Scratches/Tool Marks in Rifling

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Dragline45

New member
I just picked up a new Bodyguard 380 and noticed that in the grooves of the rifling, not the lands, there are scratches running through the whole length of the grooves which I suspect to be tooling marks. In one of the grooves, there is noticeable tooling marks a little deeper than the others. Is this something to be concerned about, or as long as the lands are fine should I not worry about it?

I would take pictures, but it's almost impossible to get a good shot of the bore with my Iphone camera.
 
I guess I would shoot it and go from there. For a sub $400 gun with a integral laser, one shouldn't really expect perfect cosmetics, even from S&W. If it functions reliably and shoots as well as a compact auto is expected, I'd be happy. If you are concerned, I'd call S&W and see what they say. Their great CS and the lifetime warranty came with the gun.
 
I agree with you buck, for a gun that cost me less than $400 I don't really expect it to have a perfectly smooth match grade barrel. I am not really concerned about it, I just thought I would post it here for the hell of it and see what I get back. I will wait and see how well it shoot's before I do anything, although I suspect it should be fine. Good news is I live about an hour away from the S&W factory if I ever do need to send it back.
 
I've got a Colt Python that has "tool chatter" marks in the rifling. It is bad enough that you would think it was rusted / pitted.

On inspection with a bore scope my rifle smith said it was "tool marks". I bought the gun used and got a deal due to the imperfection.

It shoots better than I can and I've never been able to trace a problem to them.

If it was a rifle that may be a different story. The difference between Python ranges and prairie dog ranges any barrel problems will definitely show up as an accuracy issue.

I'd shoot the snot out it.

P.S.

Now that I think about it, I have a Lee Enfield SMLE that has a bore that looks like 100 grit sand paper. It still shoots out to 600 yards, open sites, on the service rifle course. So, who knows? YMMV
 
That's good to know. Now that I think about it my Ruger SR9C had similar tooling marks in the grooves and that gun shot great. I guess I'll put it in the back of my mind and forget about it.
 
Is this something to be concerned about, or as long as the lands are fine should I not worry about it?
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I've had a bunch of "scratched" bores over the years.

S&W's made since the late 90's in particular.

The only real annoyance they caused is severe leading.

Lapping, either fire lapping with jacketed ammo or manually lapping the bore cures that.

If you don't shoot lead, it shouldn't be an issue.
 
Well, it could go either way. One, the rough bore could cause the barrel to foul excessively - and that could continue for a very long time. Accuracy could be negatively affected. On the other hand, accuracy could be good, right out of the box... and a few hundred rounds of jacketed ammo could clean up the barrel quite well. You'll have to shoot the pistol, in order to find out.

By way of example, I offer my Kahr CM9. The barrel was very rough, with tooling marks running the length of it, much like that described by the OP. However, slugging the barrel revealed that the overall groove diameter was very tight - just over 0.354". I felt certain that the barrel must have slipped through QC, without lapping (if indeed Kahr ever laps their barrels). Nevertheless, I decided to give it a go. I am glad I did. The gun was uncannily accurate, right out of the box. Truly excellent. But, the barrel would foul badly, if cast bullets were used. So, I switched to using only jacketed.....and after 400 rounds or so, the bore smoothed out nicely. Accuracy continues as before - outstanding.

Hopefully, your BG will act similarly. If not, I'm sure that S&W will make it right.
 
Rifling on a new gun with a barrel that hasn't been lapped often shows some striations/scratches that run along the rifling.

If the gun is shooting well and not metal fouling/leading badly, it's not an issue.
 
Thanks for the replies. I took the gun out yesterday and ran 100rds through it and it shot great. Really surprised how accurate that little gun is. I am not too worried about leading, 99% of the ammo I shoot is jacketed so it should not be a problem.
 
Doesn't S&W use the EDM process to cut their rifling now? Kinda hard to leave tool marks when conventional tools aren't used. The process can leave the bore rough tho and is why new Smiths tend to shoot better and faster after a few hundred rounds of jacketed bullets.
 
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