Muzzle wear on a Hellcat

[Unameduser]

I’ve got about 150 rounds through a new Hellcat, and have these wear marks on the crown, right at the ends of three lands. The other lands have no marks at their ends.

Before you tell me it’s cleaning damage, consider that I’ve cleaned it exactly once ever, since it came out of the box. Did 6-8 total chamber-to-muzzle-only bronze brush passes after treating with Hoppe’s Elite for a few minutes, followed by patches on a correctly sized brass jag, followed by CLP, followed by a few more patches on the aforementioned jag. That’s it.

All 150 or so rounds it’s eaten thus far have been standard brass-cased, copper-jacketed, 115 grain FMJ, that have all cycled perfectly.

Anybody else get wear like this? Mind you it’s not present on the crown anywhere else—just at the end of three lands, all side by side.

 

[Annihilator]

Is there a better pic you could take, say like looking straight down the bore, hard to really tell, but I do see something

 

[jumpinjoe]

I dunno for sure, but with my old eyes and a poor screen on my 'puter, that looks more like residue from the bullet jacket than wear. Might there be a tiny little rough edge right at the end of those three grooves? Small as they would have to be I don't even know how to try to determine that. Is there any little bump or rough spot you can feel where those three spots are seen, maybe by dragging your thumbnail over them?

And just out of curiosity, what is that little bit of white stuff showing between the right side of the guide rod and the guide hole in the slide? Looks almost like a pinch of a patch or similar?

 

[HansGruber]

I don’t see an issue; just a gun that’s been shot.

 

[Keystone19250]

I don’t see an issue; just a gun that’s been shot.

Agreed. Not a good picture.

 

[Old_Me]

yeah, i ain't seeing anything either.

 

[RandomHero]

After careful review of your photo. I am confident you have self inflicted markings on your crown. The mark in the middle specific has continued not only on the bridge of the crown but on the flat end of the barrel. Which would go against the law of physics. The one on the right side appears as though something scratched it from a push pull motion if you look closely at the markings. It would be in my opinion that when you were cleaning your Hellcat, you held the barrel in one direction and did not rotate it as you were pushing through and pulling back to you in the cleaning process. Thus the markings are on one side of the crown. The markings on the crown of your barrel are not consistent with what a bullet traveling at 1150 feet per second would make. The scratches on your crown are jagged and inconsistent.

 

[Area52]

Melonite chipping? Looks like an entry wound rather than an exit wound.

A LGS told me long ago that the plating process in the US vs overseas is different due to our strict EPA laws thus will result in USA firearms will be a bit more cosmetically inferior to euro. I think he was referring to Glock ten or so years ago.

 

[HansGruber]

Melonite chipping? Looks like an entry wound rather than an exit wound.

Melonite doesn’t chip; it’s a surface hardening, not a coating.

 

[Annihilator]

Melonite chipping? Looks like an entry wound rather than an exit wound.

A LGS told me long ago that the plating process in the US vs overseas is different due to our strict EPA laws thus will result in USA firearms will be a bit more cosmetically inferior to euro. I think he was referring to Glock ten or so years ago.

The process Glock used to use was called Tenifer, it was a coating under the black finish they put on the guns, the black finish was NOT the Tenifer coating. When Glock came out with there Gen 4 pistols, they had to stop using Tenifer process according to EPA guidelines.