RX for Frosted Lands?

[Peter Laidler]

To be honest, we/the crunchies were pretty brutal to the point of ruthless in our cleaning regime especially with machine gun barrels to the extent of using hardened steel* wire gauze to scrub them until they were shining....... But their barrel life was a speedy 10,000 rounds or so - or less if the gun or SF crews were using up the remaining ammo on a Friday afternoon.......

But the rifle barrels weren't subject to such harsh treatment. They remained good until the end all with a strict(?) supervised cleaning regime for several days afterwards. That's my experience. And the barrels lasted until the gauges or range tests said '....no more'

* don't believe it? Just take a new piece and look at the blue hardening and quenching colour around the edges

[Ridolpho]

Given how easy it is to squint down the bore for a look-see it's not hard to understand why we fixate on bore condition. Strange how I have several rifles with mirror perfect bores that won't shoot even up to my own limited ability. As we all know, of equal importance are quality of bedding, quality of trigger, quality of ammo, and our own talent or ability with the particular sights fitted. I had a real eye-opener recently with a P14 with moderately pitted and dark bore. In its "original" much abused Eddystone "fatboy" stock it was consistently good for 4 inch groups at 100 yards. As a project I carefully conventionally bedded the barreled action in a new condition Model 1917 stock and, for fun, installed a Parker Hale sight. After bore-sighting and getting it zeroed out at the farm, I took it to the range to try to see just how good it could shoot- even planning to put it on the "lead sled" to take some of my bad shooting out of the equation. To get started I shot two 5 shot groups with handloads and commercial on the bench with left hand on sandbag. After retrieving the target I put the rifle away- two excellent groups with the handloaded group having 4 shots in 0.90inch. This is as good as my ageing eyeballs can shoot with aperture sights. My point is- if I was selling this rifle I would describe the bore (qualitatively) as: fair, with strong rifling but dark grooves and lightly to moderately pitted lands. So, I would strongly suggest checking and rectifying all other variables before attempting to polish out bore imperfections.

Ridolpho

[Frederick303]

Mike 16, Exactly what was BS in my post or other posts, I did not know I had that reputation.

[Brian Dick]

There are many who simply have a problem with the cosmetics of a pitted barrel. The same goes for stock patches, import marks, etc, etc. I've been selling surplus military rifles for many years and I've dealt with, (or not in some cases), all of them. The gauges don't lie and the proof is in the pudding on the target at the range.

[CINDERS]

Before and after cleaning on my sniper T ~ Lede then bore in both cases the rifle shoots well so I just clean it and do not worry about the bore cam anymore

[Richard Hare]

Cinders,

I think those bore -cams will have been the death of a good few barrels that still shot perfectly well. We do tend to get far too worried about them after seeing such pictures!

Yes, a rough bore may need another patch or two at cleaning time, but many can still shoot better than us blokes behind the trigger.
(Maybe we sometimes need an Excuse for our crappy shooting!!)

Cheers,
R.

[browningautorifle]

I'm one eluded to by Brian, I love a shiny bore as a collector... I've shot ratty bores and they work fine if they are tight enough. I have a '94 Winchester rifle that shoots marvelously but can't really be cleaned completely...probably from corrosive primers somewhere back in 1906 when it started... It outshoots my 760 Remington in .308...

[Brian Dick]

I'm not trying to be too critical Jim. I think we ALL prefer a bright, shiny barrel, nice finish and minimal handling marks when it comes to shelling out hard earned money for collector's pieces. Unfortunately, it's just not reality, especially when dealing with rifles that have been carried, used and worked on by the militaries of the world. For instance, I have a 1950 Long Branch for sale here that has the classic "frosted" bore throughout. It's seen a humid environment and the nose cap and buttplate also have some pitting present. The forend also has an Armourer's patch below the rear sight on the right hand side where there was a huge gouge. I also have an excellent 1945 Long Branch for sale that's near new condition inside and out. Both pass MoD gauging standards with flying colors and have been tuned and serviced by myself. I test fired both and the one with the pitted barrel actually shoots better than the one with the excellent tube! Go figure. I shot several 2.5" groups at 100 yards off the bench with it after a ragged hole check fire at 25 yds using Portuguese FNM Mk.7z ball.

[browningautorifle]

Portuguese FNM Mk.7z ball

And we've found that stuff is among the best ever made...

[mike16]

Got no dog in this fight, I just know these exist.

Tubb Final Finish Bore Lapping System 303 Cal

Ah! yes they do and for thier intended purpose they work well. I have never used them but I understand they are used to breake in a new barrel. Some use them because they believe in that theory when it comes to barrel breake in proceedure. Others believe strongly in other methods.

it is as Peter says. it does put wear on the barrel and does not actually address a worn or corroded barel.

just the controversy about breaking in a new barrel generates so much passion that I too will stay out of that dog fight.

dont know how it will impact effectiveness on frosted barrels.....frosted barrels.... thats too funny. how we come up with so many generalised terms to describe as painlessly as possible a worn out barrel.

Always run a patch through a barrel befor inspecting it if you intend to buy it. dealer should have no problems with that[COLOR="black"]

I think Roger Wedham in his excellent book " The 2012 Complete Book on Lee Enfield Accururizing"put it best when he stated that even a very worn out barrel may continue to shoot accurately Its justa question of for how long.