My new to me C. Sharps has pitting in the bore

[oneMOA]

Recently I purchased a C. Sharps in 45-70 off the internet against my better judgement. The seller is a AAA BPCR Silhouette shooter and I felt surely he would know how to take care of a BP rifle. So I buy the rifle and when it arrives an inspection of the bore with my borescope reveals pitting at the leade and decreasing toward the muzzle. The worst spot is partially in the chamber and extending into the bore and appears like a puddle of corrosive liquid about 1/2" wide x 1 1/4" long had dryed there. There is one other spot similar but smaller, a bit further up the bore and numerous pits about the size of a pin point. I have not shot this rifle as I have no sights for it. I have on order a MVA scope but it will be several more weeks before delivery.

My borescope has the "Side View" optic which gives a clear view of the bore with magnification and I have owned it for about 15 years and examined many barrels. Since I am new to BP shooting, my bore examining experience has been with smokeless guns. I am somewhat at a lose to judge the impact of the damage. Will this larger spot in the leade area at the end of the chamber cause shearing of the boolit as it passes over it to the extent that it causes leading? Will this have any effect on the performance of the rifle in your opinion?

The seller stated he shot a duplex load of Swiss 1.5 and Pyrodex RS. I spoke with C. Sharps about this and they suggested either JB Borepaste or shoot some jacketed bullets and see what that does to clear it up. It would seem to me that bore pitting would not be a common occurance amoung BP shooters, especially seasoned shooters, but maybe I'm wrong. It may be that if I were to examine the bores at a typical BPCR Silhouette match I would find pitting in most of the barrels, but I doubt it.

I am disappointed that a fellow BPCR shooter would take advantage of another shooter in this manner.

[Char-Gar]

Caveat Emptor..there are sharks in them waters! There is no group of people that has a lock on virtue, nor a ban on vice. It is naive to think that no BPCR shooter would bend over another BPCR shooter...very naive!

[rbertalotto]

I shoot BPCR and there are few folks that I would suggest have a better deportment.....

I'd contact the seller with your concerns and see if he will take it back. Or, I'd shoot it first with the understanding if it doesn't shoot, he'll take it back.

I have a couple rifles with nasty bores that shoot a house afire....In fact, I sold my borescope because it was affecting my shooting. Some of the barrels looked so bad I figured they simply couldn't shoot good and my scores went down!

I wouldn't do anything to the bore before I shot it. If he won't take it back....JB Bore Paste and a good elbow might just fix it up.

Good Luck!

[M-Tecs]

I have a couple rifles with nasty bores that shoot a house afire....In fact, I sold my borescope because it was affecting my shooting. Some of the barrels looked so bad I figured they simply couldn't shoot good and my scores went down!


I use my borescope a lot but the only real test is the target. Like rbertotto I have bores that how various defects with the borescope yet they shoot with the best barrels made. If you can’t see the pitting with the naked eye the seller may not be aware of the pitting.

[country gent]

Jacketed bullets or tight fitted paper Patched bullets may polish and clean up the rifleing its not going to do much for the spot in the chamber. I would shoot it first and if accuracy is acceptable then dont worry about it, other than to keep it from getting worse. If accuracy is sub standard to what you want or require then a break in with jacketed or tight fitted paper patched bullets may be in order. I would try a Paper patched bullet .001 over groove dia loaded out to the rifling the longer bullets patched to the start ( or just ahead of it) of the rifling. Fire 1 round and clean 10 times, then 2 rounds and clean 5 times, 3rds and clean 5 times. Then 5 round groups 5 times. This should allow the paper to polish the barrel up and smooth the nasty spots. You can check between series with the bore scope to see.

[Rifle 57]

+ 1 on the J-B bore paste.

[Dan Cash]

I doubt this seller is that much of a hot rod BPCR shooter using a duplex of Swiss and Pyrodex. It shows up in the fact that he did not use sufficient caution in cleaning after the Pyrodex. That stuff is like acid if not cleaned AND DRYED. Besides, the combination does not sound as though it would shoot well.

[fouronesix]

Caveat Emptor..there are sharks in them waters! There is no group of people that has a lock on virtue, nor a ban on vice. It is naive to think that no BPCR shooter would bend over another BPCR shooter...very naive!
^^ Sadly, very true!

