Barrel pitting

[Cape_Yorkee]

Not sure if this is the right section for this post

I've picked up another older rifle which is going to make a good project. The stock is very good and the barrel also appears quite good for a 40+yr old rifle. It does however appear to have some pitting inside the barrel, around halfway down. I've played around with a good torch light and the rest of the barrel seems good. I've not shot it yet, but we'll see how it goes.

Question is, is there a particular section of the barrel where pitting may occur that is very detrimental to accuracy? A friend who has been around firearms longer than I suggests the bullet should still stabilise fairly well with where the pitting is on this thing. But again putting it on paper will tell us the results.

One interesting thing I found the other night is I gave the inside of the barrel a dam good brush out and followed it up with 2 or 3 rounds of foaming bore cleaner. Lots of patches, and once dry I finished with my best mate Ballistol. The barrel certainly seems much more bright and cleaner and the patch/area of pitting no longer seems protruding. I'll try and grab a borescope if I can, have also thought about those cheapies off Temu that can plug into your phone.

[Wm.Traynor]

My old 303/25 shot very well even though the barrel was pitted. You are quite right not to give up on yours yet, IMO. Don't know about cheap borescopes tho.

[GQshayne]

I have a .17 Rem that I acquired as a project. A quick test got me 3 shots in a bout a 10c pice sized group at 100m. Satisfied it did not need re-barrelling, I started my restoration. Part of that was a removal of the well reknowned .17 Rem copper fouling. Holy, moly it was bad!!! LOL. Got there in the end though. And guess what???? It has pitting, and the groups opened up about 4 times in size.

My advice is to test your rilfe and see if it suits your needs. If it does, just use it and don't worry about it too much. I am intending to try and "shoot" mine back in again. Groups started ot close up as I fired more rounds through it, so I intend to see how that goes. Could have been avoided though.

[Wapiti]

I reckon, rightly or not, that the last few inches of the barrel will be the most crucial.
And what GQshayne said about his .17Rem will give you some comfort, because it seems when the pits in his filled with copper jacket, it didn't make any difference to the accuracy.
As others say, shoot it and enjoy it mate!

[Cape_Yorkee]

I couldn't agree more with you blokes. If it shoots half decent, I'll certainly hang onto it. The pitting isn't the concern, it's the questionable accuracy that could come from it. In saying that and like has been said above there are some old rifles out there that are pitted to absolute buggery but still shoot amazing!

[Cape_Yorkee]

I reckon, rightly or not, that the last few inches of the barrel will be the most crucial.

Yes and this was my mates thoughts as well. 'The business end' so to speak.

[No1_49er]

Don't know about cheap borescopes tho.

In the grand scheme of things (and, some bore scopes are VERY expensive) Teslong is the way to go.
Have a look here :- https://teslong.com/collections/boresco ... -borescope

[Fester]

It may well be fine as others said, not the money end.
Lay some copper and see how it shoots.

An Aussie shop or online seller sells the hard rod Teslon with it's own screen unit at a good price.
It's not always good seeing so much but I never looked back.
It's in a different leage than the cheap phone scopes.

[straightshooter]

There are many misconceptions about barrels.
As long as the first couple of inches and the last 6 inches at the muzzle are good and the bit in between conforms reasonably close to correct dimensions and there are no variations in twist rate the barrel will shoot.
The only problem with rust pits, chatter and reamer marks all of a minor nature in the middle part of the barrel is to make the barrel need more care in cleaning due to the greater likelihood of fouling.