CZ TS2 feed ramp discoloring - or is it?

[dabljues]

Hi!

About a week ago I field-stripped my TS2 to lube it up. When I took the barrel out, I noticed that the feed ramp (it is polished by me) has some discoloring. It was brown-ish. I tried scrubbing it with solvent, Q-tips and a nylon brush. No luck. I was scared that it may be rust. I took a 1500 grit sandpaper and gave it just about 10 passes - and voilà, feed ramp is mirror-like again.

So today, after being on a range a couple of days ago (shot like 300 rounds, all FMJs, RN, FN), i took the gun for a thorough cleaning. After getting rid of the gunk, here it is again. This time I took a photo:



Again, no luck with cleaning so I took a sandpaper, gave it a few passes and here's the result:



Good as new.

I am paranoid that this was rust. It didn't feel like it, the surface was smooth as butter + it doesn't look like rust that much. It's kinda shiny. Additionally, no other part of the feed ramp was discolored. My guess is, this is a discoloring caused by the nose of the round hitting the feed ramp. But I'm not sure. I was using a 16lb recoil spring (I'm trying stuff out) so maybe the rounds were hitting the feed ramp with more force. This is my thinking, I'm only asking since when I got into guns, I have a big paranoia about my toys getting rust in the safe.

I have two questions:

1. Well, was it rust? If so, then what should I do?
2. If it wasn't rust, should I leave this discoloring be (I don't want to polish it each time - it's not laziness, I just don't want to slowly take more and more metal)? Or maybe I can even prevent this happening in the 1st place?

[Wobbly]

Most proabably metal transferring from the nose of the bullet.

[dabljues]

Yeah, that's my thinking as well. Should I leave it be? I mean, it feels smooth (so it's not something that would cause feeding issues) and it's not a beauty contest, so it can be discolored, not a problem for me. But could it have some long-term effects?

If I could clean it with a solvent and brush, I wouldn't ask cuz I'd do it every time, but since the only thing that worked was polishing, I wouldn't want to do it repeatedly.

[Wobbly]

What kind of bullets are you shooting? Lead and copper aren't going to hurt anything.

[dabljues]

I shoot lead bullets with copper (CuZn 30) jackets.

From what I've seen, people use brass brush on it (nylon isn't enough). I guess brass brush won't damage the feed ramp, right?

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

I shoot lead bullets with copper (CuZn 30) jackets.

From what I've seen, people use brass brush on it (nylon isn't enough). I guess brass brush won't damage the feed ramp, right?

I use a brass brush on all my barrels feed ramps included during every cleaning which happens after every range session. Brass won't hurt a thing.

[dabljues]

I use a brass brush on all my barrels feed ramps included during every cleaning which happens after every range session. Brass won't hurt a thing.

Great, thanks! I was skeptical, because I actually don't use brass brushes inside the bore. I was using them before, but since I got a really strong bore cleaning foam, I noticed that it didn't make a difference whether I was using a brush or not. So I weaned from using pretty much anything brass for cleaning (I was also somewhat afraid of using a brass brush inside the bore). But knowing that now, I'll try it next time I get this stuff on the feed ramp. Additionally, the breech face always has some copper fouling, no matter what I do - another place to try a brass brush.

[skin]

 Looks like copper. I would soak it in your cleaning solvent for a while. Should come right off.