barrel?