Shot the 29-3 in Field Pistol all last year without cleaning, but after one match and a couple of practices sessions beforehand this year it looked like this:




The waxy gunk on the bottom of the topstrap is normal, BTW.





Muzzle end looks OK, though:



Only changes to the load was a lot change in the powder (WW231) and possibly a bit less than normal amount of Lee Liquid Alox mixed with the beeswax coating over the Speer LSWC swaged bullets, but they got that treatment some point last year whilst loading the last batch of ammo to the current run.

A wee mystery to solve before the next match!

Those swaged bullets are nearly pure lead. Measure their diameter. They could be undersize for your gun and you are getting gas cutting on the bullets. Once the gun is cleaned up, try hand pushing a bullet though the cylinder throats. If they are a loose fit, there is your likely issue.

+1 on HS40's comments. Also you should have a lube star at the muzzle if you are getting enough lube and I didn't see any on your gun. Also mike the bullets to see if they are .429 or .430. I always sized my home cast bullets to at least .430 and one Ruger SBH I had liked them .431. Don't skimp on the liquid Alox. Can't hurt if you get too much. I never had good luck with the Speer swaged bullets. Seems like the lube on them was waxy and could get hard overtime. The newer Hornady swaged bullets have the powder type lube and that is pretty good stuff. If this is the same powder you were using last year then something definitely has changed. Your Smith also looks like it has a very short forcing cone but if that was OK last year then is should work this year. Good luck finding a cure. Last resort you can always use Drano to clean your pipes. THAT WAS A JOKE!!!!!

This was more than likey cause by the atmospheric conditions common in the state of Ga. That cause dissimilar metals to
Bond. One antidote is to send the gun home with someone from the pure state of Alabama for a couple of years so it can
Desensitize and be rendered back to a neutral state. Our federal Goverment conducted a study on this back in the 60's that study carred a price tag of $1.4 million And in the end that study was inconclusive but the public was not made aware of this and the researcher vanished and until this day have never been heard from. As A young boy I read this in the "Grit " newspaper which is now know as the National Enquirer

I add a beeswax/Alox coating to fill the throats as this S&W, like many of my older .44s, has throats that measure 0.432"-0.433"! Used to have all sorts of gas cutting about the bullet's bases, AND hideous deposits all along the bore. The added step seems to have cured all that. At least it got me shooting well into the 20s in Field Pistol. If I could figure out chickens, it would be high 20s!

There's quite a lube star at the muzzle, but it's rather dark. And filling in to be more of a "lube donut".

The current deposits are very localized, as shown, just in the forcing cone itself and at the forward end of the chambers.

Wondering if the "atmospherics" didn't have some influence? Maybe the wax got brittle in the cold? Esp. with little to no Alox mixed in. Will happily do a study, but another $1,400,000 would help get to the bottom of the situation sooner, methinks.
;)

Got distracted this week after having found a giant swag of rifle brass in a trash bag at the range. Been sorting it to get the 7mm Mauser (for the Boer contract 1893 Mauser!) and 30-30 brass (for the "new" 7-30 Waters Contender) segregated from the '06 ,.257 Roberts, 6mm Rem., 7mm Weatherby mag., et al. brass. So, nothing done towards new loads yet!