Can This No. 4 Barrel Be Saved? (Or Is It Me...)

Well, it's too cheap now not to have one these days.
https://www.amazon.com/Teslong-Bores.../dp/B07XDYN296
There is also a flexible one that is great for carrying on your person and talking down prices at gunshows. The cheap one just requires a phone or laptop. There is a more expensive model with it's own dedicated screen.

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

I agree with all of the above. The barrel is only scrap when it is thoroughly clean and scrap. Even then, be advised that because a barrel looks like a sewer pipe doesn't mean that it won't be accurate. No4T's were a good example of this. Occasionally you'd get one that looked like a sewer pipe that shot absolutelt perfectly and accurately, So much so, thee sniper (who always had the last word, as his riifle was a personal issue to him) would tell you - in words that you would quickly understand - that it was perfect. While others would be all over the place and fail even the most basic accuracy test

When you start to scrub the barrel, make sure that you're only taking the crap out and not the bore out! We used to use a pink coloured tablet mixed with water (?) called KNS tablets - for Cupro-Nickel solvent. Any old Armourers out there remember using KNS tablets? I didn't see them in Oz but we did have them in NZ

L96's were a good example of where a new barrel could shoot worse that a new barrel. Don't ask me why. Some say a change of manufacturers from XX to XXXXX XXXXXXX. But even that assumption was never proven.

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I though KNS tablets where to be dissolved in ammonia, did they also work in water?

I have never used or even seen them, my understand re ammonia is based on a transcription of Army Council Instruction 108/1939, February 1939. concerning cleaning description for vickers barrels

I have found that shooting and cleaning, shooting and cleaning, can really help when dealing with a neglected bore.
Generally speaking, a lot of issue ball of all calibers was made with cupronickel jackets. Nickel fouling is more difficult to remove. Copper fouling from guilding metal is easier. I wonder how many service rifles actually had metal fouling effectively removed?

I’ve been asking myself the same thing. After Peter’s comment I really want to find and try those KNS tablets.

Ammonia-based bore cleaners, like the classic, nasty-smelling "Sweets" is primarily for removing copper-based jacket fooling. Being water-based as well, it will also function as a cleanser to remove propellant / primer residue..

In a plain steel barrel, it can be left in the bore overnight. BIG caveat: It can react with some STAINLESS barrels and prolonged presence may result in a "frosty-looking" bore; tears before bed-time.

Ambient atmospheric humidity is an issue when there are ANY corrosive salts left in a bore.

We coastal chaps learned this lesson a LONG time ago Those who dwell and shoot in more arid areas have a bit more time up their sleeves, Those living in the "Great White North like Alaska and Canada, will be aware of teh lack of humidity when it gets properly cold; all the water vapour is lying, frozen, on the ground.

I remember reading somewhere that the trick, when operating in such conditions, was to leave rifles outside the comfy cabin. The reason given was, because once the well-chilled rifle came in from the cold, water vapour from the people, dogs, stove, etc, would condense on the cold metal and do its thing.

I've posted this story here before...I had a well-seasoned 1917 BSA SMLE that didn't so much group as pattern, like a shotgun.

I spent an entire winter off-season cleaning it, using foaming bore cleaner (left to sit for an hour or so), bristle brushes, and patches...I just kept going until the patches stopped coming out with any blue. I figured it probably hadn't been deep-cleaned since it left the factory, or at least since the Roaring Twenties.

Took it to the range the following spring and it grouped, very nicely.

---------- Post added at 05:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:18 PM ----------

Was this sort of a pre-packaged version of "ammonia dope", a copper remover to be used only at rear echelons, and with great care?

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Originally Posted by enbloc8

I just kept going until the patches stopped coming out with any blue.

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And this story has been repeated through many caliber rifles...truth.

Always remember if using a brass jag your going to get a slight bluing of the cleaning fluid due to the copper content in the jag, I use aluminium ones if I'm in doubt as to the amount of copper if any in the barrel.
One that will rip it out is Montana Copper Killer just the health warnings alone on the bottle is enough to scare the copper out, Sweets Copper solvent is very good as well but be warmed if using it in a stainless barrel no more than 10 minutes in the tube then, remember to patch out with with metho to neutralise the solvent anytime you use copper a solvent.
Then oil the barrel.

Even Teflon-coated pistol bullets will "shed" in a less than "perfect" barrel. It usually indicates that the barrel itself is not nor, or maybe has never been 'stellar".

Teflon repels all chemical "boarders" and steady, but judicious work with a stainless-steel brush will remove it, but the underlying reason for the stripping of the Teflon, (a crappy barrel) will remain.

Anyone priced quality 9mm 1911 barrels and bushings, lately? And have the gear to properly mate an "unfitted" barrel and bushing to a slide and frame.. LOTS of variables being juggled, right there.

One more reason for chromed bores then? Though plating is generally only as good as the surface prep of course.