Milky appearance in throats?

[drklynoon]

I have noticed that both of my rugers have a milky appearance the first inch of the bore. Is this a form of leading? It doesn't seem to come out after a normal type cleaning. Some times this area will have obvious leading in the .32 H&R but it never seems to build up in my .45. I know the old montra if it's still acurate then it ain't leading but I am curious if you guys have run into this. I deplore the idea of scrubbing the seasoning out of my guns to try and remove this if it is going to reappear after each shooting. Could this be a sign of a tight throat?

[Frank46]

Bought a S&W model 15 in38 special because I wanted adjustable sights. Funny thing is that all the cylinders had streaks of leading but only the first 1/4" of the bbl showed any lead at all. I had to take the cylinder off to scrub out the lead. Had to use a 410 shotgun bore brush repeatedly to get it all out. My 45 will only show minor spots of lead after about 300 rounds. Usually that comes out with an oversized bore brush and some of the lead removal cloth. I'm guessing that you are correct and are getting some minor leading. Which will get worse over time unless cleaned out. Sounds a pita but that has been my experience. Frank

[runfiverun]

bet it's antimonial wash.

[geargnasher]

Yep, Antimony for sure based on the description alone. Don't worry about it.

Gear

[drklynoon]

As I understand it antinomy is a type of metal that is blended with lead to get a certain alloy. Is this present in a straight W/W alloy? If so is it beneficial to preventing leading? Like I said it just has a light greyish mily look to the first inch I get no cylinder leading with either pistol.

[Bret4207]

I'm not sure we're talking about the same "milky wash", but I know I get a sort of stain that sounds similar to what you speak of in some of my guns from cast shooting. It never seemed to bother and I never gave it a lot of thought.

[btroj]

My barrels frequently have that satin metallic silver look towards the muzzle. I just ignore it as it never seems to bother anything.
Can't say I ever gave it much thought.

[drklynoon]

When I look down the muzzle it's as clean as can be but there in the thraot of the barrel it just looks srange. My dads taurus .32 does the same thing. All of these guns are blued and that may have soemthing to do with this certain look. I am sure though that the same appearance would go unnoticed by me in a stainless gun.

[runfiverun]

you can see it in a stainless gun too.
ww's have 3-4% antimony in them antimony leaves lttle dendrites [hooks] on the surface of a cast boolit and it is even more pronounced when water dropping.
these little dendrites are torn away and also scrape along your bbl polishing it [albeit very slowly] thats what you see as a grey dull colored wash.
neither good nor bad, it's just the way it is.

[drklynoon]

Thanks run that makes a ton of sense. Both of those guns are water dropped shooters. I have been racking my little ol' brain pan for months trying to figure out what was going on.