.54 rifled bore pitting

[preuitt1]

Howdy, purchased a .54 rifled, unknown maker. The bore is moderately pitted, the rifling grooves are clean. Will a carbon ball brush in 800 and then 400 used with cutting oil work to smooth out the pitting to a shootable condition? Carbon ball brushes like used on a shotgun barrel. I dont expect it to make it shiny but to a acceptable bore. Has anyone tried this? TIA.
Sorry, on the barrel photos but you get a feel for the pitting. I have not shot this BP. As a side not, can anyone tell me who, what this BP is? The only thing seen is a scribe on the top of the barrel "Dryballs .54" , I have not removed the lock to see the backside

 

[Gtrubicon]

How bout some color photos? None of that period correct black and white stuff

 

[SDSmlf]

Howdy, purchased a .54 rifled, unknown maker. The bore is moderately pitted, the rifling grooves are clean. Will a carbon ball brush in 800 and then 400 used with cutting oil work to smooth out the pitting to a shootable condition? Carbon ball brushes like used on a shotgun barrel. I dont expect it to make it shiny but to a acceptable bore. Has anyone tried this? TIA.
Sorry, photos will be added tomorrow.

So how does it shoot as it is today? What do your baseline targets look like?

 

[BoomStick]

I have used JB bore paste to smooth out some of the roughness in a couple pitted spots. Unless the pitting is very light or you remove quite a bit of material, the pitting will remain. It may not hurt accuracy -depends if the pits are in the lands, very deep or create sharp edges that cut patches.

I'd try a scotchbrite pad or mild abrasive first before going to valve grinding compound. It might shoot just fine after a good scrubbing.

 

[morehops52]

I'm thinking using JB Bore Paste and lots of elbow grease up and down. Others may have better suggestions. Keep in mind that many barrels shoot well without being perfect.

 

[waksupi]

Don't do anything to it. Shoot it, see how it shoots. You are likely to do more harm than good.

 

[Nazgul58]

Most of us have a decent rifle with a bore pitted more than we would like. I have 2 and they both shoot well.
All the above suggestions are good. First, shoot it. Then if you want 3M pads or bore paste.

Don

 

[Sam squanch]

I have a neglected new englander in 50 caliber. First 6 inches down the bore is pitted. Groups great at 25 yards, opens up just a tad at 50 yards. One hole 5 shot groups at 25, 1.5 groups at 50. Good enough.

 

[rich pierce]

Pitting left in place never gets better. As others said, maybe it will shoot fine. But it will be harder to load and clean than a bright bore.

Re-cutting or freshing rifling is beyond what most want to learn to do but is what was done in the period, and for a reason. It works.

 

[gemmer]

If it's a 1" barrel and shoots poorly, send it to Bobby Hoyt and have it freshed out to .58 cal.

 

[user 34300]

I am guessing the OP means a ball hone. The answer is no. Also, never put something in a rifle barrel and spin it. The barrel will be ruined. This includes bronze brushes.

10 Gauge Fine Flex Hone, Bore | Brownells

IF you were to aggressively remove the rust in the pits you will have a worse situation. Say with a chemical. The edges of the potholes will then fill with fouling and grab the patch. Maybe give it a good scrubbing with steel wool and or scotchbrite and see how it shoots.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

If it's a 1" barrel and shoots poorly, send it to Bobby Hoyt and have it freshed out to .58 cal.

It doesn't need to be moved up a bore size, just freshed out which may end up a .55. I had hoyt fresh out a .58 and it ended up a .59. I'm good with that.

 

[LANEY REECE]

Shoot it and really what you need to do. It might shoot fine and go from there.

 

[tom in nc]

I am guessing the OP means a ball hone. The answer is no. Also, never put something in a rifle barrel and spin it. The barrel will be ruined. This includes bronze brushes.

10 Gauge Fine Flex Hone, Bore | Brownells

IF you were to aggressively remove the rust in the pits you will have a worse situation. Say with a chemical. The edges of the potholes will then fill with fouling and grab the patch. Maybe give it a good scrubbing with steel wool and or scotchbrite and see how it shoots.

I'm no expert but I agree that no rifled bore should be honed with anything that goes round & round. Smooth bores OK though.

 

[ThumperJones]

JB Bore Paste will have your arm fall off before you remove any pitting bad enough that it's easily visible. It's just not aggressive enough, it's made for CLEANING after all.

Get actual lapping compound if you're going through the trouble. Wheeler Engineering sells some. I have a grit assortment that has 600 grit and it's what I use to try and fix a hopeless barrel.

As the choir has preached......shoot it first.

 

[user 34300]

Lead lapping the bore with a cast lap and valve grinding compound will often remove enough steel to obliterates the pits. I start at 120 grit and work several laps until the bore is uniform and smooth. Then one 220 and a 320. After that Flitz and steel wool. In my experience finer grits do not remove enough steel to make any real progress. As I described above it is multi hour process that usually works up a blister on my palm.

 

[Mtman725]

JB bore cleaner and Kroil a tight fitting bore mop, Is all one needs.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Lead lapping the bore with a cast lap and valve grinding compound will often remove enough steel to obliterates the pits. I start at 120 grit and work several laps until the bore is uniform and smooth. Then one 220 and a 320. After that Flitz and steel wool. In my experience finer grits do not remove enough steel to make any real progress. As I described above it is multi hour process that usually works up a blister on my palm.

This will do it but the breech plug needs to be pulled so that the lap can be cast at the muzzle and the rod inserted into the breech end. Using a ramrod to do a lapping job is painful and hard on a good rod. It's worth the time to make a rotating tee handled lapping rod that makes the job a whole lot easier. There are several youtube videos on it but I haven't watched any to sort out the good from the bad. Viewer disgression advised.

 

[tom in nc]

I inquired a few days ago about rough bores and the answer I got was if a bore is rough enough to grab patches it needs work. I wonder if shooting a few times, maybe patched with scotchbrite would work? Anybody tried, or patch with sandpaper?

 

[Mulebrain]

If you can get it to shoot that's great. However if you can't, Bobby can install a liner. I had him do one of mine and it was perfect.
I have had barrels freshened up, but your luck may vary with that. That is a real pretty gun that was neglected. I would punch it
to .58 or lined it back to .54