Today after I shot my CVA Staghorn Magnum which hasa nickel barrel, I had some metal flakes come out of the bore while cleaning. A while back the same thing happened but I do not remember what rifle I was cleaning that time. This time, I ran some Birchwood Casey #77 on a patch down the bore and it came out with gray colored metal flakes on the patch.

The more patches I ran, the more metal looking flakes and speckles came out the barrel. I really had no idea what these flakes and speckles could be. They looked like metal flake for better words of describing them. Whether it was part of the barrel I am not sure.

Today I was shooting some powerbelts. But only shot off four of them.



The powerbelts actually shot real well with 90 grains of Pyrodex RS. I also shot some Speer Gold Dot 270 grain at the lower left bull. While not a real impressed group, it was the best the rifle and I could do.

I also shot some 405 grain Remington FP copper coated. I shot them with 90 grains of Pyrodex RS also. They did real well until I had to push the issue and shot a fourth, it hit with the powerbelts. Otherwise that was a real impressive group as well.

My final steps of cleaning was.. J-B bore pasted the barrel, then scrubbed it with some Butch's Bore Solvent and a brush. It then cleaned up real well after that, and all the flakes stopped showing up. I really have no idea what the metal flakes and speckles were. Any ideas?