Some pitting in smoothbore

[Appalachian Harry]

Hello again everyone!! I am new to flintlocks and got a used 20 gauge Fowler. I have shot it a good bit (ball and shot) and notice that cleaning can be slight pain with some rust. Scrubbed it with steel wool and G96 then noticed a decent more rust than usual (using bore scope). There is some pitting towards the breech in patches and few up the barrel. Is this a huge problem that needs to be fixed immediately? Or can it be mitigated?

 

[TreeMan]

Use some grey scotchbright on a cleaning jag with a little JB bore paste on it and work it back and forth to try to smooth it up best as possible. You may remove the pitting or you may not. If the pits aren’t so deep to be dangerous then just keep on enjoying shooting it. It’ll be fine with the exception of the pits making it a bit more difficult to load when fouling builds up and when cleaning it up. If the pits remain just be sure to clean really well so fouling doesn’t worsen the pits during storage.

 

[Appalachian Harry]

Any examples of how to clean a pitted bore effectively? Because I will be changing my cleaning routine now

 

[rich pierce]

Getting rid of pits is best done with a reamer. I’ve restored original barrels in very bad shape to like new using an adjustable reamer. The adjustable reamers have a square end. I buy a length of hollow square stock that fits the reamer end. And I have a cross bar handle with a square hole in it for turning. I mount the barrel in one vise and in another a foot away I hold a board with a hole the square rod will rotate in. This keeps alignment good enough. Plenty of lube and a few hours and I can take out deep pits.
Some folks will use brake hones but for me, I want perfectly consistent diameter end to end.

 

[andy52]

I use "flex-hone" bore hones.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Don't worry about it, just go shoot the thing. Good hot water to clean with. Get all nice and hot so it wants to dry. Get some beeswax or candlewax and melt it, now add some olive oil. Get the mixture to suit you. You can have it greasy or hard, your choice.
Get it down that warm barrel and forget about it.
Bore scopes, put, nightmares in the making

 

[Appalachian Harry]

here is an example of what is in my bore around the breach it is patches of pitting and just small clumps of pitting up the bore and it looks bad until I did a size comparison with a penny because that is the head of Lincoln on the penny using my borescope

 

[pilot]

I use "flex-hone" bore hones.

I'm waiting for a backordered one for my 12 gauge. No timeline from them, although they have charged my card.

 

[andy52]

I'm waiting for a backordered one for my 12 gauge. No timeline from them, although they have charged my card.

They are handy and not overly expensive. I just reconditioned a couple of original SxSs and they both turn out well enough to shoot

 

[ohio ramrod]

For pits I like a brake cylinder hone easy to use,and always available at auto parts stores.s. An expansion reamer will work but when using reamers you can take off more stock than you want.