I'm not quite sure if got the barrel via a gunsmith, who threaded chambered and crowned it for you, or from a barrel seller? The second of your photos seems to be of a crown (so that would be after the gunsmith did the lathe work), but your first photo (the one with ".224" stamped on it) seems to be of an unthreaded unchambered blank. (EDIT: actually perhaps that's a photo of the chamber; I can't see any thread, but the hole seems a bit bigger, and perhaps the marking is ".223" (i.e. the chambering) rather than ".224" (i.e. the barrel size))
If I were the gunsmith or barrel seller, I would have told you the same thing. A bit of rust like that is very unlikely to have any detrimental effect. However I would also have apologized profusely for this, because even though it doesn't really matter it also shouldn't happen. If you were in the least 'cosmetically sensitive' about these things it would be time to shift into 'go above and beyond the call' mode in order to keep you as a happy customer.
If I were the shooter receiving this, I would have been satisfied with the explanation and would have done exactly the same thing you did. BTW if things don't seem to be working, I can easily see it taking 400 rounds before you start to be sure of this. (BTW if it's otherwise a good action/stock/etc setup, I would try putting a 'known-good' scope on it that has just shot really good groups on another rifle, and try shooting your rifle with that).
Delivering a barrel with minor cosmetic defects is not right, and a reputable gunsmith or barrel seller should be expected to make it right. After you've given them a fair chance at making good in private conversation, if they still haven't done the right thing it would then be entirely proper to publicly post the facts of your experience - don't slander or slam them, but do post the facts of the matter for others to see.
Delivering a match barrel that doesn't shoot is definitely not right. It is hard to be sure that there really is a problem (hence my advice to really be sure of this before you potentially waste peoples' time on a wild goose chase). And it is very rare for a premium match barrel to not shoot - however it is not impossible and from time to time it does happen. There are two possibilities, one is that an error was made in the gunsmithing (in which case the gunsmith ought to fix that, at his expense, in my opinion), or that there was a flaw in the barrel (in which case the barrel supplier should replace it, at his expense, in my opinion). There's no need to get worked up about this, stuff like this does happen from time to time. But it is also quite fair to expect it to be made right.
