Truth is, honing thins the barrels for their entire length, therefore weakening the whole barrel. If a barrel has good wall thickness outside of a pit it is probably quite strong. I'm reminded of a set of barrels W. Greener (the first) wrote about in his book, "The Gun". The owner of a very old gun wanted the barrels saved and a new gun built around them. The gunmaker noted and pointed out that the gun had pitted all the way through and there were several small holes where gas would jet out. But the owner was adament to keep them, believing them to be the best shooting barrels he had ever seen. The gunmaker relented and built him a new gun with the old barrels. The last Greener heard of them was much later and the gun had just continued shooting great. I guess the moral of this drivel is that a pit does not weaken the tube nearly as much as honing (thin walls). I've been on both sides of this issue several times with my own guns and have reached the conclusion to leave them as is unless there are other valid reasons to hone, such as increasing the choke, etc. Remember, honing will NOT make the barrel stronger!
