Bore pits and rust

[oneriver]

can you see it with a flashlight. A buddy buying a used rifle asked me, I didn’t know how to answer... what do you say?

 

[Someoldguy]

If you can see it with a flashlight and naked eye, RUN! FAR AND FAST!

Seriously though, if a bore was allowed to get rusty then cleaned thoroughly, fired some and cleaned again I doubt you'd be able to see anything but a shiny bore with just a flashlight. Borescopes are invaluable in examining used firearms before purchase in my humble opinion.

 

[Uncle Ed]

Old milsurp rifles can have rusted, pitted and frosted bores from corrosive ammunition and can be cleaned up and still shoot well enough for hunting.

Below is a bore scope photo of a button button rifled barrel. And these rail road tracks will pick up a lot of copper.

Below a custom made hand lapped barrel.

Below a 1943 .303 British No.4 barrel that is slightly pitted and frosted and one shot of foam bore cleaner removes all the copper.

I'm always amazed at how well a old beat up rifle can shoot with the right reloads.

But even a new button rifled bore can be rough and pick up a lot of copper.

 

[dstoenner]

Take a cleaning rod with you and run a dry patch through it. If it runs smoothly down the bore and comes out clean then it is probably not in bad shape. That doesn’t mean it will shoot well. That is entirely a different question

David

 

[mousegunner]

I've used a brush on an old Mauser and you could feel the roughness as it went down the bore.

 

[Someoldguy]

Old milsurp rifles can have rusted, pitted and frosted bores from corrosive ammunition and can be cleaned up and still shoot well enough for hunting.

Below is a bore scope photo of a button button rifled barrel. And these rail road tracks will pick up a lot of copper.

Oy! Never saw a button rifled barrel that bad before.

 

[KMart]

Oy! Never saw a button rifled barrel that bad before.

Looks like a Savage factory barrel. They can be rough

 

[chop house]

if a bore was allowed to get rusty then cleaned thoroughly, fired some and cleaned again I doubt you'd be able to see anything but a shiny bore with just a flashlight.

i just today observed this: used deer rifle i knew had a pitted bore but still shot well enough (3/4" or so); hunted in miserable conditions all season without worrying about it; scoped it and thought i must be looking at the wrong rifle; iosso'd it just to be sure; shiny and looking good using the shop lighting; just as pitted as i remembered when i scoped it again.

the fouling actually hid some of the pitting (using scope) and the cleaning made it look better than it was (naked eye).

 

[Someoldguy]

Looks like a Savage factory barrel. They can be rough

I've owned a few Savages myself, and I admit I didn't own a scope to inspect them all, but . . . . Wow. The ones I have looked in weren't like THAT.

 

[KMart]

I've owned a few Savages myself, and I admit I didn't own a scope to inspect them all, but . . . . Wow. The ones I have looked in weren't like THAT.

One of the savage barrels I had showed radial as well as axial machine marks. Maybe not quite as bad as the one in the picture.

 

[msinc]

I've owned a few Savages myself, and I admit I didn't own a scope to inspect them all, but . . . . Wow. The ones I have looked in weren't like THAT.

That's too bad about Savage barrels...they weren't always like this. Never been a fan of Savage and only owned two in my life, but I have to give credit where it's due. The most accurate out of the box rifle I have ever had was a 112V in 223 back in the early 90's. It shot anything in the same hole at 100 yards. The bore was flawless and looked better than most custom barrels.
To the original question, you sometimes can see it, but a lot can stay hidden to the naked eye. Sellers often list bores as "dark" or "gray" or "smokey". That translates very simply to pitted pretty damn bad. But, that don't necessarily mean they wont still shoot. I have a Marlin 1893 Deluxe takedown that was made in 1905. The bore is "dark" to say the least. If scoped the entire surface of the inside looks like Swiss cheese!!! It shoots better than I can. On the bench it will shoot about 2" with the open buckhorn sights. The rifle is so nice on the outside I considered having it re-bored or finding a good barrel {just this side of impossible}, but it shoots too good. Kind of hard to forget about the bore from a visual standpoint, but again, it shoots too good.

 

[Rdlningcltchdmpr]

I have mausers with frosted bores , they shoot 1.25-1.5" groups at 100 yards. You just have to clean them properly then foul them a few shots. Good reloads are the key.

 

[dolek]

can you see it with a flashlight. A buddy buying a used rifle asked me, I didn’t know how to answer... what do you say?

A flashlight can work if held just right . I have used one in a pinch,the main thing that helps me is using a jeweler's loupe . Without good magnification it is really hard to tell. Running a rod/patch through it is not very accurate unless you have the bore fairly clean....there can be a lot of crunch in there that comes out after a good cleaning . Sometimes there is a nice bore under all that stuff,sometimes not.

 

[rogn]

Quite some time back. Made a light with a european dashlite bulb,It would pass a 6mm bore. Second hand Rem700V 243 looked OK until I shot and did a thorough cleaning. Dropped that light in there and it looked like 24" of bad road. Found a section of barrel that was fairly clear about 6" back from muzzle and hacksawed it off. Crowned it with a Wilson Chamfer tool and low and behold it would group 5 70gr MK into 3/8". Another barrel by an old maker in WV gave me a 7mm- 7X57 barrel that would keep about half of its groups in 1/2" at 200 yds for no more than 6 shots. It looked like it had been threaded 6.0-1.0mm at the muzzle. They did replace it.
Well lousy barrels can shoot at least for a while.

 

[theallcineyes]

My mauser have 2 or 3 marks similar to those you tell about, and I just leave them alone. They have no noticeable effect on my guns performance. (But I don't shoot that good, anyway the rifle shoots better than me). When I first spotted it I consulted a gunsmith, and he told me not to bother.

If the pittings are close to the mussle you could ask a gunsmith to cut off a few inches of your barrel.