(Hopefully not too untoward for this site.)

I've been using hard cast, synthetic coated, off-the-shelf projectiles in my 9mm semi-auto for many years now. They are rated up to 1700fps without any fouling of the barrel. They are probably only doing 1000fps. Of late, about 1/3 go sideways through the target even at 8 yards. They are the correct size (not a bad batch) and the barrel require more patches to clean out afterwards. The first couple of patches are very dark grey aka lead-coloured.

The last couple of patches come out with minimal muck but I think it may still be lead coated (or maybe the synthetic coatong?). Looking down the inside of barrel it is super shiny (a little bit too shiny for bare steel I think) and the rifling is evident from the breech end, but looking down the barrel from the muzzle end it is much harder to see the rifling. Looking into the muzzle at an angle the rifling grooves appear very dark and the lands almost look slightly copper fouled in contrast (but they aren't).

I've never seen this type of fouling before. I had used a batch of un-marked brand projectiles (ie dodgy) in this pistol before that left streaks of lead in the barrel. This was very evident and was eventually removed. I've had similar streak fouling when using cast in rifles.

I'm going to try using copper jacketed projectiles through the 9mm to see if that makes a difference and to confirm that they don't go sideways. It's been a while since I shot copper through it but have projectiles and a load that didn't go sideways previously.

Anyone have thought/ideas on this one? Has the Hoppes fumes finally gotten to me?