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If you know someone with a large enough ultrasonic cleaner you should try it. I can remove your barrel for you if you want. I think what you're seeing is lead and or copper.
I think a good ultrasonic cleaning and then clean the dogsh** out of it with Sweets 762, then Slip2000 copper cutter and/or KG stuff then maybe JB bore paste. Do this once a day for a week or two and you'll be amazed at what will come out of a barrel. Do use a cleaning rod guide. I use a JP cleaning rod guide and Dewey cleaning rods.
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Barrel Wear
You're seeing normal wear. If you never intend to routinely shoot it past 50 yards you're good to go.
If you want to shoot out to 200 I'd be concerned -- your groups are going to be a whole lot bigger than they'd be with a new barrel.
A standard GI chrome-lined barrel wears like any other barrel. You won't see with a naked eye what you'll see with a borescope.
All barrels will start wearing at the muzzle end of the gas port hole first. With a GI barrel chrome will start wearing off the tops of the lands for the first few thousandths of an inch, then you'll start getting throat wear that will advance around a thousandth every thousand rounds. Some of the chrome will come off the front of the chamber at the shoulder.
The gun will still go bang and the rounds will still go downrange but as the throat wear advances the bullet will have a farther "Jump" from exiting the case mouth before contacting rifling. As the bullets take that free jump the nose may come off-axis ever-so-slightly and start on its way down the barrel without being perfectly aligned. This, and velocity variances caused by differences in each and every jacket, start wobble precession as the bullet starts spinning however many thousands of times per second as it travels toward the target. Not much difference close up, but the longer the bullet spins the bigger the wobble causes groups to open.
Your lands will start to wear and round off on the chamber side. They'll look a whole lot smoother than when you look from the muzzle (the lands will look sharp the whole way back to the chamber).
Rimfire isn't going to affect your barrel at all.
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Thanks for everyones replies. Some people that I have spoken with say firing .22 LR out of a 5.56 creates no lead or copper fouling and others have said that it does very badly. I was thinking about just selling my kit, but it is so fun and cheap to shoot .22
What is the truth? What are other peoples experience?
:confused:
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I think what you are seeing is a barrel that is not cleaned thoroughly. agree with the advanced cleaning regimen proposed by Gotm4.
a .22lr can not damage a barrel. at least not by comparable standards. what passes for damage is incomplete removal of lead from the barrel. keep shooting that .22lr and enjoy...
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just to be clear the groves are frosty ,but the lands are good and crisp ? if so you are fine ,if the lands look funny than you might lose accuracy, they are what makes contact with the bullit .
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After another good cleaning, I mean super good. The lands appear to be sharper than they were, but they are still a bit rounded. It does look like the barrel is worn a bit toward the chamber end. The bullet may have to "jump" as another person responded earlier. The frosting is on the groves.
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Maintain your barrel properly. Shoot more. Worry less.
If you really want to sleep well, get a spare barrel, gas tube and bolt head and put it away for when you need it.