Bore Blemish (Dark Spot)

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Scragbait

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I have a Ruger #3 in .223 and a few inches in from the muzzle is a small dark spot that I'm going to assume is corrosion. I have made numerous brush and patch passes with Shooter's Choice bore cleaner and I also used Shooter's Choice copper remover. The rest of the barrel looks clean but that small dark spot remains.

I plan on range testing this rifle once I get a chance to see how it groups and how and when the groups begin to open as this blemish accumulates fouling - I expect to be using the copper cutter on this a lot.

My question is this: is such a blemish repairable by bore lapping or with some sort of corrosion attacking solvent or would the barrel need to be replaced? If the rifle is shot and cleaned and shot and cleaned, will bullet travel eventually smooth this spot down a bit? Are Ruger #3 barrels with .223 chambers a rare thing to find if this barrel needs to be reassigned as a fireplace poker?

Share your wisdom with me.

Thanks.
 
It would be interesting to take a look with a borescope. Wonder if the gunsmith at Shooters Choice has one?
It's not a ring is it?
Could be a piece of copper jacket that has been in the bore.
Hatcher found that a shed jacket burnished into the metal of the barrel.
 
It's not a ring. It's a darkish spot that maybe occupies a land and groove (roughly - it's not near me now). I'm sure Gary Howe has a borescope. I'm wondering how much I should worry - sure hope to take it out soon.
 
I guess the question is, "How does it shoot?"

If the blemish isn't affecting accuracy, only requiring more freqent cleaning, then I would just keep shooting the rifle and not worry about it.

ted
 
Dark spots or spots that stand out differently than the rest of the bore usually indicate a roughness of some sort.... the roughness is usually metal missing...as in rust pits and you can not polish it out - it would only make it worse as far as accuracy is concerned.
 
I have a rifle with a similar rust spot - tried to clean it out, with little success. Took it out to the range, fired a few rounds - it cleaned up nicely. The rifle is one of my most accurate, rust spot and all...
 
cosmic - I hope to duplicate your experience.

In the past, my #3 would group quite tight with handloads (just below 1" at 100yds) but only after firing a couple groups that were vertically strung. As the barrel warmed, the stringing went from about 3" tall to around 1". I had assumed that thermal expansion of the barrel was being partially resisted by the scope which is attached to the barrel. I have a much better shooting rest now so I expect to get more insight into this problem by sending more rounds down range under uniform and changing barrel temperatures. I also removed the barrel band and the forearm contact with the barrel is more like that on the #1.

These are nice little guns, too bad Ruger stopped making them. They're very handy for walking around the gopher fields. They also have a nice quality about them - the only semi-cheesy feature is the plastic buttplate.
 
Ruger #3

I have a borescope, but it wouldn't help out when you're in Kitchener & I'm in Sudbury. However, if I were you, I'd try firelapping the barrel with ten or twenty light loads with a lead bullet with very fine lapping grit embedded into the bullets. This can smooth up a rough bore a bit, and make the rifle far more useful. If you'd like some .22 lapping bullets, drop me a PM.
 
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