Hey folks, going to try this post in the lever action category, as it appears to get more action than the cleaning category. I just saw a post about resurrecting a 25-20 and thought that I hit the holy grail, but turns out the topic starter had a new barrel installed...darn.

I recently acquired an 1892 Winchester. Mfg. in 1902 and in 25-20 WCF. Its going to be a fun little rifle, and I am hoping to give it some TLC. I have already started cleaning the barrel, but only with Hoppes and Kroil thus far.

The barrel isn't bad, but it isn't great either. I can only see a couple small "questionable" spots up near the chamber. But overall, I just can't get the barrel to polish or brighten up thus far.

Wondering what folks due to bring new life to 100+ year old rifle barrels?

I haven't used the JB bore paste yet, but its on my to do list...

IMHO, if it shoots good, who cares if the barrel is shiny?

If not, then worry, research, and see what can be done.

The only way to get a rusty pitted barrel back to shiny is to lap it; and then it will have a larger bore and groove diameter.
Clean it; shoot it, and see. You are just going fill in all the pits again anyway, with copper, lead, fouling, etc. It is what it is. You might be surprised.

Bought a 1911 vintage 92 a few years ago on an online auction. E-mailed the seller before bidding and asked how the bore was. He replied: “it’s a shooter!”. He wasn’t lying- after about three days of scrubbing it was delivering five foot groups at fifty yards.

Got a sleeve from Redmans, rented a chamber reamer from Elk Ridge and did the work myself. Took a pleasant afternoon of puttering with it, and now it drives tacks... so much so it became my wandering in the desert gun of choice. If you’ve never had a .25/20 before, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without one!

You will probably never get it to "bright and shiny" unless you do as dpcd said, lap it.

Last fall I bought a Husqvarna rolling block from Simpson's in 8 X 58RD. The bore looked awful even after the salesman told me it was good. The more I looked at that bore the more convinced I became it was just crud built up over decades. A week later after scrubbing and letting Hoppe's soak in the bore overnights proved me right. The bore itself is fine but it is dark and will never be shiny again....and I don't give a rodents rump because it shoots better at 100 yards than me. I have shot 2 inch groups at that range with the old rifle. Clean it as good as you can and give it a whirl around the dance floor, the old thing might surprise you.

The first Remington rolling block I ever bought had a bore that resembled a corn cob turned inside out. Got it cheap because of that. After scrubbing the bore it looked far worse. I shot a few hundred rounds through it and it shot much, much better. It went from barely on paper with a clean shiny bore to about 3" with a horribly fouled bore.
Shoot it a good first and see what you've got.

PS,
The 1892 is a handy-dandy rifle with the right cartridge. My 1892 action was made around 1905 and used so much that the lower digits of the serial number are worn away. It was then converted to .357 magnum with a 20 inch Douglas barrel and Bishop stocks. I bought it as a companion for my M19 .357 . A nice combo and both are suitable for plinking or hunting and have both been used as such.

My granddads 38-40 win mod 92 rifle is serial number 158, bore is pitted and black like the pipes on a tramp steamer, but it shoots 2.5" groups at 100 with iron sights, His mod.94 same bad bore in 30-30 ser. # 2424, trapper model and shoots one inch at 100 every time, won a ton of turkeys hams and bacon with it made a ton of money renting it out to friends at turkey shoots..Its a legendary gun in texas and getting a rep in Idaho...Both guns were bought thru the Texas Ranger service and they took 50 cents a month for both out of his pay until paid for at $14.00 for one and $7.00 for the other, and $14 for his colt 45..I have all his guns..A lot of those old Win. shot well indeed and at those low velocities the bore wasn't as important to accuracy as most of todays hot rod rifle..My 25-35 saddle ring carbine shoots 2 to 2.5 inches with a peep sight, and its bore is pretty rough also..Give your gun a try, give it a chance to get dirty if its not shooting well, sometimes that's the case with old barrels.