Bought an Elite Witness Match

[RIPsaw475]

New to all this. Bought a "tuned" match to play around with limited on here last night. Met local and took it home. VERY dirty so I cleaned it up and lubed it. BUT, the barrel looks pretty shot out. Barely any rifle and alot of residue/lead in between. Soaked it and scrubbed....So I need a new barrel in .40 cal. Do I just order from EAA or are their any aftermarket ones recomended? It has ALOT of Henning aftermarket items internally and a trigger on the way from the seller. I did not see any barrels from Henning? Anything current anyway on his site, I did find a bull barrel with a broken link??

Also, can you shoot lead out of the new EAA barrel if I go that route?

Thanks for the help. Looks like this Match is gonna be alot of fun.

[CHA-LEE]

Going to EAA directly for a new barrel is your best rout. As far as shooting lead, if the barrel has standard rifling then you can shoot lead. If it has polygonal rifling then you shouldn't shoot lead through it. I believe that the Match barrels have standard rifling.

[RIPsaw475]

Thank you sir, I was thinking that was the route to go. Just looking for the nod.

[bikerburgess]

the barrel in my Witness match has polygonal rifling similar to a GLOCK, basically the rifling is rounded not square so there are no sharpe edges so it could look worn if you weren't expecting it, so it may be just fine and you just need to clean it up. I would shoot it and if it groups well it is probably good to go. as for lead I have shot a bunch in mine but when I shot lead I had to clean it more often than a conventionally riffled barrel.

Mike

Edited March 14, 2013 by bikerburgess

[e-mishka]

I shoot moly coated bear creeks in my limited, runs great.

I do clean barrel once every couple thousand rounds with vinigar and hydroge peroxide mix.

[Nealio]

the barrel looks pretty shot out. Barely any rifle and alot of residue/lead in between. Soaked it and scrubbed....So I need a new barrel in .40 cal.

How many rounds through this gun? 40,000 + ? I would shoot it first, see how it groups and see what kind of velocities you are getting before I'd buy a new barrel..

I use Simple Green and a bronze brush to get the carbon out, nothing seems to work as good.

[CHA-LEE]

I shoot bullets to "Clean" the rifling of my Limited gun's barrel. I will run a bore snake through it every once in a while to make sure the chamber is clean but I could really care less about how "Clean" the actual rifling is. If you are shooting Jacketed or Plated bullets you pretty much never have to clean the barrel rifling.

Using Lead bullets is another story though.

[jmbaccolyte]

...VERY dirty so I cleaned it up and lubed it. BUT, the barrel looks pretty shot out. Barely any rifle and alot of residue/lead in between. Soaked it and scrubbed....So I need a new barrel in .40 cal...

If the cast lead alloy bullets the previous owner used in your pistol weren't a good fit (they have to be fairly tight) or if the alloy was too hard for the chamber pressures the previous owner was using, then you may just have a badly leaded barrel. The polygonal rifling in some Witness Match(es) might have made it worse. I had much the same problem in a new Match (January 2012) when I shot plain lead alloy bullets and I had to use "Chore Boy" brand copper scouring pads cut into strips and wrapped around a bronze brush. It would take a lot, make that a LOT, of work to clean it up. But your progress will be evident and that can help keep you focused on the goal. I had to do this every time I shot it (after 200-300 rounds per session).

My understanding is that a barrel shooting lead alloy bullets will wear out on the outside of the barrel (where it meshes with the slide and perhaps at other places- because the barrel steel is so much harder than the lead-tin alloy of the bullets) long before the inside wears out.

Good Luck!

PS:

I realize that you didn't gunk this barrel up. But in my experience, shooting lead alloy bullets is tricky. I switched to another type of bullet, because unless you can find properly fitting lead alloy bullets of the proper hardness for the pressures you're using, the savings isn't worth the trouble.

Edited March 15, 2013 by jmbaccolyte

[RIPsaw475]

Thanks for all the insight. Sounds like scrub it more and shoot it is the general thought. If I need a barrel go to EAA. My understanding on it is that their have been around 6,000 rounds through it. So, I should be ok. Iwill try and gets some rounds in it this weekend.

[Higgins]

Thanks for all the insight. Sounds like scrub it more and shoot it is the general thought. If I need a barrel go to EAA. My understanding on it is that their have been around 6,000 rounds through it. So, I should be ok. Iwill try and gets some rounds in it this weekend.

Good idea, if it is accurate that is what really matters!