Opinions? Barrel pitting due to rust

[B3nT]

Does it have a significant effect on accuracy, if it's pretty uniform in its distribution in the bore? Does it have major impact on wear, and how long the barrel will last, once pitted?

The situation is this: I own ten handguns, and am religious in caring for them; the oldest are a WWII P38 that I inherited, and a Colt Huntsman that I bought in the early 1970s; both have immaculate, crisp-grooved bores, as do all my others -- until number 10.

Most of my handguns have been purchased new, but Number Ten was a great-deal, must-have Walther P88, posted as "as new, no box", with photos that seemed to justify the claim of condition. When I inspected the weapon at my FFL dealer, I DID observe a light film of brown in the bore of this otherwise immaculate pistol, which I didn't quite convince myself could be rust, and bought the gun anyway. Initial cleaning with Hopps' #9 and nylon brush didn't remove it, although the stains on the patch made it pretty clear it WAS rust.

I fired a couple hundred rounds through it, and it thoroughly matches its reputation for ergonomics, smooth, modern features, marvelously damped recoil, slinky tightly fitted parts, superb balance, and simply stupid accuracy. This time, when I took it back home and cleaned it, I used a bronze brush, and it came up clean. But it's definitely pitted. Bummer: it's the only handgun I own that is, and it's otherwise the finest of them. With magnification and illumination, it's easy to see that the bore has myriad small pits, varying in size, pretty evenly distributed, ranging from tiny, to less than tiny, but still quite small. The lands are completely sharp-edged with no apparent chipping, and as I said, it shoots just beautifully.

Although I think I know where I'm going with this -- Earl's says they have 9x19 P-88 barrels for $295 new, even though I can find only 9x21 on Earl's site -- I would like to know how more experienced shooters feel about the long-term prospects for a modestly pitted barrel, over time. (Although I shoot 200-400 rounds most weeks, I've only been an active shooter for about two years, and haven't seen how the ravages of time and 30000 rounds affect a formerly rusted barrel.)

Thanks so much for your input. I expect I'll buy the new barrel, and set aside the slightly pitted one with the matching serial numbers, but would like to learn what I can before jumping over that $300 cliff.

Regards,

B3nT

In order of acquisition:

Colt Huntsman .22
Walther P-38 9mm
Walther P99 9mm
Sig Trailside .22 (Hammerli) w/Millet Red Dot
Browning High Power 9mm w/JPoint
Browning Buckmark Camper .22
Walther PP .380
Colt Government 80 .45
Walther PPS 9mm
Walther P88 9mm

 

[rcmodel]

Don't waste your money.

If it shoots to your satisfaction, a $300 barrel isn't going to change a thing.

Further shooting will only improve the barrel you have.

BTW: I have one old Winchester .22 that has a badly neglected barrel that looks like the inside of a stove-pipe.

But it shoots one-hole groups at 50 yards.

rcmodel

 

[tkendrick]

What rc said.

Before I became rich and famous, back when I was just incredibly good looking, I would haunt pawn shops for the nastiest ugliest rust bucket milsurp rifles I could find. This was back when nobody would shoot a Jap rifle because "everybody" knew they were crap.

I have shot barrels that were rusted and pitted so bad that quite often most of the rifling wasn't even visible. Barrels that were black.

My personal experience with those pitted barrels was that it made them a harder to clean, but had little impact on accuracy. Naturally, you're not going to shoot minute of angle with them, but they would hold well within a 3 inch group, which was the standard back in the day.

 

[B3nT]

Well, I bit the bullet, and paid $299 for a new barrel for that P88. It came properly franked by Walther, but -- interestingly -- is not serialized.

It shoots better. No question that my groups are tighter. Offhand at 15 yards, 10-round groups have gone from an average of 3.5" - 4" down to more like 3". The overall pattern looks tighter and more consistent, too.

This is not deep rocket science in testing; I do not have a Ransom rest or anything like that, and probably still don't have a thousand rounds through the gun yet -- more like 200 with the original barrel, and 150 with the new.

It is not a remarkable improvement. But for an already accurate gun, to see any improvement, is worthwhile, at least to me. Even if it hadn't made a difference, I was kinda ashamed of the pitting in the original barrel. I just don't let my guns get like that!

I guess what I really want to know is that if I miss, it's my fault...

 

[rcmodel]

That it may shoot slightly better is more likely the result of a different barrel, then an unpitted one.

rcmodel

 

[GaryK]

I agree with REMODEL I doubt that the new barrel made much difference, certainly not $300.00 worth. I understand where you are coming from in wanting the gun perfect though. They are our passion and we often obsess over minor flaws. I know that I do.