Originally Posted by
RC20
That truly is one beautifully done rifle, well done and I am severely jealous.
The gauge you need is the Steven Mathews that measure Throat Erosion (TE). Not super precision, very very good indicator though. He lists it as a hobbyist tool, I would put it more as a collectors useful extremely useful if not critical tool as it does both in the same gauge and with more than good enough accuracy to give you what you really want to and need to know.
I have my Step Dads 1903 from the 20s, originally setup for a scope (the long ones). Muzzle Wear (MW) is very good. TE is about 5, clearly shot a lot as target then sold off, probably as accuracy dropped off from loaded rounds. I have shot it a bit but not worked on how accurate I can or could get it with longer loaded bullets.
While this gun clearly would not have been used as a ceremonial rifle (blnaks) those can look beautiful and have a TE past 8 (reject)
Ego, you most indicative measurement of the barrel condition of how much shot used and wrecked is the TE.