Smooth or pitted rifled barrel?

[Sasquatch-1]

I have a flint lock pistol that I picked up at a pawn shop cheap. When I got it home I ran a wire brush down the barrel and was greeted with a cloud of rust. I cleaned as well as I could and cannot get any accuracy out of it. I am thinking about having a friend ream out the barrel and turn it into a smooth bore. This is not a quality gun to begin with. It was made in Japan and does not have a manufacturer marked on it.

Any opinions?

[triggerhappy243]

oil and 4-0 steel wool. for starters. scrub the poop out of it. see if it improves.

[mooman76]

Most MLs are more forgiving when it comes to rust and pitting that regular guns partially due to the deep rifling. How bad does it look after cleaning? Have you tried lapping the barrel? More details would help.

[Maven]

"This is not a quality gun to begin with. It was made in Japan and does not have a manufacturer marked on it."

Sasquatch, Since you've nothing to lose, why not plug the nipple or touch hole and simply fill the bbl. with EvapoRust or Naval Jelly (follow the directions, of course). You can then "polish" the bbl. with 0000 steel wool on a jag or some such thing...if it's necessary. Btw, given that the gun was made in Japan, there's a chance [some of] it was made by Miroku, which ain't exactly junk.

[mooman76]

If you have removed the rust, the barrel could be rough in which case it would tear up patches and if it is tearing up patches, it likely would not shoot well at all. It would need to be smoothed out some from shooting allot or lapping the barrel some. Examine the fired patches, they will tell you allot.

[Sasquatch-1]

I think I have gotten all the rust out. I have run my endoscope down the barrel and there is a portion that seems very rough. I have some valve grinding compound, so I might try some of that and see what happens.

I have been shooting it and the groups seem to be coming together a bit. I now have them where almost all end up on the backer (at 25 yds.) somewhere and have had some tight 3 round groups though they were not to point of aim.



Sasquatch, Since you've nothing to lose, why not plug the nipple or touch hole and simply fill the bbl. with EvapoRust or Naval Jelly (follow the directions, of course). You can then "polish" the bbl. with 0000 steel wool on a jag or some such thing...if it's necessary. Btw, given that the gun was made in Japan, there's a chance [some of] it was made by Miroku, which ain't exactly junk.