Considering some version of lapping a Lee Enfield barrel?

[Surpmil]

That was very interesting reading, thank you.

Who can forget the infamous steel "gauze" to be used as a last resort on service barrels? It would never reach the inside corners of the lands, but quite a different standard was involved in all respects of course.

And then there's Motty Paste and similiar preparations. I had some on my fingers the other week and it's pretty abrasive alright.

Steel wool is a mass of fine, sharp, cutting or scraping edges and considering the limitation of how much could be wound around a barrel brush and pushed in a barrel, how great could the pressure be on the strands? Tangential, but anyone who's bought Bulldog brand will have noticed the decline in quality and consistency since it began to be made off-shore.

The corporate chaos you describe is rather sad, but of course almost the norm now in North America. So much is lost whenever such disruptions occur, worst of all in "institutional memory" and skilled workers.

Chrome-moly steel is pretty tough stuff...