Rust repair techniques

[mnshortdraw]

So, I just acquired an Anschutz 141m rifle made back in 1965. The rifle was neglected for a number of years and most of the bluing is gone. There is some light pitting on the barrel, but the bore is in quite good shape. The muzzle is the real issue that makes me unable to decide how to proceed. Around and in front of the front sight it has some fairly heavy pitting. I know the most common way of tackling this is to draw file out the pits and re-blue but am wondering if there's a more cost efficient method. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the barreled action chucked up in a lathe and turn down the muzzle, or perhaps just cut and re-crown? Why does everyone insist on hand filing when a machine could do it more precisely and I'm assuming quicker with a more precise result? My intentions are to remove the dovetail sights and use an optic for a fox calling rifle, as the 22 mag is a good caliber for that. I plan on doing the metal finishing. I am a certified Cerakote applicator and while it's kind of disgraceful to coat a nice old German rifle, the collector value is gone already anyway. Thoughts or insights are appreciated, and feel free to recommend a shop who could do the work for me.

 

[jonbearman]

I agree, have it turned down or off and have the machinist recut the dovetail if you would in the future want the iron sights back on for some reason.The collector value is definitely gone being rusted that bad so cera coating makes the best sense.

 

[shortgrass]

Did you look at the bore using a bore scope? If the rust is that bad on the outside it's usually that bad on the inside!