doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Damascus Pits

Either one Franc

Shooting Simplified, James Dalziel Dougall, 1865
There are various kinds of flaws in barrels�what are technically termed �grays.� They are those little specks in the iron�from rust showing more upon them than upon the smoother surface.

The Gun, W.W. Greener 8th Edition, 1907
The numerous twistings and weldings of gun-iron rods and ribands are fully detailed�and it must have occurred to the reader that the Damascus barrel is one mass of welds from breech to muzzle. This is so. Unfortunately a certain amount of burnt metal, or scale, is imbedded within some of the welds, and in the finished barrel this fragment of scale forms a �grey��which will not colour in harmony with the other part of the barrel, but is made more apparent by the finishing processes of polishing and browning. These �greys� may appear some time after the gun has been in use, the hard metal composing the barrel being eaten into by rust�They are developed in the inside by the chemical action of powder gases, and are almost ineradicable. The harder the Damascus the greater the liability to �greys��

They are a cosmetic flaw, but not felt to be a safety issue

And greys don't turn into pits on the inside of the barrel ?


A pit is liken to a cavity in your tooth that can't be fixed. A pits growth might be slowed down with oils but can never be stopped from growing.

Dr.jOe

I took a chance on a Clearview Engineering Borescope for a gun show tool. Simple, cheap and surprisingly gives excellent clarity. I still have normal near vision and the instructions suggest trying the scope with and without glasses if needing readers.
For me, the focal point is only about 2" from the end of the 8" tube, but that would still allow detailed examination of the chamber/cone/about 7" of proximal barrel and 10" at the muzzle. Obviously it moves freely in a 12g barrel and you can almost get a 3-D sense of the pits
https://4570products.info/Clearview-Brass-Bore-Scope-16.htm