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Trying to run a cleaning rod through a 10/22 barrel, and about way down the barrel, the rod was met with resistance. I could not push the rod through.

Removed the rod, had a peek down the barrel, and there was nothing there. Thought it might have been a round stuck, but again, it was completely clear.

Is this a build-up of lead, wax, carbon, or something else?

what was on the end of the cleaning rod? a brush, jag with a patch, or an el cheapo slotted plastic patch holder?

It was a nylon brush to start.

After that, I took the brush off and tried to push the naked rod through, and that didn't work either.

Tried to feed a cord through, and that was a no-go as well.

If I could shove my bore-scope down there, maybe I could say...

Take the barrel off of the gun and use a good light and eyeball the barrel closely. Measure on the cleaning rod to see how far down the sticking point is.

You may have to resort to a .17 caliber cleaning rod to get whatever it is cleared out.

Good luck, I hope you can get it cleared. Fortunately, 10-22 barrels are easy to obtain and swap out. If worse comes to worse, this may be a good excuse to get a new barrel.

It's a Volquartsen barrel!

I should add that I went ahead and lightly tapped the rod through, but no debris or anything else dislodged from the bore. At this point, I can work the rod through by hand, and feed a cord as well, but what was the cause of the resistance?

The resistance was in the center of the bore.

Unusual placement for a buildup of anything.

Common enough placement for a ring bulge, resulting from a squib load lodging 1/2 way down & the next round slamming into the rear of the lodged 22 slug.

These are easy enough to feel with a sporter barrel, but with a heavy barrel more difficult to either see or feel. If you know someone with a borescope, that would be the best way to tell. Without, I'd remove the barrel, scrub the heck out of the bore & repeatedly visually check the bore to see if there's a shadow in that spot.

Sorry if this is what it turns out to be.

Stork

What if it is a ring bulge? Is the barrel no good at that point?

If it is a ring bulge, and we don't know at this point, the barrel will most likely shoot just fine...Until the cavity that is there fills with carbon and lead deposits, then every subsequent round is bumped, scraped, wedged by the buildup and accuracy goes to pot in a hurry.

As long as you keep the bore nice and clean, you may not notice any reduction in accuracy. If you keep it as dirty as I have a tendency to, not so much.

Stork

My first thought was a barrel bulge too. However, I had my doubts when you mentioned that the empty cleaning rod stuck in the barrel at approx. the same place as where the rod stuck with the brush attached.

How does the barrel look? Have you backlit chamber and looked down the barrel? Can you see something that looks a little like this?



This picture is not from a .22 barrel but does depict how a barrel bulge may appear. The ringed shadow is the dead-giveaway.

How far down the barrel the ring is positioned also has an impact on if the barrel is totally ruined. If the ring is near the final inch it will definitely affect accuracy. In the middle of the barrel length, not as much. If this is just a plinking rifle then it is not really a big deal. A .22 barrel is thick enough not to have the likeliness of bursting from a weakened sidewall. A shotgun barrel is another story. What you may see is an increase of leading in that area of the barrel. How bad it is just depends on how well it shoots, after a thorough inspection to ensure that there is no more material left in the barrel.

It doesn't have to be a stuck projectile that causes a barrel ring, although this is typically how they occur. A build-up of oil, drop of water, fleck of dirt, insect nest, and leading in the lands can all cause barrel rings.

First thing is to take a peek and inspect the condition of that barrel.

R,
Bullseye

What I would do is make sure it is clean using the aerosol product wipe out. What you do is you squirt it in the chamber and it foams up out the other end. Let it sit for what ever time it says on the can and then patch it out. You will probably be surprised at how much gunk comes out in the foam.

Then I would clean it with ezzox to get the barrel coated with the lubricant that ezzox has. It bonds with the steel and makes subsequent cleanings really easy.

After that, I would slug the barrel and find out what it feels like. to do that, take a bullet out of a 22 case, I use a kinetic bullet puller which is like a hollow hammer that you put the cartridge in and whack it on a table. Then, with a flattened end jag I push the lead bullet down the bore of the rifle. any tight spots or loose spots should be noted. mark every inch on your cleaning rod and you can make mental note as your sliding it through. A ringed bore will have a spot that is very loose. It may be followed by a really tight spot or it may not. Ideally, a good barrel should be a constant pressure when slugging and may get tighter at the muzzle.

George

I had a really good peek down the bore, and while I do not see a ring / bulge, I do see what appears to be what I'd call scarring in an certain section down the bore. Clearly, something happened in there.

Anyway, I scrubbed the bore with Sweets 7.62, let it sit for 10 minutes, and suddenly, there was absolutely no resistance with the brush.

This is getting weirder and weirder.

May have been some leading caught in that particular portion of the barrel. If the bore looks good, with no shadow ring, you may have caught this problem before it got much worse.

R,
Bullseye