Is the barrel safe to shoot?

K

kx592

New member
I shot corrosive ammo and put the gun in the safe for a few months. This summer has been nothing but rain here and extremely high humidity. I took my guns out to clean and go over, and found my MN had severe rust in the bore. I did the normal procedures to remove all of it, however, its pitted worse than anything iv seen. Im concerned as to whether or not its safe to shoot, and what can I do to seal the pits?

Pics, focus was hard for inside the barrel, did what I could.

http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb49/kx592/?action=view&current=IMG_20111027_100509.jpg
http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb49/kx592/?action=view&current=IMG_20111027_100325.jpg
 
It would probably help if you mentioned the type of firearm in the question...
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I think he at least mentioned the type - Mosin Nagant - which is 7.62x54r. It may not be, but I'd assume it is, like I would assume an M1 Garand is .30-06. Looks like one too.

From the pics, I'd shoot it without hesitation. It isn't like an old rifle that got dug up out of the ground after a hundred years.

I wouldn't worry about trying to seal the pits until you know how it shoots. If it shoots considerably worse, then maybe I'd think about it. But I'm betting you aren't getting stellar precision out of that rifle anyway.

I'd clean the hell out of the bore, and go shoot if I were you, and then clean it well enough to prevent rust when I got back.
 
Probably safe. The pits are there forever. If it shoots OK just keep it as clean as possible, if it won't shoot, you've got a lamp stand. The last thing I'd try is to JB the hell out of it to smooth out the pit damage but there's no filling of pits.
 
Thanks guys, Yea 7.62x54..Would running patches with bluing kit help seal the pits? I herd of a guy doing that once but cant remember details.
 
Thanks guys, Yea 7.62x54..Would running patches with bluing kit help seal the pits? I herd of a guy doing that once but cant remember details.
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I've read something along those lines as well. No idea as to if it works or not, but the consensus seems to be the pitting is there indefinitely.
 
Yes shoot with no fear, use jacket bullets and some time you will be surprise, still fairly accurate.!!! Once a friend ask me if I was interested on a old mauser all rusted up. Up on seeing the rifle a classic european double set trigger sporter conversion of a 8mm 1916 DMW 50% rusted in and out, the first reaction was no..but for $30 I figure I had nothing to loose if I bring back to life the trigger group I was already a winner.
This rifle was forgotten on a floor of a basement of a old house for who knows how many years, trigger parts jam and bolt need some help to function, bore black badly pitted with some rifling mark left... a mess!.
I tooke it apart after using a lot of penetrating oil and VW40, polish all part of the trigger group, replace the spring and sear of the bolt, clean the bore at best and give it a try... open sight at 100 yrd still print inside 2.5"!!!
My rifle bore was in a way worst condition than the picture of your bore.
Keept it as is for a while, end up swapping the set trigger with one other 8mm that I own, and rebarrel the action with a unissued 7mm mauser rechambered to 7x64
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roberto
 
Blueing doesn't "seal" anything. Just colors it. Not worth the effort. New barrel if it doesn't shoot anymore.
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+1. It's safe to shoot and the pits are there forever. Next time after shooting it, clean it.
 
Don't worry about the pits.

The best surplus rifle I have ever owned had a bore that looked like the surface of the moon. The lands were all rounded, and had chunks corroded away. The grooves were even worse. Aside from the incredible pitting and craters, the whole bore was frosty. I couldn't get it to shine, for the life of me. But it didn't matter. That rifle shot better than MoA at 300 yards. ;)
 
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