Hello From NH.......and my first queston

Hello, I just got my first Model of 1917, a Winchester that appears to be in very good external shape. The lands looked great and the grooves were somewhat dark. I gave it a light cleaning and shot some reduced loads using pulled milsurp 150 flatbase (1954 pulls) followed by some full power loads. Then I shot some cast bullets of two different styles. The jacketed rds all shot well and the lead loads show promise.

After shooting this batch and getting new cleaning supplies I just started a real cleaning to see if I can get the bore looking better. I found that at about 5 inches from the muzzle there apears to be a ring of either buildup or pitting. I have brushed it rather vigorously and it does not seem to be reducing the ring. Oddly, it looks to be a deposit as it crosses the lands but wouldn't the shooting have removed any deposits?

This is a test weekend to confirm a trade of value approximately $500. I wanted a shooter for primarily cast bullets and have no desire to cut the barrel below the condition.

Any advice?

It sounds like you have a ring in the barrel. If so someone shot it with a stuck bullet.

Not an expert but if you take out of the stock or pull back you may see it on the surface.

It may still shoot ok, its not fatal. It may not.

For cleaning, use a combo of Slick Carbon Killer 2000 (I call it CK2k) and Bore Tech Eliminator (they may have a more updated version)

These are by far the best modern cleaners though there may be other new equals. Non haz, no odor and vastly more effective than the old brute force stuff. I clean at the range as a warm barrel cleans faster but you can do both or either as well.

I use a Nylon brush, start with the CK2k drizzled on it with an eye dropper and run through to the end, drizzle more on it (I used an eye dropper from a excess eye dropper bottle) then 3 times back and forth, one more drizzle and then run a dry patch through.

It will come out wet, blakc and gooey. Keep up until reasonably clean.

then hit it with the Bore Tech. That is more copper oriented but it also is decent on carbon.
Same cleaning drill but it comes with its own dispenser.

Huge help for this if you have a Lyman boro scope (pretty low cost at around $170). You can how clean its gotten.

I have brought tbatc iffy looking military barrels to factory new.

If its been shot a lot you can get it clean but there will be the pits etc in there and bore erosion. Throat Erosion gauge by Steven Mathews is your friend there (or as you reload seat a dummy round way long and then with the striker removed, trial it and move it back until it goes in without lands contact.

You can move it back .030 at a time, you are only trying to get a rough idea.

Once it goes in without contact lands measure the bullet and compare to a normal COAL for that mfg and bullet type.

Many of these guns are fine, some have been used for shooting blanks and the bore is shot out though the rifling looks good.

An update, after scrubbing with BBS and fine steel wool it now presents as gouges in a circular pattern in th opposite direction of the left hand rifling. Deep enough to transverse lands and grooves at about 5" from muzzle and again at about 3" from muzzle. Shooting it now and will post results

At first I was thinking erosion from a blank firing adapter. Your last post scrapped that. Hopefully some other members have more knowledge on that.
Looking forward to your range report.

I'm thinking that maybe there was some hard fouling that someone couldn't get out and they put some steel wool on a rod and chucked it in a drill.

It would have to be something serious more abrasive than steel wool to wear barrel steel.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BrianL

An update, after scrubbing with BBS and fine steel wool it now presents as gouges in a circular pattern in th opposite direction of the left hand rifling. Deep enough to transverse lands and grooves at about 5" from muzzle and again at about 3" from muzzle. Shooting it now and will post results

---

Brian-- There could be a number of reasons for circular patterns. I am betting on the use of corrosive primed ammunition or blanks. If full power .30-06 was used on a stuck bullet the barrel would have split. There is a very remote possibility of use of a cup type grenade projector, I believe called a V-B or V-D grenade projector developed by the French. Not too many folks know about these grenade launchers as they were very quickly retired after WWI. I would see how the rifles shoots before making any changes. I found both my Pattern 1914s and Model of 1917 Enfields loves heavy flat based bullets.
PS-- If you are going to change out any of parts for original "W" parts be aware a lot of folks will try and sell you Pattern 1914 "W" parts. Heads up generally, they do not fit without some gunsmithing. If you need any help identifying the correct parts please drop me a line or post you concerns.