Pitting?

[Jay Gardner]

When pitting is present it’s usually toward the breach and in sections of the barrels that are fairly thick. I suppose they compromise the strength of a barrel to a certain point but even if they are deep, what danger to they actually pose, especially if using low pressure 20 ga loads?

Also, when is pitting too deep?

Thanks,

JDG

[Andrew Sacco]

I'm following this, good question Jay. I have a 16VH that has some pitting. I had an LC FW 20g with some serious pitting about 1/4 way up the barrel that a smith said was safe to shoot.

[Pete Lester]

This gun has severe pitting around the chambers, I doubt anyone would hesitate to shoot it for that reason.

[Brian Dudley]

Pitting always looks worse than it is, generally speaking. You are looking across it, not down onto it. I have been amazed what can be completely removed by honing with proper equipment with only a few thousandths of material being removed.

I can certainly saw that any usual amount of pitting near the breech will not cause any safety concerns. Out in the thinner areas of the barrels is where it can be a concern. Careful measuring with a good wall thickness gauge is the only way of knowing, and even then it only gives you an idea of what is going on.

[Aaron Beck]

Is there any thinking or concern that pitting harbors continuing corrosion at its root? it certainly is harder to clean well than a completely smooth bore.

[Dean Romig]

I think as long as the chambers and bores are cleaned and oiled after each shooting outing the pits shouldn’t worsen.





.

[Bill Murphy]

In 1960, when I was 14 years old, I bought a VH 28 gauge from another young man my age who "needed" a Savage Model 99. I never saw him again after we did our deal. The VH had what looked like moderate to serious pitting. I shot the gun rather extensively and cleaned it rather aggressively for the next couple of decades. Somehow, the bores are now clean and shiny and have never been honed, are still .550, chambers to chokes. I had the same thing happen to a well pitted A Grade Fox 16 gauge many years later. The seller of that gun thought the gun worthless because of the bad bores. When I traded the gun to a dealer, the bores were perfect, never having been honed.

[Phillip Carr]

I had a conversation with a very well respected barrel expert. He stated pitting most of the time is not near as deep and bad as it looks.
He explained how to make a tool to feel the pitting in a barrel. Not exactly scientific but gives you a “Feel” for how bad the pit might be.
Surprising to me was many times a could run the brass tip over the pit that looked bad and could feel nothing.

[Keith Doty]

These are pics inside the bore of a Damascus barreled gun I recently looked at. These were in the first 8 or 9 inches forward of the chamber. The fissures appeared to all lie parallel to the pattern visible on the exterior. Possibly along the joints in the individual pieces the barrel was made of? No way to confirm that. I was scared of it and, with broken heart, passed but could be completely wrong. Opinions and thoughts?

[Aaron Beck]

If that is indeed inline with visible exterior ribband welds then perhaps it was that way from day one but I would guess it more likely that there was an unwelded inclusion in the original weld which subsequently corroded and eroded to the present form. You likely did the safest thing.
The experiments ive done with helical welding usually look just like that in places on the outside of the barrel but when ground down the unwelded portion is removed. The welds in that barrel could yet be sound but its hard to say.

[Keith Doty]

The many small pits didn't bother me, kinda expect that in any gun 120 years old but the fissures, some of which look quite deep were an issue. I'm very fond of the fingers and thumb on my left hand!