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Is this a common thing on some military rifles? I have 03A3 that the bbl is what I call frosted the full length. One does not hardly see it when looking down the bbl, but when you run a patch you can feel it the full distance. The rifle is one very accurate shooter. The fella I got it from told me the Lyman 311335 was the best shooting bullet , he wasn't kidding. The bore is excellent, except for this "frosting".
bob
This is what you get with exposure to the corrosive priming compounds of the day, coupled with failure to properly neutralize and clean immediately afterwards. It is, in fact, pitting from rust, and like all things rust related, the severity can range from cute freckles to full-on melanoma. If the overall dimensions remain sound, it won't necessarily affect how the gun shoots - just probably make it a little more laborious to clean.
I've seen one pic from WWI of a British cleaning station that was basically an elaborate funnel with an end spigot that was probably a cut off .303 case. The deal was you'd show up, plug the funnel into you chamber, and have a buddy pour boiling water down the barrel to take out the corrosive salts. This was in a trench, in the middle of a shooting war. Little wonder you see a lot of ugly ones.
Could be badly copper fouled too....can look like frosty bore.
ahunt.as long as it's shooting well don't worry about it. Just keep shooting it and enjoy. I have a couple milsurp rifles with "frosted" barrels that shoot jacketed and cast just fine.
I had a Model 1917 that had a slightly pitted bore and it shot just fine. I didn't tell it that it was not suppose to shoot well with its pitted bore and it didn't know any better. It actually shot better after a little use than it did the day I bought it. I think the shooting smoothed the bore out a little but that is just supposing on my part. I don't give up on frosted or lightly pitted bores very easy these days. I like the old military stuff and it is a lot of fun to get one to shoot better than it is "suppose" to. my way anyway, james
Correct on the part of taking longer to get the bore clean. There is no copper fouling in the bore, got that removed when I first got the rifle. TNsailorman, I haven't told my rifle it shouldn't shoot as good as it does. I wonder at times what a "exc" bbl would do. When I first got it I could not get it to shoot to what I expected. The day before I was going to a gun show to sell it, I tried a different load and bullet mix. Ten shots in .96" at 100yds- I changed my mind on selling. That was close, would have lost a jewel of a rifle. Shot in a postal that was 16 targets at 100 yds, 5 shot groups. Aggs. of the 16 targets was 1.18". Only sharing this, not to brag, but what this rifle with its' "rough" bore will do.
bob
I agree Warden, barrels can sometimes surprise, both what they will do and what they won't. james
Tests run in the 1840's and repeated in the early 20th century proved that very lightly pitted bores usually allowed higher velocities and better accuracy than new highly finished bores when cast boolits were used.
Tiny pits trap beads of lubricants and these tiny beads will under pressure act like microscopic ball bearings. Something like a well seasoned iron skillet.