If it does have that much corrosion, I'd sure try to send it back. If a person to person sale then not much can be done if he says, "tough".

You can try to smooth it but you can't put metal back and it will never be the same gun. If it is one of the C Sharps with a Badger barrel then that is a double shame- those were great barrels and none better. Even if the pits can smoothed and it shoots ok, it will be a real bugger to clean and to prevent future corrosion and you will never know the true potential. If you have to eat it as is, go ahead and try it, realizing it may be best at some time to send it back to C Sharps for a new barrel.

Dang.

[pworley1]

I second the suggestion to shoot it and see. I have a 135 year old rolling block with a dark pitted bore that is a great shooter.

[Don McDowell]

Shoot it and see how it does. You said the guy shoots AAA, that is no simple thing to do , and it sure won't happen with a rifle that has a bad barrel.

[bigted]

IF you decide to TRY that barrel then:


my suggestion is similar to others;

take straight "pure spirit of turpentine" and with a fairly loose fitting patch ... coat your bore with it till it is dripping ... allow this to set for 1/2 hour and with tight fitting patch's ... swab till dry. repeat till no color is found on any portion of your clean dry patch's'

i know ... you did not say anything about a fouled barrel ... bear with me as this treatment has brought back to life a couple barrels for me including an old roller in military form and an old 1888 trapdoor.

now take your brush [brass] and dip in the terp and scrub 20 times back n forth ... repeat with a newly dipped brush in the terp ... now take your dripping lose patch and soak that barrel again and repeat the first step till clean dry patch's come out.

repeat the bristles and terp followed by the patch's till no more color of any kind comes out with your bristling the bore.

now take your clean and dry barrel and anoint it with a healthy amount of pure ballistol. allow this to soak in for a couple hours to get the pure clean steel of your barrel ready for the final step ... now clean the barrel with dry patches and set aside.

patch up around 50 paper patched boolits [follow the requirements in the SMOKELESS patching section] ... that will be a tight fit and load em in cases with 10 grains of Unique powder ... no filler ... after each 10 shot run your clean dry patch thru the bore till they are as white as when you shoved em into the barrel

after all 50 loads have been run ... {paying little or no attention to accuracy} ... clean like above with the terp and when finished ... load some cases for accuracy using your favorite load.

if still no joy then run another 50 of the light paperpatched boolits thru her again. this should shine the pits and uneven stuff out very nicely and make a shooter out of a pigs ear barrel.

if this does no good then the re-barrel should be thought out. i personally would try to heal your barrel first before trying any replacement ... that is if you are in love with the rifle.

[oneMOA]

Thanks to all who have responded,

The barrel on this rifle is a Green Mountain and you need to see my other thread for my comments on that subject. In speaking with C. Sharps the cost to replace my GM barrel with another GM barrel is about $800 shipping and all. So far the seller has ignored my emails and will not answer my phone calls. I plan to shoot this rifle once the MVA scope arrives in a couple of weeks. I will reserve judgement on the accuracy of this rifle until then. The seller avoiding my phone calls and no response to my emails does not give me confidence this rifle is a "Shooter" more likely a t*** waiting for a sucker which I guess is me.

I have bought and sold many guns from the internet over the years and, of course, these purchases are "Sight Unseen". I send the money and the seller ships the gun upon receipt of said funds. Many such transactions occur each and every day and for the most part the buyer relies on judgement, faith in fellow man, gut feeling, and always a phone converation with the seller about the sale. In the end the buyer sends the money and hopes it all turns out good.

[Don McDowell]

If it's a Green Mountain barrel and marked C Sharps , it's fairly recent, and I would think CSA would be a bit more responsive.. If it's not a CSA marked barrel, then that's not an unusual thing to find with off the shelf GM barrels. I have a rolling block barreled with a GM barrel and the thing leaded from the first shot, a reputable gun builder looked at it and said, that's a GM barrel...

[slumlord44]

I would not be so quick to condemn the seller. You have a borescope. I doubt that the seller has one as most shooters don't. I have a lot of guns and don't own a borescope. The borescope shows a lot of evils that a bore light will not. Good advice here. I would talk to the seller first and with his ok, shoot it and see how it does. I have a lot of old single shots with less than pristine bores that shoot very well.