to what degree is barrel rust/pitting

[mrspear11]

Looking for opinions. Having not seen many examples of barrels with rust and pitting, I'm not sure of the condition of this barrel what would you say that the pictures represent, minimal or excessive, somewhere in between. Any and all opinions, photos of severe pitting would be appreciated.

 

[rafterob]

The picture quality is not real great but that looks like some pretty bad corrosion there. Also, go to the link that shows you how to post pictures so everyone can see what you posted.

 

[mrspear11]

sorry shouldn't have looked away, onedrive sometimes is not friendly to me, here they are

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yeah, that bore is pitted, on a moderate scale. It might shoot OK, perhaps well enough to hunt. You won't know until you try.

You might consider sending the barrel to Bob Hoyt and getting it recut.

LD

 

[Artificer]

Rust corrosion that is behind where the patched ball sits is often not a problem unless it is a lot deeper than that.

However, it looks like the corrosion goes well ahead of the spot the PRB would be rammed. Agree with LD you won't know until you shoot it for groups, but Bobby Hoyt can re-rifle and re-bore it out a bit, if necessary.

Gus

 

[mrspear11]

thanks for the "moderate" rating, it is a Colerain barrel, would that type of rifling be a problem in re-cutting?

 

[mrspear11]

those pics cover approx. the first 6-8" of the barrel from the breech, I do have other pics showing the rest of the barrel but due to the lack of light you kinda have to translate shadows, I've made a way to better illuminate the barrel but haven't gotten the pics taken yet. I do have several videos that do well showing the entire length and some of what is seen is not rusted but looks something like scale or something on the barrel not pits in the barrel, if that's clear. I'm trying to figure out what the terms like, "light", or "moderate" or "severe" pitting should look like. I have 3 ml's, one that is 18 years old and looks unused compared to this one.

 

[Artificer]

To me, that looks like more than "moderate" pitting, especially considering the additional info you just provided. But then again, I'm a military armorer and I polished less pitting that that out of my smoothbore Brown Bess Carbine barrel.

If it shoots to your satisfaction, then I would not be concerned until it no longer gives groupls that you like.

If it were my barrel, I would not bother shooting it as that pitting would upset me too much even if it did shoot moderately well. So it would be off to Bobby Hoyt most rickey tick.

Gus

 

[Tinker2]

Have you cleaned it yet?








William

 

[coloradoclyde]

Thompson center....?

 

[bubba.50]

Thompson center....?

says it's Colerain in about his third or fourth response. about two down from the pix. hope this helps.

 

[bubba.50]

I'd clean it real good and shoot it before I worried to much about it. maybe use a little bore paste or valve-grindin' compound with a piece of green scotchbrite on a jag. scrub it good.

 

[mrspear11]

Yep, going to throw everything at it in terms of getting it into shape. This was the first used ml I've bought and there are some others, with varying descriptions of barrel condition that I'm looking at to add to the collection, and while I believe the sellers are giving honest descriptions (until proven otherwise) I have not seen enough barrels of varying conditions personally to judge what levels of use should look like. My assumption is the seller knows more than me, maybe that's wrong Incidentally, I am not unhappy with my purchase of this rifle nor am I implying I was was misled, just using it as an opportunity for an education. :thumbsup:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

First, I'd plug the touch hole, really well, then fill up the barrel with Evaporust . Let it sit 1 hour, then pour the used Evaporust into a mason jar with a lid and save it for use on other items. Keep the rest of the fresh jug for when the used solution stops working.

Then rinse it very well, dry, and try Birchwood Casey Barricade. When ready shoot it.

I bet a nice, thick patch with good lube will work fine. If it does the major problem will be it being tough to get them little pits clean. If it doesn't shoot well, then as mentioned, try a jag and a patches with valve lapping compound to polish her out some.

LD

 

[mooman76]

Can't really tell for sure until it's cleaned up and rust removed. I think it will clean up good enough to shoot half way decent but at this point, it's just a guess. I have heard of worse though that cleaned up and shot ok, MLs are more forgiving than center fires guns. Probably because of their deep rifling.

 

[nkbj]

Going to need lots of smoothing to get the patches to survive the first few inches of travel. I'd get it recut to clean up, not necessarily to the next larger "standard" caliber.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I had a similar looking barrel that I decided to ruin or fix however it came out.

I used a square of green scotch bright pad and soft scrub cleanser to scrub the bore 20 times. I could actually see metal come out on the pad.

I followed up after the soft scrub with 20 strokes with an oiled square of green scotch bright.

A check with my bore camera showed I had rounded off the edges of the lands a little bit but the bore looked nice and shiny.

This barrel was never a good shooter, cutting patches and throwing an occasional flier.

I was really surprised when I test fired the gun, it shot just about a ragged hole at 50 yards. The holes marked 5 shots are from the gun, the other holes are from smoothbores and other tests.

I shot this group and being an old guy I can't see the sights well. Someone with good eyes might have done much better.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Here is my barrel today with the remaining pitting and rounded off lands, not too bad and it sure shoots well.

I gave it a good going over with JB bore paste when I cleaned it after hunting season last month.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I has one pitted worse than the op pictured....If you can clean it without shredding the cleaning patch or feeling a lot of roughness, that is a good sign.....polishing it with scotch brite, steel wool, lapping compound etc...will help. At this point you really can't damage it any worse....
You need to shoot it and see how it groups...and how bad it shreds patches. If it is a patch shredder keep polishing.....

 

[ZUG]

My take on this is -- if the rifle is of high quality and you like it I would have the barrel rebored / refreshed by Bobby Hoyt. If it is a so-so - Ok gun then have at it with any means to remove most of the rust/pitting - you will not be hurting it.