I just mounted a scope on a friends circa 1960 M70 in .30-06. Having been seldom cleaned It needed a big clean up so I started to swab out the barrel and then let it sit over night with Shooters Choice/Kroil. It was SO copper fouled that I soon gave up on solvents and used JB Bore Paste on it SEVERAL times. STILL fouled. I'm making headway but now can feel and see a few rough spots an inch or so down the bore from the leade. These spots appear to be either light pitting or maybe fouling coming loose?

Anyway... if it is light pitting, what can he expect? Will it fould badly over those pits? Will it still shoot accurately?

Or am I obsessing as usual and its really NO big deal on a hunting gun??

FN

Pitting is never "nice" but I've seen a lot of rifles continue to give good hunting accuracy with more than just light pitting. Will make it harder to keep clean and will place more emphasis on keeping it oiled but.....if that's the best care he took of the rifle he's more than likely an indifferent marksman so 1.5" to 2" at 100 yards probably won't be a problem.

All that matters is how it shoots. Nothing else matters at all.

I have some old M 70's and I can see tool chatter marks in their bores. One in particular is a new barrel that I just got in .220 Swift and I can see such chatter marks near the muzzle very easily. This barrel shoots 1/2 MOA or better and I have only fired it 50 shots.

Other barrels with light pitting will shoot very well. If the lands are worn out and the throat is shot out then they don't do as well. Then there are bad barrels that were never any good.

Give it a chance.

I used to get 1.25" groups from a Norwegian Krag 6.5X555mm that had some pitting. It would not shoot cast bullets, however....

Like it was said, how it shoots is the important thing.

When I was warranty for Weatherby, on a fouled barrel, I would fire lap them. I used lead bullets, 240 grit valve grinding compound & rolled it into the bullets between 2 metal plates. Load up a light pistol charge with a 1/4 piece of toilet paper over the powder. Shoot 10 rounds, clean it up & do it again with 400 grit.

You can do this with about any bad bore & the results will supprise you.

I'm not going to have the time to range test this gun until next weekend, I'll let you know how it goes then. Hopefully the barrel will be clean by next week!! How people can own a nice rifle for forty years and NEVER clean it!!!

FN in MT

I have seen old military mausers with very very bad bores that shot very good groups. As stated above, the problem begins with cast bullets. Leading is greatly accelerated.

I acquired a Swedish model 96 that was very fouled with metal and powder residue. I cleaned it with Hoppe's Bench rest and shot it at the range several times until the barrel came out nice and smooth though before I was sure it was pitted beyond hope. The rifle was built in 1945 and now shoots almost everything into 1 1/4 inches. I also had a 222 savage 340 that had huge pits in the bore and the rifle commonly shot groups under an inch.

Mt 30/06 Savage was pitted pretty bad. I cleaned the hell out of it with some Sweets and it looked a lot better, but it would look as dirty after 10 shots as a good barrel would after 40 and the groups would suffer after the first few shots. I replaced it recently and am waiting on a bedding job to be done so i can see how good it will shoot now.