Barrel damage?

[Hahndorf1874]

G,day
Need some help, a dear fellow BP shooter passed,at his wake his non BP friends fired his 40/72 FBW as a mark of respect,did not clean it and stored it ,it is a ss barrel.On inspection a white powder came out on a mop when passed through the barrel. Haven’t had a chance to clean fully as it is with a dealer.? Would the barrel be toast after such action? I know a chrome moly would be!!

Cheers Mal in au.

[country gent]

Most Stainless steels are corrosion resistant not prof. They will still corrode sometimes in different ways than chrome moly. I doubt the uncleaned storage ( this also depends on bullet lubes fouling and conditions) did it any good.

The best would be a good cleaning and then look in the barrel ( preferably with a bore scope) . check chamber, throat, leade, and barrel.

Most gun shops clean and inspect a used gun when it comes in. All of them here in my area will allow inspection most will allow me to bring in my bore scope or loan me theirs. Especially on high wear rifles, know throat burner cartridges, black powder, rifles that could be high round count guns.

[Hahndorf1874]

Yes they will clean and check it out, I did not post this to be critical of their actions ,those not familiar with BP and it’s corrosive properties can be forgiven.It was a nice gesture to fire the rifle in his memory. Cheers .Mal.

[Hahndorf1874]

All good ,barrel cleaned and checked with bore scope . My mate will purchase the rifle,we are looking forward to seeing it on the range very soon,it is set up for PP.cheers Mal in au.

[Moleman-]

Have a SS ML with a severely pitted barrel that a previous owner didn't clean. Got it cheap enough that it's going to get rebarreled although it mostly shoots ok but throws fliers that I'm guessing is caused by the rough chamber area chewing up the sabot.