I was checking out my 1953 308 featherwieght m70,s barrel that I recently got. The rifle was neglected but cleaned up nice. I scrubbed the bore clean . Checking out the crown and the first inch of the bore/lands , It looks pretty bad through a magnifieing class and bright light. Light rust pitting

Ive only shot 20 factorty rounds through it to sight a new scope and test its groups. Not to impressive. Im going to test some hand loads next.

Anyone have a old nasty looking bore that shoots good still???

I dont think this rifle has been shot alot , but just never takin care of. Im thinking rebarrel if these hand loads dont group.

Yep, got a 25/06 thats had a gazillion shots fired through it, I was about the 3rd for 4th owner. It took a week cleaning every night to get it cleaned up, I've never seen a barrel so fouled in my life, but it shot good fouled. It cleaned up real nice. The old gun is a shooter, half moa or better with just about anything you put in it.

I've had good luck getting several old military surplus rifles with worn barrels to shoot into 1" at 100 yards with factory ammo. I used the "shotgun approach" to accurize them, so I'm not sure which procedure made the most difference.

If you have internal rust or pitting, you definitely should try to polish the bore. I normally start with a homemade electronic bore cleaner I made for about $5 (including batteries). I got the instructions to make it off the internet, but have since lost the web URL. This gets all the old fouling out (a good amonia based solvent and bore polish should get it out too, but its more work). Then I polish it with JB bore paste. In extreme cases, you can first polish with a fine lapping compound on a tight fitting patch, but be careful. I re-crowned the muzzles using a crown cutter purchased from Brownells. I made my own handle for the cutter from key stock and made my own aluminum pilots on a mini-lathe. Making your own pilots makes a big difference because you can make them fit the bore exactly. I also glass bed the action and free-float the barrel and re-work the existing trigger to minimize sear engagement. If the gun design permits, I glass bed it with aluminum pillars also made on the mini-lathe.

I think polishing the bore will help the most. Your civilian trigger should be OK as is. Unless your crown is really chewed up, you can either leave it alone or try lapping it with a round brass screw head and some lapping compound (again, a little goes a long way.) Don't float the barrel unless you glass bed the action. Whether you re-bed it or not, make sure your action screws and any scope mounting screws are tight. If it still doesn't shoot well, switch to a scope you know works well on another gun. I would get it shooting decently with factory ammo before "chasing your tail" with reloads.

I'm sure some of my methods make the purists wince, but the results speak for themselves. It can be a lot of work, but its cheap, rewarding and fun. I've made some nice, "rainy day, knock around truck guns" this way. About the only problem these techniques won't help is if the muzzle got knocked on something and is very slightly bent. In that case you should still have a decent action and stock. Hope this helped - John

On re-reading your post, since its a pre-64, M70, I'd just polish the bore, make sure everything is tight and the scope is good. Re-crowning and glass bedding might hurt the value of the rifle. - John

I have a number of old sporters from the late 1800's through the 1930's that have rough, dark, cordite and corrosive primer damaged barrels. Many of these I would never have considered from a bore condition standpoint if they had not been collector's pieces. Having said that, I have only run into a very small number of these that wouldn't deliver reasonable accuracy with a thorough cleaning (sometimes including a good polishing with JB bore compound), and finding the right bullet and powder. You wouldn't believe the layers of crud that can come out of some of these old barrels. In some cases the bores are so rough that once the initial work has been done fairly frequent cleaning is required to maintain good accuracy, but it is worth the trouble if you want to keep everything original.

Some of these are sub-one inch guns at 100 yards, and some are in the 1 to 2 inch range, but most of these are open sight only rifles so part of the group size is my fault (the sights get harder to see with age ).

Jim

It may not count as "old," but I have a J.C. Higgins Model 50 in .30-06 that I bought for $80 in a pawn shop. I planned to reuse the FN action. Out of curiosity, I shot the gun before I pulled the barrel. 1" groups at 100 yards. I decided to keep the barrel, and I restocked in an MPI fiberglass stock, replaced that unbelievable trigger attached to the guard with a Timney attached where it should have been, and now I have a light .30-06 that will shoot my best handloads into 3/4 inch.

Clemson

I've got an old 1891 Mauser (7.65 Arg.) that has the most awful looking barrel I've seen. It sat untouched in a closet for about 20 years (my fault). During that time it received no cleaning of any kind and the bore rusted pretty bad. Even before that, the barrel was nothing to brag about.

Well, this rifle continues to amaze me at how well it shoots. With iron sights only (it doesn't sport a scope) I can usually put all my shots (5, 10 or whatever) into an inch or so at 50 yards. Out to a hundred I can usually (but not always) get 2.5" groups out of it. Considering the condition of the bore, the iron sights and my not so great eyesight, I'm tickled pink with that.

I've seldom given up on the barrels of older rifles. As usual, they're often dark and remind you of a railway tunnel. ............But enough soaking and scrubbing, and then a few hours of JB will often get them shooting. After each stage I try a few shots. As a final last resort, I usually have great luck by fire lapping, .....a few shots of medium abrasive, and lots of fine, all on jacketed bullets so as not to enlarge the throat too much. Most after a good treatment will clean up and shoot well if the bedding, etc. is good. Examination of these with a bore scope will often show the occasional pits, etc., but they still shoot with the newer guns. .........as an aside, you'd be surprised what most new barrels look like under a borescope, .....most of them benefit also by a few shots of fine compound!
~Arctic~

I picked up a Turk 8mm at Big 5 and sporterized it. I tried some Speer 150's and it wouldn't hold 1.5" at 25yds. I slugged the bore and it was way large. Something like .327ish. At the suggestion of some here, I tried a heavier Speer 170 and now it shoots into about .8" at 100yds. You might try pollishing the rust out, then try some different bullets in handloads.

I have a Marlin 1889 32-20, belonged to my great grandfather. Bore is awful, was very rusted from black powder ammo. Still shoots right on though with modern ammo.