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What can be done with a pitted bore ?


R. R. Ranger

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Got a 73 in a trade and thought it was just dirty but have found rust and lots of pitting in the bore. What is the best way to remedy this? I think the pard shot the rifle and cleaned all but the bore and put the rifle away for a few years. I have bronze brushed it and have run a half of a pack of patches through it . The lands look much better but the grooves have heavy pitting for about half the barrel length . I wanted the gun to try some of the long range buffalo shoots we have around here but I don't think it will hold the accuracy. Rebarreling or sleeving it with a liner. Has anyone done either of these and would you share the cost involved with either And are you happy with the results. Also have the option of returning the rifle,.

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+1 for shooting it. I've seen some barrels that look like they haven't been cleaned since the Civil War, but still drive racks at will. I know, goes against logic, but when they still shoot one hole groups, what can ya say. I am talking about 100 yards plus in distances.

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Howdy

 

The pards are correct. Just because an old barrel is pitted is no reason to assume it will not shoot well.

 

I have a Winchester Model 1892 made in 1894, and a Marlin Model 1894 made in 1895. Both have pitted bores. Both are still tack drivers. The Winchester was my Main Match rifle for my first two years in CAS until I decided to buy an Uberti 1873 with a shiny new bore for shooting exclusively with Black Powder. I was regularly able to ring steel with the pitted bore of the '92 at 200 yards in long range side matches. I also have a 1918 Lee/Enfield 303 British with a pitted bore. It too shoots more accurately than I can.

 

When I am considering buying an old rifle these days, I do not consider a pitted bore to be show stopper. As long as the rifling is still strong and shows up well, I am pretty confident the rifle will shoot well, even if I have to fool around a little bit with bullet diameter. I bought a S&W DA 44 recently made in 1881. The bore and chambers pitted, but the rifling is still strong. Yup, shoots like a champ.

 

When inspecting an old rifle I am considering buying, if the bore is dirty I always ask the dealer if he has a cleaning rod so I can run it through to see what we are dealing with. As long as the rifling is strong, meaning easily visible and the lands and grooves are well defined, I move along in the negotiations.

 

What caliber are we talking about anyway? My '92 and Marlin are both chambered for 44-40. I simply shoot standard .427 hard cast bullets through them with Smokeless and they do fine. You may decide to slug the bore. If so, you want to see good evidence on your slug that you have completely filled the rifling grooves. Look for lengthwise drag marks on the high spots on the slug to be sure it filled the grooves. In choosing a bullet, be sure to choose one that is a good .001 oversize of the grooves, to be sure the rifling gets a good purchase on the bullet and gives it a good spin. If you decide to slug the barrel you may discover that after the slug is about half way down the barrel it starts to slide easily with little resistance towards the chamber. This is not unusual. A lot of old bores that were shot with Black Powder AND CORROSIVE PRIMERS, that may not have been cleaned thoroughly all the time, may exhibit more erosion near the chamber than in the rest of the barrel. Again, do not let that deter you, simply choose a bullet .001 over rifling groove size.

 

I did encounter one Lee/Enfield with a pitted bore that would not stabilize any bullet I put down it. Everything it fired, both cast and FMJ would keyhole. But I figure one out of five ain't bad. I eventually replaced that Enfield with the 1918 rifle and its pitted old bore puts a good spin on everything that comes out the bore.

 

First off, just shoot it and see what ya got. Then maybe think about slugging the bore and fooling around with bullet diameters if you are getting keyholing.

 

Also, I would not do anything further to attempt to remove the pitting. You will just be removing rifling. Shoot it and see what ya got.

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Why return it if it shoots well? if it shot fine and accurate before some pitting in the bore is a non-issue - especially at CAS distances....in other words - no need to worry about it, just shoot it first and go from there.

 

 

GG ~ :FlagAm:

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I also had a '92 that was made in '94, in 44-40. I gave it to my Daughter, as the rifle had been originally purchased by her Great Grandfather.

 

The rifle would lead a barrel very quickly if lead bullets were used, but would shoot jacketed bullets quite well. Tried bullets of .428 and .429 but the results were the same. Remington jacketed bullets of .427 diameter shot very well.

 

RBK

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I've got a '73 made in the 20's No pitting as far as I can see, but there is a rough spot about half way down the barrel. It's a .32-20, and is as accuate as any rifle I have.

 

I also have a Winchester 95 in .30-40 Krag. And interesting feature with these rifles is that the rifling twist resembles a corkscrew spiral as it goes down the barrel. The grooves are dark, but the thing cleans up well and I get no rust on my cleaning patches. And it is a tack driver. I did some bench rest shooting with it, and it was dead on accurate at 100 yards, putting 5 rounds in a 1" group with modern Remington factory jacketed ammo.

 

My reduced power lead loads I sometimes use for Wild Bunch are pretty accurate too, but I've not done any grouping with them.

 

Some pitting in the bore does not for poor accuracy necessarily make.

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Allow me to say something (as if anyone could stop me lol)

 

I have had a couple of guns like that and after shooting BP and cleaning them a couple of times, I was surprised (at least the first two times) to find bores that were far better than I had imagined. Old guns can accumulate a lot of fouling-layers upon layers that can be hard to distinguish from a poor bore.

 

If the better part of the bore is the part closer to the muzzle, it will likely still shoot fairly well. Relining a barrel is an option, but it does affect the originality of the piece. Original good condition barrels may still be available from Albert Buckingham in Trenton, Tennessee but sit down when you ask the price.

 

Shoot it and clean it and repeat. If it can hit a pie plate every time at 100 yards there is noting in CAS that it won't be adequate for.

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I have an old 1917 enfield with a heavily pitted bore and it is real accurate, so to clean it up I put brasso (an abrasive) on a patch and then ran several dry patches afterwards, then hoppes a few times, it actually took a small shine after that, still pitted though, but still my favorite rifle.

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I have several old Winchesters. The one pitted rifle shoots as well as the other 'cleaner' bores if I use harder lead bullets like Oregon Trails or Meister Bullets.

You may want to show your rifle to a local, good gunsmith. They have seen and fixed countless rifles in similar condition. What appears to be pitting may simply be very old leading or copper wash.

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Ranger,

 

You might want to try "fire lapping" the barrel. I have done this will several guns and had relatively good success polishing up the barrel. I will generally improve the accuracy of the barrel as well as cleaning it up.

 

Just do a Goggle search for: "neco fire lapping". NECO sells the kit with instructions. Bacically it is a series of polish and lapping compounds that you impregnate into the bullets. Then just shoot them down the barrel and follow the instructions for cleaning and using successively finer grits. BE SURE TO BUY THE KIT AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

 

The kit isn't cheap but I've had mine for about 7 years and fire lapped at least 7 barrels. I still have enough to do probably 20 barrels.

 

Conejo.

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I've used one of the Otters electo cleaners. I was very surprised when I did one of my Wife's old family Winchesters... It really did get a lot stuff out that I didn't know was there. The bore looked much better after I was done, and the accuracy of the gun improved. Worth a try.

 

Snakebite

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I've got an original 73 Trapdoor made in 1878. I'm not overly happy with the way the bore looks but with the right BP and bullet mix it will ring a 3 foot steel target at 650 yards.

 

If you look at most of the advice, just shoot it and go from there. You might be pleasently surprized.

 

My $.02.

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