Lead spitting questions ??

[Multigunner]

Several .22 pistols I owned back many years ago had a habit of spitting lead particles that hit the face hard enough to sting even with the pistol held at arms length.
One was a fine little Bearcat .22 Revolver, an excellent pistol not known for this sort of thing.
I traded the Bearcat back to the dealer after finding it inexplicably inaccurate as well as the occasional lead spitting problem.
Recently I found that some early Bearcat Barrels had come through production without having the cone cut at all, I'm not sure about my Bearcat but I figure it was one of these. Chalk up another one for Rugers on again off again quality control.

Anyway it occurred to me that the ammo may have contributed to the problem. I usually used Winchester unplated lead bullet ammo that was extremely accurate in all my rifles.

Looking over some videos of muzzle blasts of revolvers I noticed that some show a back blast at the muzzle that appears to be gases deflected by the base of the bullet at the moment the bullet first clears the crown.
I'm thinking that lead either blasted from the base by excessive blast due to the propellent of a .22 RF being suited for much longer rifle barrels , along with any stray buts of lead shaved from a bullet by a poorly cut cone, could be deflected nearly straight back at the shooter.

I'd have just posted this in the rimfire forum, but I figure other chamberings might also show this sort of back blast if the bullet was too soft and the muzzle blast excessive for the caliber.

Anyone have similar problems and ideas on why this sometimes happens?

[Bret4207]

I used to shoot an Iver Johnson 32 that spit lead. It wasn't an always thing. Near as I could figure it was wear and tear allowing the cylinder to go slightly past alignment with the barrel. I've also shot a Colt 22 ( forget the model) that did this. I never saw a difference in ammo, but it's possible.

[44man]

Spitting is almost always a cylinder or chambers out of line.
My original Bearcat was not accurate at all either and a lot of single sixes did not shoot that great either. Seems as if they don't put much work in .22 revolvers. I even seen a K.22 that would not shoot good.
I have beefs with Freedom but if you want a .22 revolver that will shoot, that would be my choice.
A semi auto always comes out on top.

[Multigunner]

Spitting is almost always a cylinder or chambers out of line.
My original Bearcat was not accurate at all either and a lot of single sixes did not shoot that great either. Seems as if they don't put much work in .22 revolvers. I even seen a K.22 that would not shoot good.
I have beefs with Freedom but if you want a .22 revolver that will shoot, that would be my choice.
A semi auto always comes out on top.
Your Bearcat may have been one of those without cone or a poorly cut cone, which I'm fairly sure was the case with mine. The Dealer took it back without any objection. The pistol had been sold once before and brought back so I'd got it at a good discount when I bought it. I guess it went back to the factory from there.
The dealer knew i was a good shot, so I'f I couldn't hit with it the pistol was the problem and not the shooter.

I figure that if Origin of rifling isn't properly beveled and polished then the rough edge of the lands would scrape lead from the bullet rather than the lead pressing itself into the rifling smoothly. Scraped away bits of lead would either be blown from the cylinder gap or be forced up the bore behind the bullet and sent back towards the shooter by gas deflected from the bullet base.
The shorter the barrel the more violent the back blast for any given cartridge.

Another factor would be if the cupped base of the .22 bullet were blown at the skirt or otherwise deformed by excessive muzzle blast. That would send a bullet tumbling.
A bullet that worked fine from a rifle or long pistol barrel might be too soft and the base too flimsey to handle excessive blast from a short barrel.