Can a rifle still be servicable with a pitted bore?

[SixteenGauge]

I recently purchased an old .58 caliber CVA Mountain rifle "wall hanger" for $55. I originally bought the rifle to scrap for parts, as the external and mechanical conditions were excellent, but the bore was so rusted I couldn't see rifling beyond the first inch of barrel. I read online about how the Mountain rifle was one of the best sidelocks CVA ever made, so I decided to give cleaning it a try. The rifle cleaned up much better than I expected, with the rifling still intact throughout the bore, but accompanied by a generous amount of pitting evenly dispersed throughout. Is it worth it to buy the appropriate ammunition for it and shoot it, or is it just to far gone? I've attached a picture of the condition of the bore that represents how it looks throughout.

 

[J-Bar]

Some remarkably bad looking bores are still capable of usable accuracy. You have gone this far with it. I would try both patched round balls and saboted slugs, over a range of powder charges. I bet you can find a combination that will allow you to hunt with confidence, probably at shorter ranges.

 

[J-Bar]

And if you do choose to test it at the range I hope you will give us a report with photos.

 

[.455_Hunter]

I bet you will be surprised how well it shoots.

 

[Shortgrub]

Shoot it! Most of my older black powder cartridge guns have various degrees of pitting in the bores. All shoot better than I can offhand. And really decent groups from the bench.

 

[Shortgrub]

Shoot it! Most of all my older black powder cartridge guns have various degrees of pitting in the bores. All shoot better than I can offhand. And really decent groups from the bench.

 

[dave951]

I'd try it with Patch Round Ball. Sabot will probably shred and foul the bore quickly. Try running some 0000 steel wool to gently smooth any seriously sharp edges. Clean and shoot. I have one that looks that bad but shoots fine.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

As long as the crown is not damaged or pitted it should shoot just fine. You won't know till you try.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I'd try it with Patch Round Ball. Sabot will probably shred and foul the bore quickly. Try running some 0000 steel wool to gently smooth any seriously sharp edges. Clean and shoot. I have one that looks that bad but shoots fine.

YES Exactly!

As a matter of fact the CVA Mountain Rifle shouldn't shoot sabots well, period. Twist rate was too slow for them to be stabilized (iirc). Of course sabots have improved over time, but the plastic vs. the pits is probably a no-go.
So try the patched round ball. No need to use conicals and beat yourself up, as a .570 round ball is plenty big.
Now IF they don't shoot well because the barrel pits tear up the patching, THEN you can try a Lee REAL bullet in .58
The final option would be to send the barrel to Bob Hoyt, and have it reamed out to .620, which then gives you a smoothbore that will shoot .600 - .610 ball, which will hammer a deer out to 50 yards or so..., but also gives you a 20 gauge shotgun for the bunnies and the squirrels. That's pretty inexpensive and a LOT of factory, half-stock, plains style rifles have been saved from the scrap heap by Mr. Hoyt. OH and you can also look into having Mr. Hoyt re-rifle the bore too, although that's costs a bit more.

LD

 

[The Glockodile]

Pitting isn't such a big deal, if properly fouled...

Even with obsessive - compulsive Bench Shooting, borescope findings don't consistently translate into group sizes.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

The only thing I can say is I have lots of antique revolvers and rifles.

Most of them have some amount of pitting in the bore because they are well over 100 years old and may not have always been cleaned real well.

I can say that as long as I see some strong rifling present in the bore, they are all good shooters and are more accurate than I am.

Not saying they might be super accurate, but they all serve me well, as long as they still have strong rifling, despite the fact that there are pits in the bore.

As an aside, when I first got interested in shooting lever guns with cartridges loaded with Black Powder, I was shooting an antique Winchester Model 1892 with Smokeless ammo. I had read that it is impossible to clean all the fouling out of all the pits in an old rifle, so I bought a slightly used Uberti Winchester Model 1873 replica with a shiny bore. Much easier to get all the fouling out of a shiny bore.

It wasn't until a few years later that I realized it is not necessary to remove every molecule of BP fouling from the pits an old bore. Soak Black Powder fouling with oil and it is unable to absorb any moisture from the air. Basically, it is absorbing moisture from the air and holding the moisture against the steel that causes corrosion. Soak the fouling with oil and it is like soaking a sponge with water, it cannot absorb any more moisture. These days, after shooting my old revolvers or rifles with ammo loaded with Black Powder, the last step is to run a patch soaked with Ballistol down the bore and into the chambers of a revolver. Then I follow up with a dry patch to mop up the excess, leaving a light coating of Ballistol in the bore. This coats whatever small amount of fouling is present in the pits, preventing further corrosion.

 

[J-Bar]

Hope the OP gives an update. I would like to know if the gun shoots ok!

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

Give it a try, you got nothing to lose.