There are either gouges or pitting in this old 12ga shotgun barrel. Is this generally safe to shoot in this condition? I have cleaned it out with bore cleaner (letting it sit for 2 hrs), then cleaned it out with a lead free cloth. The shotgun is 117 years old and all other parts are in very good condition overall.
Bore Pitting/Marking Question
- Thread starter ahedgpe
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beag_nut
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Ditto the suggestion for the gunsmith. However, it looks bad enough (from the pics) to not shoot anything in it until the in-person evaluation. Wonder if any of those "pits" are close to the outer surface.
rbernie
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A lot of the answer is going to depend on the depth of the pits and the quality / method of barrel manufacture. A formal evaluation by an experienced and well-respected shotgun gunsmith is definitely a good recommendation. That would also be a good time to have the chambers measured to verify if they've been opened up to 2 3/4" or are (commonly) 2 9/16" or even shorter at 2" (altho I've never seen a 2" gun, myself, but I've been assured that they're out there).
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SGW Gunsmith
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As was posted above, more information would be helpful. Given its age, it could be a "black powder" shotgun with a damascus barrel and the pitting could be from that type of gunpowder.
Sorry, this is from a Winchester 1897, made in 1903. The barrel was a special order from Winchester in 1927 (order number stamped on bottom of barrel) and labeled as a model 1893 barrel. I confirmed over at Winchester collectors forum that many early 1897s had left over 1893 barrels, stocks, etc.
I wonder if you're on to something with the black powder though, since model 1893s were black powder shotguns. If this barrel was pulled off an 1893 and put onto an 1897. It could be old pitting from black powder residue.
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Scooter22
Member
I,ve seen old pitted shotgun barrels. Usually the pitting is random. Yours looks circular like in a Damascus barrel. This article says they were available on the 1893. I wouldn't shoot it.
https://winchestercollector.org/models/model-1893-shotguns/
https://winchestercollector.org/models/model-1893-shotguns/
I was able to provide pics to the mod over on winchester collectors forum and he was able to confirm it is not a damascus barrel. I ran 10 patches of hoppes 9 and let it sit for 30 min and then ran a bunch more lead free cloths through it. I can finally see the barrel that was under all the crud. Much more bright in there now.
Scooter22
Member
Good news and good luck. I,d still use light loads if you do shoot it. Thats not the strongest lock up.
SGW Gunsmith
Member
+1 on the light target loads and 2 ¾ inch ammunition. So then, it appears that the buildup is most likely from plastic wads? Shooter's Choice is great for removing that buildup. Avoid getting it on the stock finish though.
It does have some pitting, but had a lot of build up that made it look worse. It won't have anything heavier than 7.5 shot in it no matter what the barrel looked like.
rbernie
Contributing Member
Just as a FYI - pellet size has nothing to do, per se, with whether a load is heavy or light. Heavy or light refers to the total weight (and speed, sometimes) of the shot payload, since that's what influences the pressure curve. Light loads are loads that stay below a specific pressure by limiting speed of the pellets and the total weight of shot. For example, a 1 3/8oz 7.5 shot 1200fps game load is NOT a light load, but a 7/8oz 7.5 shot 1200fps target load is a light load.
I hope that this makes sense.
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