Almost all of my shotguns have mirror clean barrels, either because some one has kept them clean over the years or because somebody else had'em back-bored or honed&polished to clean up the pitting before I got them. Some of my guns have pretty thin minimum barrel thickness to show for being honed.
I have one old damascus Scott hammer-gun that is in good shape other than the for the bores being rather heavily pitted. I have shot it for a number of years with 'vintager' type loads and enjoy shooting the gun. I see no evidence that the gun has been previously honed, and the pitting looks old. I have kept it clean by burnishing the interior of the barrels regularly with a drill-turned bronze brush wrapped with 4 ought steel wool saturated in oil, and believe all the rust in the pitts is 'dead'.However, I know there is a possibility that some of those pitts do still harbor active rust, and that back-boring and polishing to remove the pitting would solve the rust question, make the gun look better, and it would be easier to clean the barrels. It would certainly improve the 'sale-ability'.
I also know that removing a few thousanths of steel will not make the barrels any stronger than they are now. My questions are: Should we be honing these old damascus barrels just for the sake of "pretty", or shooting them as they are (if in 'safe' enough condition, I know a pure judgement call) despite the pitting? Is there any appreciable pressure peak in the pitted areas that would cause special danger? Is the hoop strength of the barrels improved by haveing the bores smooth rather than pitted? What is your opinion of the minimum barrel thickness to which damascus barrels shoud be honed?...Geo
