Best bullet for use in pitted bore

[chop house]

Speaking of hunting style bullets. Flat base or boat tail. Cannelure or no. Manufacturer. Jacket hardness. Cup and core or solid.

And while we are on it, seating depth. 'Jam' start or 'smooth' running start.

Then there is the bore itself. Frequent cleaning or let the pits fill in.

 

[SeabeeKen]

I have an old 22 RF that has a pitted bore. Its a tack driver. The pits should fill in with carbon and copper. Just shoot it and see if its accurate.
Jacketed bullets are slightly harder than copper solids. As for the rest of it, just pick one and go hunt

 

[Oso]

Pitted - Do you mean this barrel has experienced corrosion or you have a factory barrel (crap low quality) that has rough uneven finish with small voids, craters, and other anomalies throughout the bore?

How does it shoot? If you’re shooting within 300yards then flat base serves you better, but your barrel will tell you what it likes. If this is a plinker or 22lr and it shoots fine then don’t over-think it. If you want greater / more consistent accuracy then consider selling it or rebarreling it with quality barrel. You just have to decide what your needs/expectations are for the rifle and then decide if it can live up to them with existing barrel, and potentially how much time &/or money you want to spend fixing it.

I have a factory Rem700 with the bore of the barrel looks like a lunar landscapes. There were craters and voids along the bore, inside the groves and even the shoulder of the bore and where grooves formed… basically no surface was smooth, straight, or consistent. A few hundred rounds later a lot of this has been smoothed out and some copper has filled in some of the worst spots.

From the onset I intentionally chose the hard road to test some things out. I decided to make this rifle a project. Otherwise, for the amount of time and money spent testing and playing with this it would have been easier to rebarrel it. Another owner might not even have noticed any issues and been happy with its performance.

 

[chop house]

Sorry, was thinking center-fire, but appreciate all info including rimfire.

I am not trying to solve for a specific rifle. I was fishing for anecdotal evidence to be applied as a general rule, to increase the knowledge base.

Things like 'jacketed are harder than solids' and 'copper has filled in the worst spots'.

 

[Doom]

Speaking of hunting style bullets. Flat base or boat tail. Cannelure or no. Manufacturer. Jacket hardness. Cup and core or solid.

And while we are on it, seating depth. 'Jam' start or 'smooth' running start.

Then there is the bore itself. Frequent cleaning or let the pits fill in.

Not sure how many questions you are asking here but as for a pitted bore the issue depends on what you mean. If the issue is pitting corrosion, basically holes/voids below the surface of the bore/land then this is best handled by allowing copper to build up in the voids and then leaving it there when cleaning. Unfortunately if it is pitting corrosion there is little that can be done to arrest it and it will continue to corrode. Similar handling works for machining imperfections.

 

[chop house]

From the onset I intentionally chose the hard road to test some things out. I decided to make this rifle a project. Otherwise, for the amount of time and money spent testing and playing with this it would have been easier to rebarrel it.

So, summarizing, and as doom just posted also, wear it smooth without abrasives and don't strip the copper out?

I am still curious as to bullet design.

 

[Doom]

As for the rest of your question if we are dealing with pits (below surface imperfections) those things don't matter much. If the imperfections are above the surface then some will come into play.

 

[chop house]

Unfortunately if it is pitting corrosion there is little that can be done to arrest it and it will continue to corrode.

Because moisture and fouling gets trapped under the deposited copper?

 

[Oso]

It really depends on what you want to do with this rifle. What cartridge is it chambered in and what distances are you planning to use it at?

 

[AckleymanII]

My neighbor has a 303 British Enfield that is sporterized. The rifle shoots 1" groups when clean, with a very pitted bore. As the copper accumulates, the accuracy is GONE! So, for this particular barrel, a de-coppering every 30 rounds or so is what keeps the barrel shooting tight. He shoots std hornady bullets in the barrel.

Back in the mid-80s, a friend had a Styer 6 Remington. We were making a solution to get the copper out of the barrel using ammonia, called "blue Goop". Well, he had access to printers Amonia, which is very strong, and he pitted that Styer barrel from front to back. He sent the rifle back to Germany for a new barrel, and they sent him a target that stated that it was within spec. Boy, was he upset.

Be careful with the old barrel with ammonia products, I prefer using JB on tight-fitting punch-type of jags.

 

[chop house]

Not sure how many questions you are asking here

The question of loading off the lands was to see if anyone detected differences attributed to, perhaps, bullet deformation, bore sealing, and gas cutting,

 

[chop house]

It really depends on what you want to do with this rifle. What cartridge is it chambered in and what distances are you planning to use it at?

I am not trying to solve for a specific rifle.

 

[chop house]

We were making a solution to get the copper out of the barrel using ammonia, called "blue Goop".

Do you recall the electrolysis systems?

 

[AckleymanII]

Yes, I had one. If the rod touches the barrel, the barrel will be etched in that spot. I don't have the patience for that system not to mention the Risk/Reward is an issue.

 

[chop house]

Yes, I had one. If the rod touches the barrel, the barrel will be etched in that spot. I don't have the patience for that system not to mention the Risk/Reward is an issue.

I think I still have the solution but never bought the system. Was going to make my own with 3/16 rod, o-rings, test tube stopper, and a lab power supply. I chickened out. You just made me glad I did...

 

[JFrank]

Sorry, was thinking center-fire, but appreciate all info including rimfire.

I am not trying to solve for a specific rifle. I was fishing for anecdotal evidence to be applied as a general rule, to increase the knowledge base.

Things like 'jacketed are harder than solids' and 'copper has filled in the worst spots'.

I have a pitted barrel on my 30-06 I’m recently started wok in with so when I get it figured out I’ll report back.
In the meantime I’m looking for some pitted bullets in a 165 gr.

 

[chop house]

In the meantime I’m looking for some pitted bullets in a 165 gr.

Too pristine I bet.

 

[Oso]

Big difference between pitting in rimfire or even lever action shooting lead versus shooting long range using boat tail bullets. Lead bullets are made to squish and conform to/into the grooves so probably don’t notice the pitting as much.

I suspect that bullets with more bearing surface will do better than boattail bullets with less bearing surface. Typically, higher BC bullets have less bearing surface … just spit balling… probably more susceptible to effects of pitted barrel as compared to squattier flat based bullets.

End of day it’s all conjecture… every barrel and degree of corrosion is gun specific so each may act differently. Go do some testing of different bullets. Added benefit is first hundred rounds should polish up that barrel pretty good.

 

[old codger]

A long as the rifle shoots good ignore the pitting. Just clean the barrel when the accuracy falls off and do not try to clean it to bare steel. Do not be surprised that the gun might require some fouling shots before it settles down. I have a Remington Model 788 in 223 that has a bore that looks like a sewer pipe. The gun shoots 1/2 to 3/4 inch groups when I do my part. Every time I scope the bore I think I should have a new barrel installed, but every time it nails a crow at 250 yards I say what the heck, it shoots so leave it alone. I have never noticed that the base of the bullet (flat or boat tailed) makes much difference.

 

[Doom]

Because moisture and fouling gets trapped under the deposited copper?

Yes.

As for the other issues I think when it come to looking at barrels that shoot well with a horoscope is akin to dreaming up problems that often don't exist. To make matters worse there is no database that I'm aware of that documents quantitative evaluation of barrel defects. Where a boroscope examination really helps is in monitoring the changes as the barrel is used. This can really work well when starting with a new barrel or when evaluating a cleaning cycle.

The barrel manufacturers have experience and know how machining issues show up but barrels in service are going to show issues because that is the nature of the beast.