Pitting inside barrel, repair or live with?

S

superpelly

New member
I bought a rifle recently for a very good price. When I inspected the barrel (land and grooves) I noticed either some rust or pitting or both. I purchased the rifle anyway. When I got home I tried to remove the rust ( I was hoping it was just rust) with a cooper brush and solvent, it removed the rust but I think there some pitting going on. Not a big area, maybe 1/2 inch of small round pit marks. Any chance of smoothing them down, or just live with the pitting?
 
Try shooting it first before you do anything else. A pitted barrel still has potential to shoot well. Overscrubbing can ruin a barrel. If nothing else, you can either rebarrel it or have it relined by Bobby Hoyt of Der Freischutz Shoppe.
 
A good first step is to buy a jar of JB Bore Paste and use it to give the bore a good cleaning.
This will totally clean ALL fouling and rust out of the bore.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/st...tle=J-B~+NON-EMBEDDING+BORE+CLEANING+COMPOUND

Once the bore is really clean you can see what you've got.
If the bore is pitted, there's absolutely nothing you can do to "fix" the pitting.
Pitting is just that: tiny holes rusted into the metal, and there's no way to "remove" or "fill" the holes.

This does not mean the barrel is no good, or that it won't shoot good groups.
 
These guys have it right. I will only add that you want to be sure all traces of the old rust are really gone, otherwise they will gradually eat the pits down deeper. I would plug the bore and fill it with Kroil or Gunzilla and let it soak 24 hours, then brush it out again.

The JB bore compound is a mildly abrasive cleaner that will polish the bore. There are others, if the JB isn't available where you are. Iosso Bore Cleaner is one I like that I've occassionally seen at Gander Mountain. Remington 40X is another, though slowest acting (most mild) of the group.
 
Maybe it is because I have seen so many really bad bores, but I don't think you have much of a problem with that small area of pitting. The rifle should shoot fine.

Jim
 
My '03 Springfield is pitted from one end to the other, and will still shoot 3" groups at 100 yards.
 
A few years ago a friend of mine got an M 1 Garand. Nice one, he was very proud, but he was very concerned and wondering if he should replace the barrel because of "the one really bad pit near the muzzle."

Uh, Bob? You need that pit. That's your gas port... :D
 
I would think deep pits on the lands would effect it more than the pitting you sometimes see in the grooves, but like they said it may shoot well with jacketed bullets, the pitted area may foul worse though. If there is a good crown on the barrel and the pitting is not right at the muzzle that helps too.
 
As long as the pits aren't part of the throat or the edge of the muzzle, and are shorter than the bearing length of your bullets, the bullets will mostly just skate over them. Especially if they are nearer the muzzle end, since obturating pressure is lower there.

Nick
 
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