Shot-out winchester 490 barrel - what are my options?

[Puffie40]

I was cleaning my 490, and thought the barrel rifling did not look right. Some comparisons between it and a Cooey proved what I suspected: The rifling in that 490 is getting pretty thin.

I have not done any actual target shooting with this rifle outside of plinking, but having a smoothbore can't be very good for accuracy. It's done fine since we got it 5 years ago, so I would like to fix it.

As far as I can see, my options are:

A) Replace the barrel - Seems like a no-brainer, but I have just begun to scratch the surface of this option. Seems to me (And according to this) barrels are a touchy subject when it comes to getting them across the border. That limits me to Canadian sources.

B) Reline the Barrel - Not too keen on this one - it needs a bit of machining, I might need to get a gunsmith to do it, and that might mean a hefty bill...

C) Ditch it and get a new semiauto - Probably the simplest to do (And would probably go this route if the barrel/repair is worth more than a new one...), but to get rid of such a nice handling plinker... I dunno...

Opinions? Help?

Thanks!

 

[22lr]

I remeber me having the same dilemma not long ago. Firstly, 22 barrels never are "shot out" almost with no exceptions. Rifling isn't very deep, not like bigbore guns, and lead fouling may make bore look very smooth. Try removing led first.

 

[marshall]

That gun is not so old as to be shot out.
that ones that have shot barrels where old
one used wirth black powder and not cleaned.
I have a '40's hi standard with 100th's of round thou
it and the bore is fine. if it is rough , it will be lead.
Now if only there was a easy way to get it out?
BTW, how does the rifle shoot??
If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

 

[Brutus]

Puffie the last time I replaced the barrel of my 490, I contacted Western Gun Parts, out of Edmonton.
Although his rifle is not catalogued, they once kept on hand an assortment of rifles for cannibalizing. These are so small in number, they never bother to list them.

Give them a call, beware, they keep bankers hours...(780-489-5711)
(PS Keep it, the 490 is more accurate than my stock Ruger 10/22)

Cheers!

 

[tiriaq]

The likelihood of wearing out a modern .22 barrel is remote. Visual comparison with another Cooey barrel isn't really telling you much.
How does the rifle shoot?
The Winchester 490 was made by Winchester Canada at the old Cooey factory in Cobourg. It is bascially a gussied up Cooey 64B. There are variations in Cooey barrels, don't know if one might not fit a 490.
Should be entirely possible to obtain a replacement barrel in this country, if rebarrelling is necessary.
But shoot the thing, give it a careful test, before worrying about the rifling.

 

[Grouse Man]

Does anybody know if the electrolysis method removes lead? I know it works on copper and rust . . .

 

[Brutus]

Here is some advice, for most of us, our first sign of barrel excessive wear is unexplained split groups. In the beginning stages, unless one is doing precision target shooting, this is not quite so obvious to the average small game and pest hunter.

Visible flame cutting of the bore, (throat erosion) starts in front of the chamber, and forward of this cutting, the rifling appears rough. Of course, one would fully clean the barrel of all lead/copper deposits prior to this detailed bore inspection.

On my 490, there appeared to be a ring of lead, just in front of the chamber, (not lead deposits, but flame cutting) appearing deepest at the 6 o'clock position, and both cuts left and right extending towards each other, trying to meet at 12 o'clock position.

Of course, a well equipped gunsmith could check this easily.

Keep in mind I owned this rifle since I was 15, as its second owner, and includes 12 years of serious gopher shooting in Saskatchewan and much small game hunting over a 5 year spread in Alberta.

This rifle was shot rapidly & without mercy, and was often loaned to friends, who asked to borrow it.

Some say this could take 10-15,000 rounds of rimfire, to do so, and of course continuously firing
(read rapid fire!) a hot barrel accellerates this process tremendously.
And in my case, it was certainly true. And one can easily surmise from this, that high velocity centrefire rifles, are much more prone to this due to heat buildup, than any rimfire calibre arm.

Congradulations, not too many persons, get to do this to a 22 LR rimfire.