doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How much pitting is acceptable?

I've got an older (100 years) shotgun that has some minor to medium pitting in the bore. It could be worse than medium, as I don't have any frame of reference. While it doesn't seem to greatly affect the pattering, it's at least annoying. I gotta have a mirror bore. I think.

I'm debating whether to hone the bores and polish them. I wonder how absolutely necessary it is to have two pristine bores looking back at me when I break it open.

Thoughts and reccomendations would be welcome.

You didn't mention gun name. The British gun barrels seem to be thin compared to ours. I would definitely have the barrels wall thickness checked first before honing.
I also have a few over 100 that have some pitting, not nice to see, but it will stay there while I own them. I just make sure that I use a bore brush and clean thoroughly after use.

It's a Husqvarna Model 15. Not got a lot of money in it, it's a 16 ga. (which is rapidly becoming a favorite bore.) I've never thought that by honing a barrel you reduce the longivity, as you've got weak points anyway in the pitting. Got a LeFechaux action, and locks up tight. It's worth investing the cost of a hone/polishing tip, but is it wise to do it? Not awful, just not perfect.

It's mainly a thing with me, as I hate to look down the bore and see it's kind of rough, although shiny for most of the length. I'TS DRIVING ME CRAZY!

Some say that as long as the pitting is in there, the rust is still eating away at your barrels at the bottom of every pit. I don't believe that and I think I've killed the rust in my damascus sewer pipe barreled 1887 W&C Scott hammergun. I shoot it with 'vintager' type shells and hope for the best.

One day though, I'm sure I'll break down and sent it to Steve Bertram or Mike Orlen to measure and cut out the pits if there's enough barrel thickness to do it. If you do that, be sure to have the chokes recut to whatever you want to match the new bore diameter. One thing's for sure, removing metal from a pitted damascus bore is not going to make it any stronger...Geo

It's not a damascus, it's fluid steel.

All of the LeFechaux action Husqvarna hammer doubles have rather thick barrel walls. My 12bore M15 has nearly pristine bores and did have them when I bought it (it has been heavily used with BP, Pyrodex and H777 loads for about a decade). A M20 and a M17 have rather pitted bores, as does a very heavily used (by us) M51. I do generally stick to sub 10K psi loads with 24 or 28 grams of shot.

Neither clays or feathered birds or patterning boards ever seem to become aware they were shot by pitted bores.

All I have ever done to these bores was to "smooth" them with 400 or 600 grit oil-wet emery paper, making it easier to scrub crud from the pits and to remove as much hard crud and rust as possible.

SOP for these guns is to spray some Rem Oil in each bore and stand barrels in corner and let oil coat entire bores. This does raise a fair amount of crud from pits and, I presume, penetrates into the pitts. At least, I never have been able to notice additional pitting during the many years I have used.

One can always become a "pitt snob", claiming that those pitts retard the wads just enough to give superior patterns.

Niklas

There have been some good comments to your legitimate question. No one can give you a hard and fast "go no go" rule. However, it is only logical that a honed bore is theoretically weaker than one that is original and has a few pits. The real question for you to answer is how deep are they and where are they. If they're deep and near the chamber it is something to be concerned about, especially if the barrel walls are a bit thin. If they're way up towards the muzzle it's usually not much of a risk. Strongly suggest you have a good double gun specialist give it a close examination.

Doesn't matter...Geo

Get the walls checked. A good gunsmith will then tell you if it's worth honing out a bit. This is the sort of thing I leave to the experts. Don't mess with barrels. You'll feel much safer/better the moment they give you the results which are normally it's fine..

T

Get the walls checked. A good gunsmith will then tell you if it's worth honing out a bit. This is the sort of thing I leave to the experts. Don't mess with barrels. You'll feel much safer/better the moment they give you the results which are normally it's fine..

T