Pitting in barrel

[shattered00]

Is pitting in a pistol (say a CZ-52 or other gun which might be fired with corrosive ammo) going to affect accuracy so blatantly that one might be inclined to put the barrel to rest?

Does pitting drastically reduce the life of a barrel?

P.S. Pitting here is referring to minimum to moderate depth with pits throughout the entire length of the barrel and along the entire circumference of the barrel.

 

[P95Carry]

I have no definitive info really but - my first SKS Yugo had a black barrel and included some pitting - being so cheap I sucked that up. It does however shoot quite adequately and so for the type of gun - no major downside IMO.

With a handgun - well, if we assume the pitting is what is left after rigorous cleaning then we have many small areas which probably exceed caliber - and if the rifling itself is in fair shape overall, chances are the effects will not show too much at all.

I'd expect pits to collect debris such as bullet guilding and powder residue but as to what all this does to the barrel life remaining - that is hard to say. In an older C&R type pistol I would reckon the gun will still manage adequate service for some good long time.

There is tho too the question of degree. That is hard to quantify re barrel usefullness. Of course a stage could be reached where things are so bad that function will be noticeably prejudiced but if OTOH there is nothing to produce unsafe over pressures and, the spin is still imparted - well, probably plenty more shooting to be had - but perhaps not so well at extended distances.

Just writing thoughts here!

 

[RON in PA]

Pitted barrels often shoot well with jacketed bullets, but it's on an individual gun basis.

 

[rockstar.esq]

I've heard of circumstances that leaving the copper fouling in a pitted barrel actually helped. The theory being that the jacket metal sort of filled in the pits. From what I've seen handgun accuracy is relative to the distance at which they are used. I've been able to hold 3" groups at 7 yards with a smoothbore .32 derringer. Now I'm not sure I could hit a grown person at 20yds with that same gun. Plus sometimes guns just shoot better than they have any reason to! Some spectacular shooters in this category would include S&W M&P's that were so pitted and gummed up the cylinder would barely rotate! Another is an old Hi Standard Longhorn .22LR I bought off a friend. The first day I shot it, it wouldn't group so much as pattern. After cleaning and lubricating it is now one of the most accurate handgun's I've ever shot.