Barrel pitting ???

[pyscodog]

From a previous post, I've been helping a friend with his Rem. 760 30/06. It is having a major accuracy problem. I finally got him to remove the barrel and I had it recrowned yesterday. The gunsmith notice quite a bit of pitting in the barrel. He said the rifleing was good and sharp and no signs of being shot out, but some pitting through out the bore. How much will this effect the accuracy of this rifle? Its strictly a hunting rifle. The only bench time this rifle will see is pre-season sight in.
Thanks pyscodog

 

[tunered]

One of the most accurate guns i ever shot was a 6mm rem 700 that was pitted from chamber to crown, as long as there are no high pressure signs it will be fine. ed

 

[hm1996]

Only way to tell is to shoot it and see.

Usually, light pitting will not hurt accuracy enough to be a problem in a hunting rifle. The biggest problem is copper fouling, which will be much greater with a pitted bore. A good cleaning before putting it away for the season would be in order to prevent further pitting between seasons.

Regards,
hm

 

[Martyn4802]

Originally Posted By: hm1996Only way to tell is to shoot it and see.

+1
I bought a Rem 722 in 222 Mag about a year ago, from a distant seller. When I got rifle, I saw pitting in the last 6" of the bore, at the muzzle end. Before I blew a head gasket(Seller never mentiond the pitting, in fact he lied to me as I asked him specifically what condition the barrel was in.), I took it to the range where it shot two consecutive 5 shot, half inch groups at 100 yards. I kept my mouth shut about the pitting.

 

[dan newberry]

Pitting occurs because condensation is allowed to build up in the bore, and rust sets in.

Many folks believe that carbon and/or copper fouling cause rust and pitting, but I've contacted some pretty knowledgeable people on that matter and it's really not the fouling--it's the moisture build up.

Some have written that electrolysis can occur between the copper layer and the steel, causing steel molecules from the barrel to migrate to the copper under certain conditions. This seems to have been mere conjecture, not actual science, and appears to be wrong.

What you can find is (as was mentioned earlier) copper will slough off more heavily in a bore that is already pitted, then, when someone finally cleans out the copper with an aggressive ammonia based chemical... voila... we find pits under the copper. But the copper did not make those pits--if it did, you should expect to always find pits under coppered up barrels which have not been cleaned for years. But the truth is, you generally don't. So when you do find pits under the copper, it's guilt by association; not the copper's fault.

Of course another major cause of pitting is when someone shoots corrosive primer ammo and doesn't clean with hot, soapy water followed by a good oil.

If you'll keep a good solvent/lubricant in the bore such as Hoppes number 9, or Kroil works well... you'll never have a problem with rust.

Dan