Removing Bore Pits at home? Any possible ways?

[Kev18]

I have alot of pits in my 1886. Was wondering if people had any way of buffing them out or slightly improving bore condition. It shoots good I was just wondering. The rifle if the vintage models made in 1888 with the light rifling.

[Tatume]

Give it a good cleaning and keep it oiled with a rust preventative so the pits don't worsen. If it shoots well, it's is unlikely that you will improve the performance with home remedies for the pitting.

[Hannibal]

Rust pits. The only way to remove them is to remove the surrounding metal until all surfaces are level.

What good could you possibly accomplish if the rifle shoots to your satisfaction?

And if it does not, odds are nil that you will make it better.

[ShooterAZ]

I don't know of a way to remove the pits without removing metal. Firing a few paper patched boolits through it will smooth the bore though. Might could try that. If it shoots good, I'd just keep shooting it and not worry about it.

[ncbearman]

I don't know of a way to remove the pits without removing metal. Firing a few paper patched boolits through it will smooth the bore though. Might could try that. If it shoots good, I'd just keep shooting it and not worry about it.

This is an interesting statement. Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic. Just inquisitive. How would paper patch smooth a bore. Thanks.

[merlin101]

This is an interesting statement. Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic. Just inquisitive. How would paper patch smooth a bore. Thanks.

Same as how water wears down rock, after millions of years/shots?

[ncbearman]

Same as how water wears down rock, after millions of years/shots?

[reivertom]

Not short of a reaming and re-line or re-boring it. Just shoot it and have fun, if it shoots OK, and try to keep it as clean as possible.

[Tripplebeards]

Have it overbored

[Texas by God]

Shoot the snot out of it and enjoy the ride.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Reverend Al]

Another option if you just want to reduce a bit of the pitting without destroying the bore that is left would be "fire lapping".

https://www.btibrands.com/wp-content...structions.pdf

[ShooterAZ]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...a-rough-barrel

[Hannibal]

I guess it all depends upon your level of expectation.

To Kev18 - what do you plan to do with this rifle?

[indian joe]

Rust pits. The only way to remove them is to remove the surrounding metal until all surfaces are level.

What good could you possibly accomplish if the rifle shoots to your satisfaction?

And if it does not, odds are nil that you will make it better.

Nah!! if it dont shoot good odds are 100% that you can make it better ---get an old brass brush and wrap it tight with steel wool - needs to be a jam fit - tight as you can get - takes a couple of tries and some extra wrap - then wet it down with -------- (probably any fine polishing compound would work - brasso - I used jewellers rouge on a couple) - and have at it - polishing the bore of these old part rusted guns - the improvement will amaze you - you wont remove the pits and the barrel will always foul out quicker with blackpowder than a new one, but you can get something that looks stuffed back to a good shooter - second part of the deal is slug the bore and make sure the boolit fits - lots of these old guns had oversize bores and need a boolit that fits right. I even did this trick on a shot out 22/250 barrel and got it back shooting (throat erosion at about 4000 rounds). If it wont shoot ya got nothin to lose.

[Hannibal]

Nah!! if it dont shoot good odds are 100% that you can make it better ---get an old brass brush and wrap it tight with steel wool - needs to be a jam fit - tight as you can get - takes a couple of tries and some extra wrap - then wet it down with -------- (probably any fine polishing compound would work - brasso - I used jewellers rouge on a couple) - and have at it - polishing the bore of these old part rusted guns - the improvement will amaze you - you wont remove the pits and the barrel will always foul out quicker with blackpowder than a new one, but you can get something that looks stuffed back to a good shooter - second part of the deal is slug the bore and make sure the boolit fits - lots of these old guns had oversize bores and need a boolit that fits right. I even did this trick on a shot out 22/250 barrel and got it back shooting (throat erosion at about 4000 rounds). If it wont shoot ya got nothin to lose.

Your last sentence makes my entire point.

If you shoot the doggone thing 500 times trying to find the 'Majik Bullet' then yeah, you're likely to shoot it a bit better than you did 500 rounds ago.

It is what it is.

[OverMax]

Old rifle not well taken care of_w/ "Bore pitting"
130 years of wear & tare. _Seldom is there a cure all for a pitted barrel. Only one sure way I know to resolve. Have your rifle barrel re-lined by a competent GunSmith.

[Hannibal]

Old rifle not well taken care of_w/ "Bore pitting"
130 years of wear & tare. _Seldom is there a cure all for a pitted barrel. Only one sure way I know to resolve. Have your rifle barrel re-lined by a competent GunSmith.

Good advice here. ^

This? Not so much.

[Uncle Grinch]

I remember reading an article years ago about a product (paste ?) that you pushed through a cleaned pitted bore that filled the pits. It was then allowed to setup and harden. It gave a temporary smooth bore. Not sure how long it lasted.

Now understand, this was many years ago... I’m 70 now and have been reading and following guns since I was a pre-teen.

[country gent]

The paper patched bullet will polish the barrel slowly the paper used is slightly abrasive at 2000-2500 grit. It will polish the bore to a mirror finish and remove sharp edges on the pits some. May help or may not. Its a long process to do much with it. Hand lapping can be done and this may or may not help again it depends on the bore how deep the pots are and what you want to accomplish. Pits .003 deep will open groove dia up .006 since it will take the .003 off everywhere in the bore. One plus to lapping the bore is you can lap a taper into the bore even.

The first thing to do is get a good look in the bore with a bore scope and determine how deep the pots are and how big they are. Next is to determine where they are located in front of chamber, mid bore or muzzle? Last is to slug bore and see what you have to work with older barrels varied some so a tight bore might give you some room to work but a larger oversized detracts from what you can do.

[bigted]

This is an interesting statement. Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic. Just inquisitive. How would paper patch smooth a bore. Thanks.

Paper comes in a variety of makes and abrasiveness. [Like that word?] Some paper has a high clay content and some is pretty mild with rag content instead of clay. The clay paper will be pretty abrasive on the barrel metal ... most especially an old 100 year old or older barrel. I would get something like onion skin paper from Buffallo Arms or some high rag content from a office supply store. I would wrap the boolits to groove diameter and shoot em fairly slow with a bit of Trail Boss. Around 100 of these will shine the crud outta your barrel. If not enough run another 100 through her.

You may like em well enough to run em from now on.

If this is of intetest , i would go to the section for paper patching and determine if you want to work with smokeless or black powder ... different approach to the loading and size differences between smokeless and black.