TexasCHLforum.com

Sorry if this is a silly question but:

Carry pistol is currently in the break-in phase... and thus far the 500+ rounds through it have all been Speer (Lawman/Gold Dot). Using that ammo, it was always just wipe it down, lube it up and back in business after a range trip.

Today I decided to see if the pistol will "eat" a different manufacturer (Winchester Ranger Bonded). After 50 rounds, this is what it looks like (see attachment).

I've been cursing for 2 hours trying to get this cleaned out of the slide/barrel... I assume this is unburnt powder?

It looks like brass flakes to me from the shell casings. That's what my gun looks like also. Probaly because I usually shoot WWB.

Where did you get the ammo? There was a bunch of Winchester Bonded Q4355 that were DQ'd for some reason. Some bulk vendors were selling it with a Z in the description. The yellowish, greenish junk is unburnt powder. Shiny stuff could be jacketing or brass shavings.

edited: double post half done

Ammo is labeled Q4364 (no "Z" on these boxes anywhere that I can tell).

I figured it was unburnt powder, I did some further digging on the interwebs and it appears that quite a few people complain about this when shooting the Winchester Ranger line. Otherwise it fired just fine... I wouldn't be as annoyed by this, but it ended up getting into the firing pin safety lever mechanism on the frame, and into the magwell, making it even more painful to clean.

I think the boxes I have left will be shelved for "only to be used in case of zombie apocalypse etc."

This is my same complaint about Winchester white box. Seems to be some of the dirtiest stuff out there. However, I've found that a foaming gun cleaner and judicious application of high pressure air from my air compressor to do the trick in getting everything clean.

ryouiki wrote:.......
I've been cursing for 2 hours trying to get this cleaned out of the slide/barrel... I assume this is unburnt powder?

psssssttt. You're pistol doesn't have to be spotless in order to work well.

However, if you just gotta be able to eat off it, then strip it down, remove the side grips and hose it down with Gun Scrubber spray. OR, if you don't want to spend the $10.00 for the gun scrubber, just go down to O'Reilly's Auto Parts and get a $3 can of brake cleaner. I'm not gonna say it's the same stuff but it looks and feels the same. Make sure you get some real rubber gloves and use your safety glasses cause that stuff will burn.

The down side of this method is that the brake cleaner removes EVERYTHING! You will need to take special care to re-lube all the moving parts and to generally condition anything metal to protect from rust. I highly recommend Frog-Lube but that's up to you. Warm up the parts in a toaster oven and then let the lube work its way into the pores of the metal. Also with Frog Lube, if you give a light covering to everything and then polish it off after the parts cool like you would with car polish, it conditions the metal and makes it very easy to clean from then on.

Another trick on this line is to use Frog Lube, or Miltec grease (or whatever you use) on the outside of your mags. Get the mags a little warm and then apply a very small amount of lube to the exterior of the mag. After it cools, polish off the Frog Lube with a clean rag. Those mags are now very "slippery" and will eject out of your pistol like a scalded dog when you do your tac reloads. You also might try doing it inside the magwell but it's much harder to ensure that the excess is gone. You don't want any in there that might attract grit.

I used to use Miltec for years but changed to Frog Lube. I think it's a much "cleaner" way to go. When the parts are warm, the FL simply melts into the parts like lard in a frying pan. I even noticed a difference in operation.

Good luck!!

TDDude wrote: psssssttt. You're pistol doesn't have to be spotless in order to work well.

Yep, if this was a range/training only gun I probably wouldn't care so much, but since this is every day carry piece I like to keep it as spotless as possible... should I have the misfortune of ever having to use it, I feel more comfortable knowing it is in the best possible condition.

The buildup of unburnt powder was certainly more then I had expected, the ejector was particularly "gunked up", and just a quite swipe around that area resulted in my finger coming back mostly yellow Can't imagine what it would look like after more then 50 rounds...of course this is intended as personal defense ammo, so its not something I would shoot very often anyway... and probably not a good ideal since some descriptions of this particular ammo say it runs at higher then standard pressure (though not marked +P). Guess it is a good thing that this pistol is rated for +P and was (as I understand it) originally designed to run at NATO pressures.

The entire gun/magazines are treated with Millitec, so that is already out of the way, though when I go to the range the major contact points for the barrel/locking block get a coating of TW25B.